Page 30 - Ef 4 News Today

By the time it got here, this is when we had on our hands an f-4 and f-5, with winds perhaps as much or in excess of 200 miles per hour. and then literally, i was watching this on the helicopter, the newschoppers that were flying, the thing just roped out. as soon as it passed the populated areas approaching the lake further to the east, at that point, well, it dissipated just like it did. all this happened in 40 minutes, 22 miles. incredible devastation. the kind of devastation that reminds me ...

With damage assessment. its definitely going to be on the high ef scale, greater than ef-3. you know, i hadnt toured all the city. i saw massive damage in shopping centers, i wouldnt be surprised to get ef-4. i would hold off going any higher at this point until the official damage assessment tomorrow. >> were looking at pictures you yourself have taken as youve been driving around. fairly apocalyptic even there. these are live pictures, actually, i have just been told. so this is right now in t...

Moore earlier today. we take you back to 99, 2003. an ironic look at what happened here. this yellow line is our track today. this red line is the track for 1999 and the blue line, the track for 25003. let me fly you in and show you how this lines up. everybodys talking about this 1999 tornado. heres our tornado today. a 2, 3, turning into the ef-4. all basically in the same position. this storm today turned to the right and continued to cross. but i cant imagine a town anywhere in the world tha...

The likelihood of them going through the exact same areas here, well is just astronomical here. that is what happened. thats what the folks in moore have had to deal with. the latest being in 1999. i think here on out, things will be compared to the one that hit, yesterday, here, that is yellow track that you see here. it was on the ground for 22 miles. it, it just, exploded here, went from, an ef-1, 2, and the problem was is that it happened right over the most populated area here where the sch...

Scale, the ef, is based on the destruction of buildings. it turns out if you understand the buildings well enough, and you see which ones are destroyed, it gives you a lot of information about the strength of the storm. but this thing was not just going 30 miles across oklahoma, but it was two miles wide. >> it was down for 40 minutes? >> yeah. they travel usually less -- well, less than 35 miles an hour so its going half of highway speed for most of an hour. >> from what youre seeing and hearin...

The mayor this hour all have said that the search will continue through the night with the fields of debris that cover these neighborhoods. national weather service has classified the tornado formally as at least an e-f-4. the search continues under flood light. some of the missing children have now been found at area churches and nearby. there are some miraculous stories tonight. and they are searching to find more children.

On some folks. but many cases of impalements and crush injuries, as well. >> without getting too graphic, can you explain the impalement? >> a tornado, f-4 or f-5, i am not sure. but tornadoes at that force, have you debris whipping around everywhere. its easy for small objects to go through the human body. obviously, thats what happened. >> wow. that is pretty graphic. the word itself is pretty graphic. >> right. >> tell me, what else would you like the individuals, the viewers who are watching...

Have a plan. whether you have 13 minutes or 45 minutes of lead time, there has to be a plan for reasons just like this. >> you saw the damage last night. that was shawnee and those were mobile homes. what we see today were not mobile homes. these were real house built structures, nailed to the foundation or to the slab, and they were devastated just like those mobile homes were yesterday. this is a big tornado. >> thats exactly what they will be evaluating of course, is between the ef-4 and whet...

Go of some of the hope and the concerns and the hope that perhaps there are children who are alive. he says they dont really think so anymore. >> it is heartbreaking. dark. quieter. fewer people at the scene. less hope. we are following the story. the country is following the story. u.s. president barack obama signing a disaster declaration for oklahoma, releasing federal aid to the tornado struck state. he spoke with governor mary fallin earlier monday, telling oklahoma is on his and the first ...

This. and you and i were looking at this damage. were looking at pretty close to f-5 damage. >> were talking about damage that we were seeing out towards joplin and of course, we compare it to tuscaloosa. you talk about these homes being completely wiped off their foundations. thats where we start saying this could potentially be stronger than an ef-4. were also looking for multiple level buildings and when were seeing those completely leveled, that also indicates there is the chance here that t...