"outfront" tonight, breaking news in the midwest. death and destruction, more severe weather tonight, a series of tornados ripped through five states starting very, very early this morning. leaving a path of devastation in their wake. here is what we know at this moment. at least nine people so far confirmed dead. 100 are injured. more than 300 homes have been damaged or destroyed today and twisters touched down in kansas, missouri, illinois, indiana and kentucky. harrisburg, illinois was one of the hardest hit. the tornado hit just before 5:00 a.m. this morning. the mayor says despite the loss of life and property, his town will endure and he is "outfront" tonight. those images are stunning and disturbing. can you tell me when you found out about this? what you heard this morning when you woke up to this. >> well, actually this morning as the alarm was going off, sirens were going off about ten to 5:00, i woke up, got my family up. i went outside an was trying to assess where the tornado was coming at. you know, we had heard it was imminent and it was just a very eraerie feeling. the wind calmed, got very quiet and even during the sirens and you could hear the roar. immediately, the radio started going off saying the tornado was on the ground. just wreaking havoc on the southern part of the community and my son and i actually got in our -- in my vehicle and came out here and we were on the, we were here on the site within 20 minutes of the tornado coming through and it was just absolute devastation and this is just truly been a horrific day in harrisburg, illinois. the outpouring of support from our governor, from agencies, both federal, state and local, has just been tremendous. local communities have stepped up to help us today and you know, that's just something that i am so gracious and thankful for, is that everyone who has come to the rescue of harrisburg, illinois today. that speaks volumes to who we are as americans and hard working people in the midwest. >> as you were driving this morning, i'm sure what was going through your head, how many people have died or injured. obviously, people did die. have you accounted for everyone? do you know how many people exactly harrisburg has lost? >> we lost six of our citizens today. we actually lost two women and four men and we're just, it's a miracle that we didn't lose many, many more, but it's heartbreaking that we've lost the six we did lose. this was an f4 tornado with 170 mile winds, so it was just devastating and certainly, a horrific day in the history of harrisburg, illinois. this is the worst event that we have ever had this this community. >> and it seems like you were saying what happened, you went out, you didn't stay home. you went to the scene even as you heard the alarms. >> well, you know, i like to think that i'm, i represent a people, we're all alike. we don't run away from trouble. we run to it and see if we can help. it's been all hands on deck. i cannot begin to thank all the people, all the city workers that have been at this and will be at this for days to come. all of the emergency personnel and all the communities that have pitched in. all the neighboring communities. the neighboring community rocky james, the mayor there. he immediately sent his staff, his people to the city. they were here within the hour. so we actually assembled an army to try to deal with this devastating event here in harrisburg today and we're getting our hands around it and we're going to make sure that everyone is safe and those b that have been displaced, they have a place to stay tonight. they're going to be taken care of. they're going to have food, water, whatever they need. this is a community and an area that takes care of their own and we're going to rise to the occasion. we will rebuild this and we will be back. this is, you get knocked down, we're the kind of, we believe in getting back up and fighting hard to come back and that's what we're going to do. we just, our hearts are broken for those we lost and those that are injured and we just ask that everyone prays, keeps us in their thoughts and prayers. >> let me ask you about that warning system because some may be surprised there are warning systems. do you think the warning system worked? do you think it saved lives in harrisburg? >> oh, most definitely. it definitely saves lives. the warning system was going off here several minutes before the tornado hit. i talked to eyewitnesses out here in the area where it came through and they said that they did hear, they heard the sirens going off. they heard the tornado comeing and they did have time to take shelter with their loved ones, so the warning system saved many, many lives, but it's just very fortunate that during the time of the morning that this tornado came through, people aren't talking on their cell phones, aren't watching televisi television, aren't listening to the radio, therefore the communication we're so accustomed to during the daylight hours didn't play into this at night and it's very heartbreaking that we lost loved ones we might not have lost if this would have been in a different time of the day. >> thank you very much. the best of luck. you're a mayor, also a marketing executive. you are putting a lot aside to do this. so thank you very much for coming on. the tornado that ripped through illinois was an ef4, that is the second strongest tornado on the trail. 