Getting under way after intense twisters reported in oklahoma, nebraska and missouri. One dead. Crushing the town of quapaw near the kansas border. Another death reported in iowa but those numbers are shotchanged. At least 18 of those deaths 16 of those deaths are in Central Arkansas. A massive twister. Half a mile wide. Wiping out home after home in the northern suburb us of little rock. Lets bring in chad myers live from mayflower, arkansas, a small town, chad that really got the brunt of this storm. Reporter it certainly did, the tornado touched down rather quickly and it became large very quickly. We have now reports, were going to talk to a storm spotter who saw this live. Youre going to talk to him in just a second. Hes going to think that this is probably an ef4 or ef5 tornado. I can only see ef3 damage. Thats it behind me. That is a store that is no longer a store, but you can still see where the walls are or at least were. That operates it was not a storm of 200 Miles Per Hour or more. At least not here. Were standing on the edge of i40 here, north of little rock, but we are sure that the death toll is going to rise today. Scenes of devastation this morning after a series of deadly tornadoes ripped across the midsouth on sunday. The hardest hit, arkansas. The massive destruction resulting in the most deaths. More than 100 people treated at various local hospitals. Oh, wow, guys. My ears are popping. Yep, were in it right now. Were in the tornado. Reporter a tornado as much as a halfmile wide with winds estimated up to 150 Miles Per Hour demolished the area of little rock, leaving the towns of mayflower and downtown vilonia in ruins. Theres a few buildings partially standing but the amount of damage is tremendous. Reporter civilians and rescue workers frantically searching interstate littered with crushed or vehicles. Witnesses saw this deadly twister in quapaw. Flattening homes. The brutal barrel of tornadoes battling north injuring several people. Officials say the storms destroyed at least 70 homes and at least 20 businesses were leveled. All at once we heard the sirens going off. And everybody was told to get to the bathroom. And we did. And we heard this cracking and breaking. Reporter First Responders out in full force, urgently going house to house, checking on residents and setting up emergency shelters for those now homeless. Things can be replaced or rebuilt. Family cannot be. Reporter that tornado was one of several tearing through parts of kansas and missouri. Leaving trails of devastation in their paths. As we arrive on the scene last night, we saw families calling for their pets. They were lost in the storm. We know there are families that have also lost loved one its in storm as well. The rescue continues, but this area is so long, the devastation is so long, all the way from mayflower, you can look at it on the map. All the way from el paso, miles and miles of destruction. Many homes destroyed. And not enough First Responders, at least when we got here to cover the homes that are flattened, chris. This area is say big mess this morning and were hoping they find more survivors in the rubble. All right. Chad, give us updates what you learn there on the ground. We want to get to somebody who has lived through. And helping his Community Recover from it. James firestone, hes the mayor of vilonia, very hard hit. Mr. Mayor, you can hear justice. Yes, sir. I know you got a lot of work this morning but we want to help you get the word out of need for your community. What did you live through there . Well, a little bit before 8 00 last night. The storm signs had gone off. All of a sudden, of course, it sounds like a train coming which is all too familiar because we went through this almost exactly three years ago. It was three years and two days ago we went through the same thing. The storm here, its almost the same path. It struck the Southwest Corner of town first. Came across all the way way across the city, probably a 6 1 2 to 7mile track across. And last time, we were an ef2 and it did a lot of damage, you know, blew shingles off roofs. Broke out windows. Privacy fences were blown down. Trees but this time, the storm was much stronger. Buildings are completely leveled. Very few walls left standing in its path. Just a tremendous amount of damage. Its just hard to look at and believe this happened to us. Its a terrible coincidence. No two ways about that. Was there advance warning, were people able to evacuate and shelter in place. What do you know about the human cost . Yes, sir, i think thats probably going to help us as far as our casualties. Of course, the Weather Service had been predicting an outbreak of storms all weekend. So everybody was on the lookout, on edge. We actually the Fire Department turned the storm sirens on about 45 minutes before the storm actually hit, which gave people a lot of time. I had folks call me that wanted to know if the storm shelters were going to be open. In fact, we had a grant to build a shelter at the school after the 2011 storm, and i was told there were between 300 and 4 people in that shelter from the storm here. Thats good news that you were a little bit ahead of it. Luckily, if theres any luck involved with this, it was the weekend so, you didnt have to deal with all the kids being at school. How are you . How is your family . How is your home . My family and i were in a safe room. I did not have any damage to my house. Very fortunate. A lot of other folks here werent that lucky. One of the worst parts about a tornado is how random it is in terms of who gets destroyed and who winds up making it through. But obviously, its horrible for everybody trying to recover. We know how to reach us, mr. Mayor. We want to be here to get out the word of whats needed as you go through the recovery process. Please let us know what we can tell people to send that way, other than prayers which im sure you want for everybody. Stay in touch with us, let us know what you need. And what you discover. Okay. Thank you. You see that video right there, what the storm looked like as it was coming through. As the mayor said, its a good thing it was on the weekend. The threat of weather is not over yet. Several states still facing thunderstorms potentially dangerous weather in coming days. Lets go to meteorologist indra petersons. Wheres it headed right now . Thats right. We have the threat, even moderate risk of Severe Weather today. Lets talk of what we saw yesterday. 