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Here. it s a little chilly now. i hope it warms up once that sun comes up. we all know the news cycle is going to move on. here in moore, oklahoma, they re going to be struggling with this for a long, long time. we want to pass along important information in how you can contribute. americares.org and the american red cross. you have to give now because this story will move on but they need the money now. make sure if you want to text red cross to 90999 or go online to redcross.org. we ll talk with americares.org later on. more on this on morning joe with mika and joe live in washington, d.c., when we come right back. [ kitchen counselor ] introducing cascade platinum. ....
Plaza towers elementary before the twister. take a look at that. and now what it looks like today. finally we want to take a look at the moore community as a whole. and the after picture of that. just complete and utter devastation. it s almost like it was absolutely steam rolled. on capitol hill, it didn t take long for politics to play a part in the effort to recover here. early in the day, president obama pledged federal aid for the victims during a statement at the white house promising, quote, everything the state needs right away. but already some budget hawks, including senator colburn from oklahoma hinted that any spending on disaster relief should be offset by spending cuts elsewhere in the federal government. and we asked senator colburn about his position. look, we have $11.8 billion in fema. it s not even a legitimate question. i was asked that question ....
That s what it looks like. i want to get to some of the details to get people up to speed. while the devastation surrounds me is overwhelming we do foe know that the death toll is not as high as had been previously reported from officials here in moore, oklahoma. authorities now say 24 people died in the tornado. the initial estimates were 51. of course, less than half the number they announced when it initially touched down. they double counted in the chaos of the initial reporting. 9 of those 24 were children. some people will point to this type of information as good news. we re going to talk to chris jansing in a little bit and we ll talk all day. people are going to be buried this week and people died. and so even though it s less than expected, it is still an extreme tragedy. we do expect that death toll could rise. there are now 237 reported injuries. we also know the identities of two of those. and slowly the information will tricket out. ....
Oklahoma is unlike anything i ve ever seen before. and what s become cliche is really true. whether people talk about it as looking like a movie set or being surreal. if you want to pan off over here and you really get an insight. you almost feel like you re violating people s private lives by walki ining down the street. you have teddy bears, things part of people s homes and it s difficult to even consider what that might mean if you were in the same kind of situation. and nobody walks down the street even if they ve been here for two days now has a different reaction. it s just something you have to see for yourself. the images we try to bring them to you as best we can but it really does not do justice if you have ever had a home, what it means to see it completely destroyed. we re not talking about being blown over. the best way it was put to me was you put the home into a blender of humanity and put it on the frap setting. ....
see what happens with that one. coming up at the top of the hour on morning joe, our coverage of the tornado here in oklahoma will continue. joe and mika will talk to the head of fema. and we ll have more way too early when we come right back. [ agent smith ] i ve found software that intrigues me. it appears it s an agent of good. [ agent smith ] ge software connects patients to nurses to the right machines while dramatically reducing waiting time. [ telephone ringing ] now a waiting room is just a room. [ static warbles ] [ telephone ringing ] and i ve been around theing room toughest guys in football.room. and now i m training guys who leak a little to guard their manhood. with man style protection. whoa. of new depend shields and guards. who are you? ....