166 to 200 miles an hour. this one clocked in at 170 miles an hour and the path of destruction can be seen from kansas to kentucky. now, this man, you'll see, was in his trailer home in greenville, r kentucky when the tornado hit. >> and i got up and took two steps off the couch and then me and two dogs i have and the trailer started rolling down the hill and you can see what's left. and after i rolled five times, i mean i can remember everything about it, once it hit the ground on the fifth time, everything just, i saw daylight and i was sitting up against the stove down there just leaned up with my back against it, like i was sitting in a chair. joy to be here. because i don't know how. i don't know how i'm here. no doubt. good lord just didn't call me is all i know. wasn't my time. >> residents in harrisburg, illinois, as we were telling you, six of them died. four men and two women and many are still in the process of digging out. >> it's unbelievable. i can't believe the measure of damage it did to this building. it's like there was just no truckture and it just took it completely out. it's total devastation. i've not ever seen anything like it. i'm just glad that it happened at night and no one was at work. this would be horrible for people who have been in this building when that happened. >> the tornado that came through harrisburg was as wide as two football fields and it levelled a strip mall and tore the walls oaf a hospital. sandy webster is the red cross coordinator in southern illinois. appreciate your taking the time and given what we have just heard an seen with the hospital there, do you have the ability to take care of people that need help? >> absolutely. we geared up as soon as we got the call this morning at 6:30. we opened our shelter at 7:00 and it is open there for people to come to safety tonight and stay there. they can also get food there. in our crisis counselors are there. as well as a nurse. >> how did you mobilize so quickly? i think many people will watch this and say the alarms go off, 5:00 a.m. and here we are, 14 hours later and you've got food, medical care and shelter. it is incredible how quickly that could have happened. >> well, we had red cross volunteers on the ground that live here in this community. just right outside and so they were the first two ladies that opened up the shulter. so that helps and they're all trained. our shelters are predesigned, so we know kind of depending on where the disaster is, what shelters we will use and so we can just call them and say i need your shelter, we'll be there in an hour. so a lot is preplanning. the same with our trailer rs that have the cots and trailers. >> harrisburg is a city of 9,000 people. how many people do you have in shelters tonight? >> right now, we had 12 that was registered. today, people wanted especially after a tornado, they want to try to salvage as much they can. those precious photo albums that you can't replace and those type of things. tonight, later on, they will start coming in, which is about the way that it happens in a tornado like this. so, at midnight, we take another count to see how many ends up there after 8:00. >> thank you very much. we appreciate it. >> you're quite welcome. >> you hear about the devastation in harrisburg. but this went through five states and the tornado season itself usually begins in march. this particular storm system that we're seeing today is wreaking havoc as it continues to make its way across the country towards the east coast. there are people know who are at ricks of being affected or feeling these storms. chad myers is here with the latest. how unusual is this that this is so, i mean, it's a few days before march and how strong? >> typically, you will get storms in february. but maybe not ef4 tornados with those storms. march is the battleground, erin. it's when winter finally has to move away. summer has to move up. when the warm and cold bump into each other, that's spring saying come on, we want to push your back and trying to push that cold air back to canada. that's when the clash happens and causes storms, causing tornados. from philadelphia to d.c., we're seeing showers. a little thunder, but not severe, tornadic weather. we have a couple of red boxes from western virginia to mississippi. that's where the tornados may happen tonight. let me tell you this. i'm not going to scare anybody with this, but last night wasn't that unusual. it really wasn't a very unusual night. 10, 15 tornados on the ground and for a march day, night, that's not that much. i want you to figure out here. here's the town of harrisburg. 9,000 people. about a mile and a half wide. about a mile and a half tall. let me zoom you out and show you what would have happened had this tornado been one-half a mile left or right. there are miles and miles of farmland, both ways, 50 miles both sides of this town, there is just farmland. farm stands may have been hit, but not cities. the deal with last night is that towns got in the way of the tornados that are typically not in the middle of towns. so branson got in the way and harrisburg got in the way. an ef4 that runs through a big farm field, knocks over some irrigation wells, a couple of things, cows run away. that's it. we don't have weather like this, we don't have a night like this with coverage on cnn with i would say once out of every 20 times this would happen, it happens tonight when a town literally gets in the way. >> wow. amazing perspective. thank you very much. referring to branson, missouri. the mayor of branson is going to be with us in just a couple of moments. more of our breaking news coverage of the tornados today. medical centers, churches danielled, but open. we're going to talk to the people helping their communities through the crisis. as i said, we're going to branson, another community that has been devastated. also, the teen in ohio accused of a school shooting. we have new information tonight about what was in his juvenile background. we're going to share that with you and talk to the relatives of one of the victims. the other office devices? 