31 reports of tornado damage. You can see the Straight Line wind damage as well as the system did make its way across. One of these tornadoes was a longterm tornado. You can actually see how far this tornado made its way across. Reports say foundations were having homes and buildings completely ripped down. It was an ef4, possibly an ef5. The national Weather Service does need to go out and survey that damage to indicate whether or not it was of strength. Looking at may flower, you see that pink there. This morning, the concern is still there. Were talking about currently tornado watch boxes out towards memphis, just ahead of jackson, out towards alexandria. Were still looking for it to ramp up even through the afternoon. Why . We have the dry moisture and system making its way across. But notice another moderate risk area is out there. Heightened risk from huntsville, down through jackson. And this threat continues even as we go through tomorrow. The system pushes through the country. Overnight tonight, you need to stay aware. Were talking about 55 Million People still looking at a slight risk for Severe Weather. So hardly out of the woods yet. Thank you so much. Is the risk Going Forward the same as it was for what they dealt with last night . At one point they did have a high alert. We could see that heighten through the afternoon. Through tomorrow, a slight risk but expansive. So nothing to shrug off . Definitely never shrug it off no matter what risk. The australian Prime Minister has announced a new phase in the operation, an expanded underwater search utilizing private contractors. And hes saying it could last months. Right now the bluefin 21 submersible is on its 16th mission scanning the motion floor looking for any signs. We have cnns Miguel Marquez in perth, australia. He has more. Miguel, what do we know . Good morning, chris. Look, this is going to be a multilevel effort that could span at best say say, eight months, if they go that larger search. The bluefin 21 is going to continue to search the area north of the pinger. U. S. Navy telling cnn the next likely area that would be searched is where the first ping was picked up which say few miles north of that. The water gets deeper there. They might other devices to search that area. If they dont find it in any of those area, the Prime Minister is talking about going to an area of 26,600 square miles big. To date, they have searched about 150 square miles of that. So it is a massive, massive, undertaking. They are saying right now if they dont find it in the most promised areas that they will be forced to go to a much broader search which at the very best could take up to eight months. Michae michaela. All right, miguel, well delve into that as it comes to new day. Clippers owner Donald Sterling is accused of making offensive remarks of africanamericans on audio reports released online. Sterlings own team wore their warmup shirts backwards in silent protest. Several nba superstars as well as the naacp say that sterling should go with those reports. Dan, im sure this is the talk of the town. Good morning, michaela. Well, mr. Sterling was nowhere to be found during the clippers tough loss yesterday in oakland. The team moves to los angeles tomorrow night and, boy, things have really gotten explosive. Reporter the l. A. Clippers took to the court on sunday, stripping off their warmup uniforms in solidarity. The teams tshirts with the logo invisible. A sign of protest. After an audio surfaced on tmz sports a man reportedly sterling with a conversation. People call you and say i have black people on my instagram. And it bothers you. Yeah, it bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that youre associating with black people. Do you have to . Youre associate with black people. Im not you and youre not me. Youre supposed to be a delicate latino girl. Im a mixed girl. Reporter this exchange allegedly erupting after sterling saw this photo posing with nba legend Magic Johnson. And i took a picture with someone i like. Good. And he happens to be black and im sorry. I think the fact that you admire him ive known him hell and he should be admired. Magic johnson outraged over sterlings alleged comments. Were all upset. If youre going to be like this, why are you owning a team in the nba which is, what, over 70 africanamerican basketball players. So i think he should step down. Reporter the nba now watching that as fans, players and officials experience their disgust. With comments like that it affects our game. We cant have it. We cant have it from an owner, a player, so on. Theres absolutely no place in the nba family for ignorance, intolerance, reprehensible comments that are unacceptable and not fit for what this league is all about. Reporter well, Donald Sterlings wife of 50 years yes, he is still married. She was at the game. She told espn, quote, im not a racist and she does not condone whats on that tape although she does not confirm it was her husband. She filed a lawsuit against her husbands girlfriend claiming that she came into some possessions fraudulently, those polgsz, a ferrari, a range rover and a 1. 