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and good morning. welcome to "today" on a monday morning. i'm matt lauer. >> i'm meredith vieira. your heart goes out to everyone in joplin when you see these devastating images of what the tornado did. >> when we arrived yesterday we knew it was a bad story. we heard 25 to 30 people had died in the last hour. the number has gone to 89 and could go higher. >> they are saying 25 to 30% of the city is damaged by the tornado. >> among the buildings that took a direct hit, the town's hospital. doctors and nurses had just moments to scramble patients into hallways. to give you a sense of the twister's power, x-rays and medical records from inside the hospital building have now been found more than 60 miles away. >> missouri's governor declared a state of emergency and activated the national guard. entire neighborhoods have been turned into debris fields littered with the splintered remains of cars, homes and trees. this morning, more severe weather could be on the way. we'll get right to al roker. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, matt and meredith. that was st. johns hospital. this is a parking lot. there were cars there, completely packed. the cars are now strewn as far as the eye can see. 360 degrees of devastation. we'll show you the radar as it comeses in. this is the radar and bringing in that line of thunderstorms. by 6:45, boom. it just comes slamming into joplin, missouri, creating what is now the deadliest tornado in missouri history. with 89 people confirmed dead and the number likely to rise. to give you a sense of the devastation, the 360-degree arc, this was a neighborhood. as far as the eye can see, there is nothing but devastation. as the search and rescue teams into into neighborhoods looking for survivors or worse, the cleanup is just beginning. >> oh, gosh. okay. got it. >> oh, my gosh. >> reporter: the eye of the storm -- joplin, missouri. >> that is a monster tornado. >> reporter: a massive one half to three-quarters of a mile wide tornado tore through joplin, blowing debris 18,000 feet into the air. >> bad. oh, my gosh. this is awful. >> i don't know what that was. >> this is -- look at that. that is destroyed. >> this was an f-4 or f-56789. >> two of the trees -- the trees are debarked. >> reporter: streets and neighborhoods stripped bare in moments. within moments, rescue workers raced to the scene to rescue those trapped in the rubble. mike bets wtes was chasing the tornado and arrived ten minutes after it hit. >> we rolled up maybe 45 minutes ago. i have witnessed fatalities in joplin. we are trying to figure out if anyone needses help. people are scrambling right now. take a scope of the damage. it's taking my breath away here. multiple homes, businesses destroyed. cars have been flipped. mangled debris everywhere you look. people are trying to help any way they can. people being pulled out of buildings this evening as well. we have come across many people that need as much help as possible. i think they will be overwhelmed with the amount of damage, injuries and fatalities here. they need help in joplin. >> i got in the basement, put my arms over my head and it caved in on me. >> reporter: one of the area's primary sourceses of emergency care -- st. johns regional medical center -- was destroyed. >> the backup generators got hit. no power. there was nothing but darkness. the wind just started blowing the doors open. stuff started just flying. we all got down on the floor and just prayed that we made it through. >> reporter: the raw emotion of the moment was difficult, even for a seasoned reporter. >> people are looking for family members. if you look at this neighborhood, all i can say is it lookses reminiscent of what we saw last month in -- excuse me. in tuscaloosa. yeah. it's tough. no question about that. it's a very tragic scene in jopl joplin, missouri. tornado devastation as far as the eye can see. in the distance beyond the firefighters doing search and rescue we have fires that are erupting in joplin. it really is an unfolding scene. changeses minute by minute. neighbors are trying to pull -- oh, they just pulled out their dog. that is great. they just pulled the dog. he looks to be okay. that's great news. neighbors have been telling us, i know my neighbor is in there. it's too dangerous to get in there and there aren't enough first responders to deal with the immense tragedy that's here. >> reporter: joplin wasn't the only midwest area hit hard this weekend. tornadoes touched down in oklahoma and minneapolis, killing at least one person there. hail the size of golf balls pelted nebraska. but back here in hard-hit joplin, as dusk settled, so did the harsh reality of all that's been lost. >> they had a theater and a play this evening. we had to dig through there and actually did have a couple dead in there. >> reporter: and joining me now, the weather channel's mike bettes. mike, that was incredible reporting on an incredible situation. has it all sunk in yet? >> sort of. you know, i don't think any of us think we'll be witness to something like this. i think i just got overcome. so many people are devastated. they are very emotional and that carries over when you're out there looking at it. look at it, al. it's completely flattened. it's very tough for people who live here. it's tough to be amongst this and we were literally here ten minutes after the tornado hit. >> reporter: you were held up by hail from the tornado which probably saved your life. >> we have been out here on a two-week project storm-chasing. it hailed and rained so hard we had to stop in our vehicles. had we not we would have been in joplin when the tornado hit. our crew is fine. they're safe, but a lot of people aren't. our hearts go out to them. >> reporter: probably will never be the same again. mike, thankses for your work. the sad part is we have to worry about another risk -- a strong risk of devastating weather here. it's a wide swath stretching from dallas into the northeast. as you take a look as far as missouri is concerned, you can see from dallas on up into springfield and little rock, we are looking at the possibility of strong storms, tornadoes possible here. we have also got to add to that strong rain, heavy rain coming in. you can look on the radar. right now we have clear skies but it