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[whispering] big dreams. the weather service sent out a storm warning alert in the harrisburg, illinois area as early as 4:30 a.m. this morning and the tornados touched down less than 30 minutes later. most people were sound asleep including caleb, he received a call from the alarm company that monitors the store where he works. at first, he thought the company was calling about a break-in, but the store is now gone. caleb is "outfront" tonight and thank you very much for taking the time. tell me what happened this morning. >> this morning, i was sitting on the couch with my girlfriend and our newborn and got the phone call from the alarm company and got the call. they said there had been like a break-in of sorts. i rushed to town. i had heard the thunder and everything. didn't think it was that serious. the alarms hasn't sounded in el derado yet. i drove to harrisburg as fast as i could. i could see lightning in the background. there was cops, ambulances flying by me. when i pulled in here to walmart, i saw walmart standing, but when i looked to the right at our complex, i saw that it was completely gone and i was just at a loss for words. >> what went through your head when you saw that and i'm sure one of your thoughts was that it could have happened when you were there. >> it definitely could have happened during the daytime. i don't want to say that i'm thankful it happened when it did because a lot of people were not warned it was coming. more breathtaking than seeing the complex itself was seeing the devastation behind walmart. i know a lot of people that live back there. it's a sad sight. you see it on tv and think it's never going to happen until your town until it does. it's a gut check is what it is. it's unbelievable. >> friends in that area, relatives in t town, is everyone accounted for and okay? >> as far as i am aware, everyone that i knew back there, i have heard from or have heard that they are okay, so i'm definitely thanking god for that to be the. >> all right. thank you very much. we appreciate you taking the time and glad that you're safe and sound and be back home with his little baby tonight. branson, missouri was one of the towns hit before 1:00 a.m. this is a country music resort down if you're not familiar with it. it's in southwest missouri and more than 30 people in branson were injured. on the phone now, the mayor. thank you very much for taking the time to be with us. tell me what happened to you this morning and when you found out and whether the warning system worked in branson? >> fortunately, it did work in branson. as you may know, we are fairly close to joplin, missouri and i think our residents have been watching and paying more attention than we might have in years past and so, we had watched the storms develop in the late afternoon and our sirens went off at an appropriate time before the storm hit. so i believe that saved many lives and kept people safe. >> i know your city relies on tourism. i've seen numbers of $2 billion a year coming into your economy. obviously, that central area appears to be incredibly damaged. what does that do to branson coming into tourist season? >> we are a few weeks away from the start of our spring season. fortunately, while the some of the images are quite disturbing and we have had some theatres and hotels damaged, the vast majority of our attractions such as silver dollar city and titanic are open for business and are undamaged or only slightly damaged. we have been very blessed. >> certainly a city synonymous with tornados now. joplin. but obviously, a fellow town in missouri. did anyone from joplin reach out to you today? >> they did. i heard just this afternoon that ten police officers were coming over to help us this evening, kind of make certain our areas were secure in a kind of paying it forward. our fire department were some of the very first responders on the scene at joplin the night they were hit. of course, they had such a loss of life and it was such a tragedy for our state and we've been fortunate while we have about 30 people who have had mild to moderate injuries, our tornado was not as severe and certainly not as severe as harrisburg. >> thank you so much for coming "outfront" tonight. we have more of our breaking news coverage of the deadly storms across the midwest today. we are joined by someone who lost a loved one in the tornado in harrisburg, illinois. and the united states today made a deal with north korea. that's next. i have hemorrhoids and yes, i have constipation. that's why i take colace. 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[ male announcer ] we didn't have to make safety features like active head restraints, brake assist, and an enhanced accident-response system standard in every chrysler 200. no one would know if we didn't. but we would have. and for us, the things you do when no one is looking are the things that define you. ♪ tornados moving across five states in the midwest today. we can tell you right now tornados are touching down in tennessee. we have a death in dekalb county. in harrisburg, illinois, the hardest hit town. six people died today. four men and two women. with the 170 mile an hour storm touching down as those storms continue to move eastward tonight. at least ten are dead after the series of tornados ripped through as five states now in tennessee, the sixth. touching down in kansas, missouri, illinois, indiana, kentucky and now, tennessee. harrisburg, illinois, as i mentioned, the hardest hit so far. a community of about 9,000 people and was struck by a 170 mile ef4 at 5:00 a.m. this morning. don lemon is now in harrisburg and what are you seeing? >> it's unbelievable when you drive through because as you know and as people have seen, when these kinds of events happen, you won't see any damage for miles and miles and miles, then you'll drive up on damage. i didn't see much on my drive up from st. louis, but it was very windy. i want to get you as close as i can to this. i had been told this hibbet