8 million in beverly hills. She said those are gifts given to her by mr. Sterling and she has done nothing wrong. The whole situation say big mess. Not a lot of love for this guy in l. A. But the fans are devoted to the team. Hard to reconcile those two things, the team and the owner and the players. We have out this birdsong, Kevin Johnson, greg anthony, and Dominique Wilkins. Well get their word on this mess in los angeles. Kevin johnson said it will be a defining moment for the league. Its complicated. Not illegal. A question of how do they deal with it. Coming up on new day homes flattened, lives lost. The risk isnt over yet. Were going show you the devastation and despair. Were going to talk with a storm chaser, watch his account and hear what she saw. And the search for the search for flight 370. 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He gets a ready for you alert the second his room is ready. When sales rep Steve Hatfield books at laquinta. Com, so he knows exactly when he can prep for his presentation. And when steve is perfectly prepped, ya know what he brings . And thats how youll increase market share. Any questions . Can i get an a, steve . Yes three as amazing sales he brings his agame la quinta inns and suites is ready for you, so youll be ready for business. The ready for you alert, only at laquinta. Com la quinta hooking up the country whelping business run trains they haul everything, safely and on time. Tracks they connect the factories built along the lines. And that means jobs, lots of people, making lots and lots of things. Lets get your business rolling now, everybody sing. Norfolk southern whats your function . Helping this big country move ahead as one Norfolk Southern hows that function . We are are going from the current phase to a phase which is focused on searching the ocean floor. Over a much larger area. A much larger area. Welcome back to new day. That was australias Prime Minister tony abbott announcing that the search for flight 370 has now entered a new phase. Its going to expand under water for several months as crews no longer expect to find any debris on the surface of the indian ocean. Lets discuss this very new Big Development with cnn analyst david gallo. And shawn puchnicki from ohio state university. Good morning to both of you. Good morning. So, david, we projected this was going to happen once they covered that initial search area. Theyve now expanded did saying it could take up to eight months to cover. How do you tack that . Well, you know, its something we do routinely in the ocean floor. Mapping the seafloor. Even with air france 447, we had about five square miles. Its not insurmountable. But the problem is, when you expand the scale, you have to be very careful not to sacrifice resolution for range. Not to try to cover more ground and give up what you see, the detail that you see. How do you do that . What equipment do you bring in, and how much, david . Well, theres different kinds. Theres towed sonars as weve talked before. Towed sonars and auvs in the mix. Its going to be important to come up with the right plan, right people, right Technology Getting out there. Time to do serious thinking who does what. And, sean hour, do you do serious thinking about who does what . Well, its just a matter of basically retooling this investigation. Deciding that the data points that we had taken us to this conclusion. Looks like that hasnt worked out. So now, we need to go to different areas. And when youre looking at those different areas as dave can tell you, depending on the depth and the terrain, thats going to decide the different types of equipment that youre going to bring into the new phase of the investigation. And what does it mean to you, shawn, when they say theyre kind of moving away from military assets talking about bringing in commercial assets . How does that change the arrangement . How does that change the search . Well, certainly, theres going to be different arrangements. Different arrangements, financially, is what i meant to say. And that obviously all has to be coordinated. And it involves more people to make that happen. But what that does also is brings in different types of technologies that might be available at the commercial level that may not be available for the ships they already had. So with the other ships coming back to perth in the last day or so, its a matter of saying, okay, these vehicles. These vessels, no longer possess the capability of new search. Were not looking for the batteries anymore. The pings are definitely gone. So those vehicles that had that capability, we can excuse them from participating anymore. In fact, their assets are no longer as value yablg. And, david, this shouldnt be viewed this move of kind of looking into arrangements with commercial organizations that shouldnt be viewed as nations no, nations arent giving up. Same with air france 447. Its just the kinds of people that have the technologies necessary to get to that water depthin fact, bluefin being operated by Phoenix International, i think Phoenix International will still be in the mix. At least i hope so. It brings in the academic partners like the oceanographic deomark in germany. Just widens the field of people who can participate. Widens the field of people who can participate but also widens the search. One thing theyre turning away from, tony abbott said its highly unlikely that any debris is going to be found on the ocean