teams with -- he has to deal with the tornado devastation back here at home. i'm wolf blitzer and you're in "the situation room." >> it's been almost 24 hours since the people of joplin, missouri hid in their homes as the tornado tore through their city. officials say 116 people were killed and many more injured. this makes this storm tied for the second deadliest twister. the toll is expected to climb as one resident puts it. everybody's going to know people who are dead. a massive rescue operations under way that has been hampered by more bad weather. many pipes are damaged. despite the obstacles of success today, the governor says that there were seven rescues. in some cases, entire families were pulled from the rubble alive. at least 2,000 buildings are damaged, including one of the city's two hospitals. brian todd is joining us from outside of that hospital. he's joining us live now. brian? >> reporter: wolf, as you can see, we're getting another thunderstorm. they have been rolling through here all day today. driving rain, lightning, thunder, really hampering rescue efforts. it's hard for these teams to search grid by grid like they like to do and pick out rescuers. but they have rescued seven people today. that's a positive. on the negative side, confirmed 116 people dead and more than 400 injured. we're going to trek into this building here. this is st. johns regional medical center. the whole front of the building sear off and some of the top sl damaged as well. an suv and van on top of a pickup truck here. it's a mess. cars tossed on top of other cars are all over the place here. here's a look at the position between what gets hit and what doesn't. look at this neighborhood over here. everything is flattened. trees uproaded and everything is brick, mortar, boards, all over the place. and then you truck to the right, look at the towns over there. there was damage to the roof but otherwise did not get very much damage. right now this rain is hampering rescue efforts. >> all right, brian. thank you very much. in the meantime, a pastor who survived the tornado, he doesn't know which was worse, the wind outside or the rain. lisa sylvester has more pictures and stories. lisa? >> this is completely unbelievable. we are talking about a tornado hitting square on a city. it was terrifying. we have dramatic pictures and sound as the tornado moved through joplin. >> oh, my gosh. there it is. there it is. >> the monster tornado whipped up winds up to 190 to 198 miles per hour. you can't see much here but listen as the tornado howls through, captured with a cell phone camera. isaac was huddled with 20 others in an industrial refrigerator. >> everybody was trying to decide what to do and all of a sudden the glass in the front of the building got sucked out. basically the only thing left standing was the cooler that we were in. everything around it was gone. >> houses and businesses left behind like broken twigs. joplin, st. joseph. everything out of place, including this wheelchair. >> it's indescribable. i don't know what to say other than that. i've never seen anything like it. >> i'm 22 years old. i have a wife and two kids. we lost everything in the tornado. we're just trying to salvage what we can. >> the tornado cut a path four miles long and left an unbelievable trail mowing down anything in its way. but out of this, amazing stories from survivors. >> i was trapped in the bathroom because all of the dining room furniture came in. i thought it was buried. it was a very, very long tornado. >> we've got a lot of people that have died and this city is a resilient city. it was very humbling, all through the night, nobody could sleep. but we could hear emergency vehicles driving in from areas from hundreds and thousands of miles away. it's a sad time for our city but we're thankful for the people that are coming together and helping. >> now the focus, of course, is on the search for survivors and brian just told us that the weather has been a factor there, wolf. >> a heartbreaking story. i want to go back to the governor of missouri. brian, i hope that you can explain to us what they are doing and what the latest information is. >> reporter: back here now with the governor jay nixon, first tell us, this is another driving rain storm, one of many. how is it hampering the rescue effort? >> it's hard to get over the buildings and houses to find the people. we save seven people a day. we hope there are others down there. a couple families were in basements, heard the signals, they were saved. some of the businesses, the walls came in and they were able to find pockets. we believe there are other folks unaccounted for. we're going to go across every square foot of this with the hundreds of firefighters and first responders that are helping us lead that effort. >> is it too dangerous to go through the homes? >> we will make sure that they are safe. we have 265 guardsmen working with local troops. what we need to do is make sure the entire area and by the people know what they are doing. there are people down here that can be saved. >> reporter: what's the thing that most worries you? >> the thing that worries us most is the weather making it difficult for us. there are people underneath these buildings and piles of rubbish that are breathing that we need to get to. >> reporter: governor, best of luck. thank you for joining us. we appreciate it. wolf, you hear the crackle of thunder. it's hampering the rescue efforts. they've warned people not to go outside. >> give our best to joplin. we'll check back with you as well. the strength of the joplin tornado is classified as a 4 on the enhanced fujita scale, meaning that winds reached almost 200 miles an hour. only about 5% of tornadoes in the united states are above a 2. last month was the worst month for tornado deaths since the radar was deployed in the early 1990s. it saw three tornadoes reach level 5 and 12 reach level 4. let's bring in chad myers. what's going on here? all of these tornadoes that have been so devastating. >> yes, it is without a doubt extraordinary. and yesterday there was only one major tornado. we talk about it all the time there was one big tornado and it hit a city. that's always the risk. even if there's only one, sometimes the tornadoes will find the towns. i'm going to draw this out for you because it looks like a classic mesocyclone. we call it a super cell tornado. that right there is the town of joplin, missouri. right here, joplin, missouri. this is the other side. the wind going away and around at about 135 to 145 miles per hour last night. it was truly the only