Page 33 - Interstate 35 News Today

Okay. then we will go to anderson cooper, who will continue with our storm coverage. just a repeat, the national weather service has issued a tornado emergency for oklahoma city and the moore, oklahoma area. this is a very serious warning. it means that large destructive tornado is moving into a densely populated area, widespread damage and fatalities are considered likely. i now turn it over to anderson cooper. good evening, everyone. we begin tonight with breaking news. dangerous weather rig...

What seems like at least an hour. we are all the way down to where the turnpike which is not that far south of new castle which is where the first part of the moore tornado touched down. all these people, i believe theyre in a panic and were going nowhere. the police are trying to help but theres four lanes going south literally on a three lane road, almost. people are driving on the shoulder, on the left shoulder. i see police screaming north with their lights on, just trying to make one lane. ...

Airport. cnns samantha mohr is tracking the storm. samantha, what are you seeing now? >> we have been told by the national weather service its a really dangerous situation with cars stuck here on i-35, there is a tornado right in downtown oklahoma city, approaching downtown oklahoma city, so you need to get out of your vehicle and find safe shelter. if you know somebody who is stuck in traffic on i-35, give them a call right now, they do not want to be in their car when this powerful tornado com...

Five people were killed. so far as the number of injured, that stands at 71. in the oklahoma city area, george, describe what you are seeing, and the situation on the ground. >> reporter: we are seeing the sky line of oklahoma city. i can tell you that, you know, driving in off interstate 35, the highway is free and clear. there is rain coming down. heavy rain in spots, the drive in was not bad. it was fine. we do hear the reports of flooding. the reports of water rescues from our affiliates. we...

Of downtown oklahoma city. its jogged to the south a little bit but this is a very densely populated area that its moving into and this is the one that wreaked havoc earlier as it crossed the interstate. we have the second circulation in yukon -- >> samantha, im sorry, im just getting more information. i understand the national weather service -- >> 90 mile per hour winds moving into moore. excuse me. just getting reports of that. you can see this cell right here which has taken a little bit of ...

Height of the storm but you they didnt. >> no, unfortunately. im afraid we are unable to reach some people especially those that aret familiar with oklahoma and arent familiar with the tornadoes that we do have here. if they are traveling, you know, i-40, i-35 is a huge corridor say cross the nation. >> shepard: of course. >> and if people arent listeñing to radios as they are traveling they essentially drive in tornadoes and can be deadly. we know we haded a mother and a baby that were killed ...

College softball world series. these young women were herded into what is hopefully a safe place underground, theyre there from around the country, to compete in the world softball series. the day didnt go as planned. lets go to betsy randolph of oklahoma highway patrol. i would imagine you are all very busy today. >> let me tell you, it has been absolutely chaotic. the storms that touched down were so widespread, they just essentially tracked along i-40. they came through oklahoma city metro ar...

Louis, this kind of weather event? >> no, it is not, no, absolutely not. we deal with this every year in the spring. this is something that we deal with on a yearly basis. we had some tornadoes go through a couple years ago, devastating. obviously joplin was hit, everybody is aware of that. this is an area that deals with tornadoes on a regular basis. >> whats next for your city as far as assessing damage and finding people that might need help? >> well, at this point we have every available tro...

Highway. i-35. they both intersect in the middle of the city. you constantly had a great deal of traffic on those roads from people that arent around here so you put those two things together and you really got a traffic snarl in the middle of really severe weather where everyone would be better off someplace off that road. >> absolutely. representative tom cole, were very glad that youre safe, sir despite your lack of power and thank you for your time. best of luck to you and your fellow oklaho...

Mother and baby, killed in the suv, when it flipped out. youve got i-40, i-35 that got just bumper-to-bumper traffic as people tried to get away. what happened there? >> there was an unusually large amount of people on the roadways for reasons that are still unclear to me. the best way to avoid a tornado is to stay where you are, get as low as you can, and get as many walls between you and the storm as possible. usually thats interior closet or small room, you do that, youll survive 999 out of 1...