sports. the entire thing is just destroyed. you can see the giant pillars that stand in front of this building and some that held it up. and check this out. the get this big cement over the winds have to be going just ferociously here. i'm going to show you around. bear with me. look at the reporters and people here lined up really from all over the country. keep going left here, past this light. this is a giant, one of those super walmarts, erin, that you see in small towns. that is closed. don't know what the extent of the damage is there. but imagine if it had been during the middle of the day when people were in this giant shopping center, but again, i'm told this is a retail town and a medical town and driving through here, it's really an oasis in the middle of nowhere. for miles and miles and miles, it's just farmland or flat land, then you get into these towns. you see a red light, then retail shopping centers and fast food joints and what have you. that's what we have here. the nearest town, a couple of miles away from herement a town of about three or 400 people. this is the biggest town in this area, but look at how it completely demolished this area and when the sun comes up tomorrow, i'm sure they're going to find more damage as well what they haven't found already today. >> one thing you were talking about, talk more about the feeling you had when driving in from st. louis. about how things look completely normal, then you hit it. people have been talking about the width of the storm plowed through is about two football fields wide. is it like you see ta damage, then over the line, thing rs normal? >> you know something had happened, i fly all the time. you know when you're going through a storm system. turbulence today, really bad. we hit rough air, then st. louis, windy, rocky landing and you can see the 18 wheelers going back and forth. luckically, i didn't get an suv because they were swefring back and forth, too. red lights, everything was pretty normal, then when i got here, i said, where is it? i noticed it was complete darkness because the red lights were out. i saw the walmart and satellite trucks and you can see the damage. i would say the damage that i saw just as the sun was going down, it was a couple of football fields wide and but just in one area, so i would imagine it came through here and just sort of went specifically there certain areas, but if you were a block or two over, you may not know anything had happened. you know, this big sports center that's here, when you no longer see that and you're from this town, you know that something really terrible has happened. >> thank you very much. appreciate it. don, reporting live from harris berg. makes me think of caleb when he worked in that strip mall and drove up today. it's time now for the "outfront 5." some of the other stories we are covering on this night amidst the breaking tornado news. first, helicopter gun ships today fired on civilians in syria. the helicopters had flown over the city for days, but this is the first time they have fired at people. shelling also targeted civilians in homs. an opposite group reported at least 11 were killed with 12 kill kill syria. latest estimated put the death toll in the past year at 7,500. two, north korea agreeing to halt nuclear activities and allow inspections. they will stop nuclear tests, long range missile launches and enrichment activities. in exchange, the united states will send food aid to north korea. gordon chang told "outfront" that north korea has hidden facilities that are likely enriching uranium still that are not covered in this deal. chang united that they have run joint nuclear programs with the iranian. number three. a federal judge has rejected a mandate requiring graphic images and text on cigarette packages. the judge ruled that the family spoking prevention and tobacco control act violates free speech. packs would have contained strong warnings along with images of a corpse and smoke infected lungs. the economy, faster growing than expected. the congress came out with the second estimate and they say that economic growth is 3% in the end of last year. they had originally thought 2.8. economists say the biggest driver of the updwrad was the revisions to household savings. americans earning more than expected. it has been 209 days since america lost its top credit rating. chairman ben bernanke giving his take on capitol hill, telling the house financial services committee that he sees slow growth ahead for the job market, calling it far from normal. you just heard don lemon from harrisburg, illinois, but looking at some of the images coming out of the midwest today, it is amazing the death toll is not. as of right now, the death toll in the midwest stands at ten. illinois governor pat quinn spoke to john king just a few moments ago. >> anytime you have a traumatic event like this, 175 mile an hour winds coming through your house and your stores, you know, it's traumatic. people have to kind of get back on their feet. say prayers that they recover and just sort of hold each other. >> one person saying prayers tonight is lucas. lost one of his close friends when the tornado hit her apartment complex in downtown harrisbu harrisburg. thank you very much for taking the time to talk to us. horrible that your friend is among those who lost their lives today. how did you learn about jalen's death? >> what was that? >> how did you learn about her death? >> i was over at a friend's house and started receiving calls about 8:00 this morning. woke up. had plenty of missed texts, all kind of missed calls and just been reaching out, trying to get ahold of friends and family ever since. >> we're looking at pictures of what you're seeing around you in harrisburg, but also, a picture of your friend. what can you tell us about her? >> she was always the smartest