one. there's a potential in western oklahoma, but tomorrow is the day, tomorrow is the day that we could have significantly more tornadoes. here's why. because there will be warm air at the surface and cold air aloft, like a hot air balloon that rises because you fill it with the gas and the hot air goes up and balloon goes up. there goes the cell. it's a towering cumulus when it begins to rain, it changes because of the rainfall. but as it spins, if it's all by itself, like that one cell was yesterday, in joplin, it can spin a tornado out the bottom. that's what we're going to watch for the risk today and for a better chance for tomorrow. the one in joplin was called an hp, where it's a high precipitation thunderstorm. what that means is that if you were standing right here trying to look at the tornado that is right here, you would never see it because it's wrapped in rain. it's shrowded by rain. maybe that's why so many people died. otherwise you get a big tornado like that going through a big city, sometimes you just can't survive it unless you're underground. not everyone has basements there. >> that raises the question, we're told that there was 24 minutes of warning when people were alerted. guess what? a tornado is on the way. if there's another tornado heading towards a city or a town, remibld mind our viewers what they must do if they hear that a tornado is heading their way? >> if you're in an apartment building, let's start from scratch, and there are pictures that you will see and hear throughout the night, a three-story apartment building. the top floor is missing. it is gone. if you're on the top floor, you're not talking to me today. but if you know your neighbor on the first floor, your just fine. that was a survivable place, down at the bottom of the stairwell and in your neighbors' place at the lowest level. if you're in a basement, you're probably fine. but probably 70% of the people yesterday did everything right, they were inside. but the homes literally were shifted off the foundation. there was no place left for you to be safe from joplin, missouri, downtown, right here, this red zone, the zone of destruction here, because the pictures that we see, as we look down from the helicopter shots, we can see the slab where the house was. but we can't see anyplace for anyone to be safe, because the house is completely gone. the trauma of being hit by your own house as the house was swept off its foundation or swept off the slab is what killed people yesterday. sometimes some storms are so big you just can't survive. you do what you can. you do everything. you put a bicycle helmet on, a motorcycle helmet on, football helmet on. get under the stairwell. usually it's the strongest place it's where the biggest beam of woods are, get under a pool table or hair hockey table, grab all of the cushions off the couch and put those between you and the walls to try to stop that trauma as you get pushed around if your house gets a direct hit. that said, there was 80% of the town north of here and 20% of the town south of here that didn't get hit at all. no one bit. not one bit of damage. but if you were in the wrong place and people were in the town of joplin, you are going to either get injured or you're going to get killed. >> great advice from chad. thanks. a lot of people were involved, about 50,000 people live in joplin, missouri. about 400,000 people live within a 40-mile area around joplin. tourism is a major business, so is health care. both will be clearly devastated by this storm. bonnie and clyde had a hideout there. many people wrongly believe that the town was named after scott joplin. a lifelong resident of joplin said that the city now feels like the twilight zone. photos of destruction, he's been taking since then. stand by. and a volcano makes a mark on president obama's trip overseas. we're taking a closer look at the highs and the lows of his journey to connect with his irish roots. well, it doesn't matter. because it's about to change. there's a cheaper, cleaner way to fuel up now. the volt plugs into any socket, and fuels up at home. sure it could use gas, but for most commutes you won't need much, if any. so from now on, fuel tube... we'll just call you...plan b. the 2011 chevrolet volt. it's more car than electric. (announcer) everything you need to stay balanced on long trips. residence inn. >> announcer: this past year alone there's been a 67% spike in companies embracing the cloud-- big clouds, small ones, public, private, even hybrid. your data and apps must move easily and securely to reach many clouds, not just one. that's why the network that connects, protects, and lets your data move fearlessly through the clouds means more than ever. a contentious issue. jack is here with the cafferty file. jack? >> president obama was in ireland today. the first leg of a six-day trip to europe. as he travels to britain, france, and poland, u.s. tensions with israel and the overall instability in the middle east will likely be a recurring theme of destruction in the coming days. the president is still trying to navigate around comments that he made in the speech last thursday suggesting that peace talks between israel and the palestinian people should begin with the borders established before the 1967 war in which israel captured the gaza strip and parts of the west bank. palestinians claim that it's there and at the white house on friday, still came with the pre1967 borders has been a long held position but it's not stated very often. yesterday the president spoke before the apec committee. in an effort at damage control. and said they should be used as a starting point and land swaps should be part of a plan in order to be fair to both sides. president obama has said that he's trying to jump-start in order to slow growing momentum for a declaration of a palestinian state hood at the united stations. he hopes to convince his european counterparts to vote against that idea while he's on a trip to europe. the tensions between the two long-time allies remain high and the rhetoric coming out of israel has suddenly got inquite a bit sharper. here's the question. is president obama making it worse? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile. president obama has just departed ireland where he was welcomed with open arms by thousands. some of them potentially disstabt, very, very distant relatives, i should say. ed henry is traveling with the president. >> wolf, breaking news. the president has to leave ireland early because of some volcanic ash from ice land that he's probably sorry to be leaving here in a warm, irish embrace. >> reporter: the president did not seem to have the luck of the irish when his motorcade rolled out of dublin but it was a mere bump in the road. >> today the 44th american president comes home. he is the american dream. >> reporter: and with his irish eyes fixed with american voters back home. >> i'm happy to be in ireland. i'm happy to be with so many. >> reporter: the president milked his roots for all they are worth. >> my name is barack obama. of the moneygall obamas and i've come home to find me an apositive tree fee that we lost along the way. >> he also could not resist the scrutiny of a presidential campaign. >> check out the place of birth. >> reporter: the president was not born in ireland but his grandfather's grandfather was in a tiny town of moneygall where thousands waited in wind and rain just to shake hands with the president and first lady. there were hugs for the president's closest relative here. 26-year-old accountant henry heely who admitted that there's not much of a similarity. >> i've got a camera in front of my face and the president has one in his. >> reporter: there were signs for yes, we can. iconic posters from the 2008 campaign. >> you tell me when it's properly -- i don't want to mess this up. >> reporter: and you could see visions of a future campaign as the first couple knocked back some guinness. then mr. obama slapped money on the bar saying that he wants the world to know that the president pays his tab. now it's on to the uk, france, and poland for some more substantive discussions about the war in libya, mid-east peace, and the lingering global recession. wolf? >> ed henry travel swelling with the president. getting back to our top story, it was torn to pieces by the deadly toeshd. new insight into what was happening inside the joplin, missouri hospital at the very moment that the deadly twister hit. announcer ] in 2011, at&t is at work, building up our wireless network all across america. we're adding new cell sites... increasing network capacity, and investing billions of dollars to improve your wireless network experience. from a single phone call to the most advanced data download, we're covering more people in more places than ever before in an effort to give you the best network possible. at&t. rethink possible. ♪ well, you know i love it too ♪ ♪ you love money ♪ well, you know i love it too ♪ ♪ i work so hard at my job ♪ and then i bring it home to you ♪ ♪ i love money in my pocket we search, browse, and shop from anywhere. we live in a social world. isn't time we had a social currency to match? membership reward points from american express. use them to get the things you love on amazom.com. a monster, monster tornado and now 116 people are confirmed dead and hundreds more are injured and many of them seriously. a freelance photographer who has lived in joplin his entire life is capturing the devastation through his camera lens. eddie, first of all, tell us how you survived this tornado. >> well, i would say mostly by luck. i seemed to have dodged the bullet twice as i was trying to make my way home to try to avoid the tornado and the hail and i would say mostly by luck. >> so walk us through what happened. how much time did you have before you -- in other words, to prepare for a tornado? we know that they started giving alerts about 24 minutes in advance. but how much time did you have? >> well, at the time that they started to give the warnings, i was on the east side and i live on the southeast side. when i first heard the sirens i started heading home and it was just the first initial blast to let people know that there was a storm coming and as i made my way home i heard that there was tennis size hail coming our way. immediately i thought i better take refuge because the dark clouds were starting to roll in. i almost pulled into a car wash to take shelter from the hail. right then a friend of mine called and he wanted me to pick him up and take him some place safe. so i picked up my friend and as i got into my garage just in time to avoid the hail, because that's when the storm hit and it was pretty severe. we took shelter. and after the storm passed, we were heading across town to make sure that my friends were all right. and i saw the damage and the emergency vehicles and i brought my camera with me. i started walking south towards 30th. i got closer to 26th street on south main and saw the car wash where i almost pulled in and it was just devastated. >> the pictures, i about the way, are still photographs that you took. they are really amazing, the devastating images. describe the town now. what is it like? >> well, as i was saying yesterday, as i was walking down south main street, as i got closer to 26th, the damage just became more and more severe. and after a couple of blocks, a few blocks, it was hard to discern where you were at and hard to tell what street you were on. and you would look around and all you would see is devastation and debris from all around you. and it was more like walking through the twilight zone than walking down south main street in joplin. it was almost dizzying and it was the worst devastation that i had ever seen. >> it's amazing how these split second decisions that you make, like, for example, you were thinking of driving into that car wash, but your friend called you at the last second and you didn't. had you gone into that car wash, do you think you wouldn't have survived? is that what you're saying? >> that is probably a possibility that i would have been killed or at least injured. that area was just to the ground, pretty much. and it was just devastating. 26th and main was just flattened. you could look down 26th street and see st. johns hospital where normally you couldn't see anything. it was damaged and looking to the east you could see the horizon line and it was just flat where there used to be trees and houses. it was horrible. >> eddie, good luck to you and to all of the folks in joplin. eddie, thank you for sharing your pictures with us as well. the governor of missouri is asking people to pray for the city of joplin as rescuers search for survivors. the death toll, as we've been reporting, is up to 116. it will likely rise a full day after the monster twister hit. they are bracing for a new line of storms. jacqui jeras is joining us from joplin. tell us what is going on. >> well, the first good news that we've heard all day, is that seven people were rescued. so the search and rescue efforts are bringing in survivors. we don't know the conditions of those people but we do know that some of them were found at various res