of destruction here. wow, and how are people coping in general, those you have come across? what can you say, what can you do? how are people coping? well, you know, people are just trying to put it back together and seeing what they have. there s nothing left. the magnitude of this tornado that came through here flattened everything. you know, you see tornadoes all the time on the tv and you ll see a few houses destroyed or some trees down, but this is complete destruction. alberta city, which is to my left here, you can t see here yet, is completely flat. there is no alberta city anymore. the fact that this tornado was so wide and so destructive and lasted for so many miles, when i came down the first night after it first happened, what you saw was a lot of people walking around taking a look, but really it was hard to have the police departments, they were doing the best they can, but because of the length of this thing, they were like a skeleton force. you had a few constructio
reconnect. we are just starting to understand the full scope of these storms and they were historic. 211 tornadoes in all. that would make it the most in one outbreak ever. communities across the south wondering what s next now. their homes, businesses, are gone. wiped out. by these tornadoes. take a look at what s left now of the alberta baptist church in tuscaloosa, alabama. it stands in the alberta neighborhood, alberta city what it s called. an ef-5 tornado with winds from 150 to 200 miles an hour ripped through the area and just tore up everything. i walked around and i seen places that i would never think would come down would come down. churches, cars, flipped over, smashed, balled up, all types of things. we got to the church and all
you know, everybody s good to each other. we try to help out as much as we can. and as far as i know, when we get done, you know, with some of our own stuff, we re going to help others. we re getting it all done as much as we can. it brings a lot of people together. it s something that it s just a disaster now any way you look at it. a lot of communities have gone through this all over the united states. and you ve got a lot of help coming in from all over the south. so we re going to make it. we re going to do fine. you re in the cnn newsroom. i m fredericka whitfield. take a look right now. dover air force base this delaware. early this morning, the remains of eight air force personnel killed wednesday in afghanistan returned to the united states. the wife of one slain officer says it was important for her to just be nearby when her husband s casket arrived. i wanted to come to dover last night to see my husband or feel his presence one last time. i wanted to salu
also, the nfl this morning, once again, closed for business. the player lockout was lifted this week, but last night, a federal court made a different decision and once again, the doors are closed. but, right now, we do need to start with that trail of devastation across the south. they are still searching this morning for people buried in the rubble alive or dead. take a look now at the toll from these storms. we got some updates just overnight and this morning that at least 342 people have been killed across six states. that makes this outbreak the second deadliest tornado outbreak in u.s. history. by far, the worst hit state was alabama. at least 254 people killed there. still we have hundreds of people unaccounted for. but part of that could be because people are scattered after the storm, they re in shelters, power down, people maybe haven t been able to reconnect and communicate. just how historic are these storms? we were talking about. try this. 211 tornadoes associ
begin with the incredible devastation back home in the south. the death toll from the tornadoes has now topped 300 making it the deadliest outbreak of twisters in nearly 80 years. harry smith is in tuscaloosa, alabama, tonight and will lead us through our coverage. harry? katie, good evening. smith: katie, this is the deadliest natural disaster since hurricane katrina, and the scope of the devastation is hard to put into words unless you see it with your own eyes. which is what president obama did today. the president and first lady toured the splintered homes here in tuscaloosa and met with some survivors. a visit he called heartbreaking. as the search for victims continues, at least 318 deaths have been confirmed across the south, including more than 220 of them here in alabama. 1,700 people in the state were injured and more than 600,000 homes are still without power tonight across the south. mark strassmann is with us here in tuscaloosa and i think it s safe to say th