person. top of the class, perfect grades. always a great friend. always meets you with a big smile. just easy to talk to. great to get along with. we lost a little contact after high school, but every time i see here, it's just a big hug, smile, it's like we never missed out on a second. >> and what went through your head when you heard? you must have been shocked. it's one of those things, i can imagine, that you all see on tv and it happens to other people, but not you and someone you know. >> right. you know, it's just, it's been a whole day full of shock, really. you don't want to believe it and even when you do, it's still hard to wrap your mind around. my thoughts and prayers are with her friends and family and i just wish everybody the best. >> ours are with you and everyone else in harrisburg. thank you. more breaking news coverage of the tornados. the pastor of a church hit hard by today's storms joins us and new information just coming out tonight about the teen accused of the deadly school shooting. in ohio this week. where's i.t. mom? 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>> well, we had the good fortune of staying with in another town and weren't too concerned with the storm, but when we got to town, just shocked with what happened. >> and i know that you lost a member of your congregation. we were just talking to a friend of hers. lucas. jalen farrell died today. what can you tell us about her and where she was when the tornado came through? >> i tell you what, i know she was just a little ways from here, but what's glorious is not where she was this morning, it's where she is now and we are one of the most encouraging stories that i can even give you from this whole thing is talking with her family. they want a song at her funeral that talks about praising god even through storms like this. it just shows the incredible power of not general faith in something, but specific faith in jesus christ. it's been amazing to watch her family as they have suffered through this. >> and how the church itself and the rest of your congregation? is everyone, everyone else alive and uninjured as far as you know? >> a lot of relatives injured, some relatives that passed away in the storm, but that's part of what we do as the body of christ is ban together and mourn together and celebrate together and certainly today is a day of mourning for our church. >> pastor smith, thank you so much. now, let's check in with and er s anderson cooper. i know you'll be talking about the storms as well. >> the storm system that spawned killer tornados across kentucky and missouri, now moving east. still very intense, very dangerous. we've just learned about another death that's been reported in tennessee. we are tracking this storm very clo closely. we'll have live reports throughout the hour in about to 20 minutes. also ahead, the history of violence in the life of tj lane. his juvenile record was leased today. we're also going to talk to the mom of one of his victims who wants her son's name and memory and life honored and remembered. also, the siege on the city of homs fearing a ground invasion may be next. we'll also tell you about an ambush. that's ahead at the top of the hour. >> thank you. and as anderson mentioned, there are new developments in the deadly school shooting in chardon, ohio. we have just obtained the juvenile court records for tj lane. the documents show he has had trouble with the law in the past. now, lane has confessed to opening fire in the chardon high school cafeteria on monday. three studented died. two were injured. martin, what did you learn about tj lane? >> reporter: ever since we heard about the shooting ram percentage, we wanted to find out if there was a juvenile record. today, cnn won access to the record. what it shows us, is it a strong criminal past? make your own judgment. in 2009, he was picked up for essentially assaulting another juvenile, holding him in a head lock and punched him in the face. he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and he has a traffic violation, that's what the juvenile records -- we've had for more, we're still waiting to get the answer on that. >> you're still actively trying to get your hands on tonight? >> we've gotten access to records involving his parents. when he had his first court appearance on tuesday, neither his mother or father were there. many people in this community say it's very telling. the family when you look at those documents, both mom and dad had a violent pass. they've had run-ins with the law, with each other. tom lane, his father, had an extremely violent altercation, charged with murder. he's been in and out of jail. treated for depression. also tried to commit suicide. violence seems to have been within the household. >> that's tragic. joining us next is the family of one of the victim's. and more of today's tornados. especially in this economy. but with three kids, being home more really helped. man: so we went to fidelity. we talked about where we were and what we could do. we changed our plan and did something about our economy. now we know where to go for help if things change again. call or come in today to take control of your personal economy. get free one-on-one help from america's retirement leader. are you still sleeping? 