will be firing up again. rainfall amounts anywhere from two to four inches of rain. so we have flood watches and warnings up for a good portion of missouri. as you can see the rainfall amounts anywhere from two to four inches. but the big fear now, matt, is that if there is a tornado here, god forbid there is, there is nowhere to go. there is no place for anybody to take shelter. there is no shelter. so we pray to god this doesn't happen again, we don't have a repeat of this later today. matt? >> our thoughts and prayers go out to the people of joplin and other hard-hit areas. try to imagine what it's like to survive something like this. a group of people rode out that tornado at a gas station in tornado and posted the chilling situation on youtube. listen to the terror as the twister hits. >> oh, my god! >> it's okay. >> i think we're going to do it. [ screaming ] >> oh, my god. >> jesus, jesus. >> mitch randalls is the fire chief in joplin, missouri. chief, good morning to you. >> good morning. >> just give me a sense where you are concentrating and the personnel are concentrating efforts this morning. >> well, we have completed or we are working to complete an initial search of the damaged area which is about a six-mile-long, half-mile-wide swath through the center portion of joplin. in about an hour, we're going to swap out those crews that have been up all night in searching those areas with some fresh crews and start the fwrdoor-to-r search of those areas again in the sunlight and daylight looking for survivors, people that are trapped and people in need of assistance so we can steer them to assistance they need. >> chief, al roker just said there could be more severe weather in the area. where are you taking people? there are no shelters there anymore to get them out of harm's way? >> well, we do have a few shelters that we have opened. one is at missouri southern state college. i believe the other is at one of the middle schools in town. we are trying to get folks in and out of the weather in case that comes to fruition here. we are, of course, hoping for no more weather like yesterday and the rain will hamper some of the rescue efforts and make it more difficult to get out there and do the rescues and searching for the trapped and the injured still. >> chief, obviously your official dutieses are to oversee this search and rescue and recovery effort. you're a resident as well. i understand you lost your own home. >> yep. yes, i did. >> is your family okay? was anyone there? >> luckily, we were attending my son's graduation at the local high school last night when the storm warnings went out. i took them to work with me to the fire station. so i did have my entire family with me at the fire station when it hit and destroyed our home. >> i'm sorry for the loss of your home. we are thinking about all the people in that area who lost not only homes but loved ones. our best wishes to you, chief. thanks for joining us this morning. >> thank you. >> 11 after the hour. here's meredith. >> ken ayton was working in his garage when the tornado hit. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> at first you thought this was going to be a small storm. at what point did you realize it was a big deal and you needed to take cover? >> well, i first realized it -- my dogs told me before the sirens did. they were going crazy. i realized something was wrong, so i brought them in and the sirens went off. i credit my dogses with helpinge get ready for the storm. >> you got in your bathtub because you heard stories of people surviving like that. can you describe the moments the tornado ripped through your neighborhood? >> yeah. i started looking out my bathroom window just to see what the wind was doing. i saw one tree whying back and forth. it went right down. second tree, almost right after that. the third tree, i decided i was getting in the bathtub. i heard of houses being levelled and people saved by being in the bathtub even though it was on my outside wall. i covered up with the pillows and waited to see what would happen. >> how frightened were you, ken? >> i was scared to death. i really, quite frankly, didn't think i would be standing here today talking to you. >> once the tornado passed through -- your house is one of two left standing in the neighborhood -- you walked out to look at the damage. what did you see? >> i don't know if you can see the devastation where i'm at. our town is eight mileses to the east here and it is exactly the same. trees down, levelled houses. you know, i just don't understand why my house is still standing or the other one. i had two cars parked in the driveway. one totaled, one not touched at all. >> ken, do you know about your neighbors? as i said before, almost all the houses were destroyed. are the people who lived in them okay as far as you know? >> yes. that's the one thing that amazed me. we all came out and checked up on each other and made sure we were all okay. from all over the neighborhood. so, you know, it made me feel good about the safety of everybody where i'm at. >> i know you moved to your sister-in-law's. she lives in an area unaffected by the tornado. al reported there is the possibility of more tornadoeses toda today. how are you preparing for the possibility? >> right now, we haven't thought about that actually. we want to go back to our house today and try to assess for madge. if it's going to rain, like they say, i have leaked all over the house because the roof is uncovered. her house has a down stairs. i guess that's where we'll be if it happens. >> all right. also dealing with gas leaks in the neighborhood. thank you for your time. our thoughts and prayers are with you and all the folks in joplin, missouri. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. much more from joplin throughout the morning. brian williams will be in joplin live tonight on nbc "nightly news". >> ann is at the news desk with the headlines. good morning to you. >> good morning, matt and meredith, and to all of you. in one of the taliban's most daring raids in years a major pakistani navy base was invaded last night where insurgentses destroyed u.s. aircraft and killed at least 12 pakistani security officers. at least a dozen insurgents remained there in morning in a stand-off. russ russia's vladimir putin will apparently run for president. it could mean a power struggle with the current president. putin's one-time protege dmeetry medved medvedev. during a four-minute conversation the hikers told their families they staged a hunger strike after they were presented from getting letters from home. another icelandic volcano is going on. a cloud of ash shot into the sky on sunday and could reach spanish, french and scottish air space this week. and the classmates of the youngest victim of the shooting in tucson, arizona, had an out of this world conversation last night. [ cheers and applause ] >> commander mark kelly, the husband of wounded arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords told the classmates of 9-year-old christina taylor-green it's important to work hard in school. it is now 7:17. back to meredith and matt. one thing when your parents say it. maybe a bigger message from mak impression when it comes from outer space. >> we're going to head back to al in joplin, missouri, for more on today's weather. al? >> well, meredith, thank you. and as you look, we've got a shot of the sunrise. it's very deceptive because it's really a beautiful morning coming up over this horrible devastation, just horrendous devastation. and within the next few hours, the weather conditions are going to change drastically here. we are in the middle of a moderate risk of strong storms making their way toward this area. and it is going to be just horrible. take a look at the map. it's a wide area that joplin, missouri, is just smack dab in the middle. from dallas all the way to western new york, the mid-atlantic states, we have the possibility of large hail, damaging winds and tornados. again, the possibility of tornados. heavy rain making its way in. rainfall amounts anywhere from 2 to 4 inches of rain over a wide swath. that's what's going on around the country. here's what's happening in your neck of the woods. good morning. it is cloudy, warm and humid. radar not picking up any rain close to washington, but there are a few showers right along the northern blue ridge, northern shenandoah valley drifting east. might have a passing shower another hour or so but otherwise the main threat will be afternoon and early evening thunderstorms, some of which could be severe with damaging winds and hail. highs before that under a partly sunny sky climbing into the low and mid-80s. a smaller chance of afternoon storms tomorrow. then an increased chance again on that's your latest weather. matt? >> now to presidential politics. tim pawlenty is throwing his hat in the ring for the gop nomination. he's in des moines, iowa, for his formal announcement today. good morning. >> good morning. >> let me ask you the simple question. why do you want to be president? >> i want to be president because america is in trouble. our finances are out of control. the debt and deficit aren't being tackled by the current president. i have experience in minnesota as governor in tackling spending. i balanced budgets. i got an a rating from the cato institute. one of only four governors to do it and the other four aren't running for president. president obama doesn't have the courage to look the american people in the eye and tell them the tough truth of what we have to do to get spending under control. >> since you talk about balancing budgets and the record in minnesota, let me ask you about this. a former republican governor of the state of minnesota, arnie carlson, had this to say about your time there and your fiscal responsibility. quote, i don't think any governor has left behind a worse financial mess than he has. this is a republican saying that. how do you respond? >> well, actually arnie carlson had become an obama and john kerry supporter and said he'd left the republican party some years ago. it's not accurate. every time during my time as governor -- eight years, four budget cycles, i balanced the budget every time. the last one ends this summer and it will still end in the black. they are talking about a projected deficit down the road based on big spending increases i don't support and wouldn't allowed had i continued as governor. >> takes a lot of money to run for president, especially going against mitt romney who has a lot of money and can raise a lot. some of the thinking was donors may have been sitting on the sidelines waiting to hear what mitch daniels was going to do. he announced he won't run. i know you have reached out to those donors. what response are you getting? >> the response has been good. we are not going to be the money champion. mitt romney will be the front-runner in that regard. but we'll have enough money to run a successful campaign. it may not be the bmw or mercedes campaign but it will be a buick or a cadillac and that will be enough to win. >> you're in the single digits. looks like mitt romney seems to be the front runnerer now. let me ask you a direct question. why would you be a better nominee than mitt romney? >> i don't criticize or draw contrastses to other people. i can tell you my strengths. when it comes to getting the federal spending, deficit and debt under control, like i said, there are only four governorses that got the a rating. i did. i cut taxes. did market-based government reform. performance pay for teachers. that's why outside groups are saying this is one of the best if not the best conservative record in the country. i'm proud of the record and it's a strength i bring to it. i have a background that a lot of american wills like. i grew up in a blue collar town. my dad was a truck driver. my mom was a home maker. those stories connect with people not just in terms of policy positions but a heart and gut level as well. >> people often look at you and say was there enough charisma for tim pawlenty to beat barack obama? what's your answer? >> i'm not running for entertainer in chief. these are serious people and they need serious solutions. if you're looking for a comedian, vote for somebody else. i'll fix the country. >> tim pawlenty, congratulations. come see us in studio, please. >> i'll do it, matt. thank you. >> thank you very much. we'll have much more on the deadly tornado that tore through joplin, missouri, where the cleanup is just beginning this morning. the search for survivors continues. but first this is "today" on nbc. 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