updating our top story. deadly tornado that slammed into joplin, missouri. rescue crews there are searching now for survivors who may be trapped under the rubble. the city manager says that at least 89 people are confirmed dead. that number likely to go much higher. search efforts have now been slowed down by another round of bad weather and by widespread devastation. carl azuz is with us to go beyond the headlines and to tell us a little bit about this place that was hit, the city of joplin. that s right, suzanne. joplin is located in southwest missouri. it is about 130 miles south of kansas city in the four-states region as you see here. witnesses are telling us that the twister was half to three-quarters of a mile wide, if you can imagine that. the city is home to almost 50,000 people, but during the day that population grows to more than a quarter of a million as people come in to work and there are even more people in areas surrounding the city that makes it the fourth-largest m
but those voices leave no doubt. 20 terrified strangers huddled inside a store s industrial-sized refrigerator. outside a tornado is ripping apart joplin, missouri. and take a listen again we re good. we re good. we re good. [ screams ] [ wind sounds ] jesus. je jesus, jesus. i love everyone. i love everyone, man. i love you. jesus, jesus, jesus. heavenly father. this is joplin this morning. after daylight revealed the devastation, the tornado cut through the center of town killing at least 89 people, taking out homes, businesses, a hospital, a high school. jaime green is a photographer for a kansas newspaper. just listen. we huddled down. was my friend and i and her 6-year-old daughter. we huddled down over her daughter up against a wall, against an office building. our only other option would have been to throw a bench through the glass window which we actually thought of but we didn t we decided not to. it is unbelievable. authorities in joplin expect to
carl, good to see you. to our viewers, take a look at the scene we saw play out in oklahoma. it s coming! some power lines right here! these storm chasers, amazing that they do what they do. this was the scene in oklahoma but it was kansas that got the brunt of the severe weather. i m back in 607 secon seconds we of this. do not attempt at home. always wear your seat belt. and please drive responsibly. [ male announcer ] it s the most fun you can legally have. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers on the c-class. women have discovered the secret to a great day because they ve discovered the power of aveeno daily moisturizing lotion.
all right. at about 24 minutes past the hour, time to welcome in carl azuz, good see you. every time people pay up, they pay taxes, about 18 cents per gallon when they fill up. how about the idea of being taxed by the mile you drive. it is a controversial idea. we can safely say that. we ve had a couple presidential administrations, the last two in fact, the bush administration, the obama administration, telling us to buy more fuel-efficient cars. side effect to that there s less federal gas tax revenue coming in so that s the main reason for this idea. on the plus side, this tax i want to say is an idea. it is not a bill yet, hasn t been sent to the floor. it would either replace or add to the current federal gas tax so this could essentially be a new tax. on the plus side, you have increased revenue for the government. the congressional budget office looked into this, said it would
and it continues as we speak 200 miles above us. this is coming to us from the international space station where two astronauts have been doing a spacewalk and they ve got some serious work they re doing up here and have been at it for the past five hours or so. we ll give you an update about this historic endeavour mission. this is your cnn sunday morning for sunday, may 22nd. i m t.j. holmes. also a big breaking news story we are following for you this morning. cnn has been able to confirm the earth did not end yesterday. more on that in just a bit. let me tell you about president obama following up on his vision for peace in the middle east as he addresses a group in about 2 1/2 hours. apec is t aipac is the name o. they can t be pleased with the president s stance as winds of change blow through the region. calls for change may give way in some cases to fierce contests for power. the question before us is, what role america will play as this story unfolds. cn