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>> well, actually, i never heard that until this moment. we had heard he's had problems in his life and we all know some people have had problems in their life, but on the other hand, what occurred is just uncalled for. it's disgusting and that's my feeling. i mean, we've all had some things happen in our lives that haven't been good, but we have to deal with them and maybe he just wasn't able to. >> and bob, we also found out in these reports about tj's parents. again, just to highlight, his mother and father were not there, of course, when he confessed. they've had a violent past with each other. run-ins t run-ins with the law. his father had apparently attempted to commit suicide. does that impact who you blame for what happened to your grandson? >> no, i think there's a lot of kids that go through things like that. that doesn't give them the right to kill other people. there's five families including ours. that have been affected by this this. no one has the right to shoot other people because they've had a rough life. >> they certainly don't. domenick, tell us about your grandson. we heard he worked at a bowling alley. what was he like? >> danny was -- i'll use the term, he was just like an angel, and you may think, well, that's your grandson you're talking about, well, i have other grandchildren, other family members that i wouldn't say that about, but danny was that. he just was the most lovable kid. everybody -- there were over a hundred people at the house and everyone was so positive about danny. even before this tragedy, that was still danny. everybody loved danny. danny had that smile. he made other people smile and to me that's danny. >> it's a beautiful thing. domenick, i want to play for the viewers danny's parents obviously, your children, what they had to say about the last moments of their son's life. they were there before he died. >> they wouldn't let us see him but we insisted. >> yeah. >> we weren't going to be denied. >> so five minutes later they let us go see him. >> he was just laying there. just laying there. >> we're telling him, fight, dan, fight, you can do it, buddy. come on, man. do it for us. you can fight. and we're holding -- >> don't give up. >> we're holding him and we told him we love him so we got to say we loved him. >> domenick, i know that has to be incredibly terrible to hear. how is your family going to get through this? >> it's obviously incredibly terrible to hear. for bob and i, it's terrible incredible, but we know it's worse for our kids, his son, my daughter, absolutely worse. it affects us, but to be honest it can't affect us as bad as it'll affect them for the rest of their lives. >> i want to ask each of you what you think is the right punishment -- i know this is is a hard question, but what do you think is the right punishment for t.j.? >> you know, we're not court people, obviously. but we have our feelings, and we have heard he will be -- more than likely be tried as an adult, which he should be, he's 17, almost 18 years old, and, you know, we're not going to say -- i don't think bob would like to say either what we feel punishment is or should be because i heard bob on another interview today, and our children say right now our focus is on danny -- >> danny. >> the feelings of our family and danny who is gone obviously. that's our feelings. not about him. i mean, you know, that will take care of itself. we feel -- >> yes, i do. i feel that i have my feelings, which i will keep to myself. i will let everything work out in the court of law. >> well, thank you both very much for coming on and talking about danny with us. well, out front next we've been showing you the communities devastated by the tornadoes today. but the people helping them recover and odds at which they do that, that's next. hey, it's - from accounting. peter. i can see that you're busy... but you were gonna help us crunch the numbers for accounts receivable today. i mean i know that this is important. well, both are important. let's be clear. they are but this is important too. 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( announcer ) fly without putting your life on pause. be yourself nonstop. american airlines. tornadoes swept through the midwest destroying property and skilling ten people. one of the areas hit the hardest was harrisburg, illinois. tonight, neighborhoods there in ruins. hundreds injured and six are dead. we spoke to the mayor eric gregg tonight. he's been on the job for less than a year, and i don't know if you knew this, but he's supposed to be a part-time mayor. he took the job on in addition to a marketing job. but it has become a full time job. he told us today that even before this disaster, this is the toughest job he's ever had. but he's continued to do it. he's promised to rebuild and when i spoke with him, i was actually reminded of mike wohl stone, the mayor of joplin, missouri. in may 2011 one of the most powerful tornadoes ever recorded destroyed one-third of joplin and killed 161 people. and yet when i spoke to mayor wool stone he was thankful things hadn't been worse. >> i think we were terribly front even though you talk about the destruction and loss of life we did have we could very easily in my mind have had a thousand, 2,000 deaths if the storm had veered a bit further south and hit our second hospital, our high school class, public school class was just graduating, if they had had their event at the high school rather than the university, the high school was totally demolished and that could have easily been 1,000, 1,500 folks there. >> well, it's easy to criticize our elected officials and we all know we do it all the time lately, but we forget that some of them, particularly at the local level, are doing these jobs for no other reason than they want to make a difference. many of them make very little or absolutely no salary at all. the mayor of joplin had another job too, so they work multiple jobs and they still don't run away from trouble. as mayor gregg told us tonight, they run to it, and they see how they can help. it's unfortunate that it takes these awful tragedies like these for us to think about this and tell these people how much we appreciate them. but the mayors of the small towns and cities across this country are often working for free, simply because they care deeply about their communities. that's a pty