what s happened here and the painful reality that s left behind. jay gray, nbc news, henryville, indiana. through all the death and destruction, there are also stories of survival. a 2-year-old was found wandering in a field in salem, indiana. her entire family was killed in the tornadoes and her home was destroyed. the little girl is currently in critical condition and the hospital is taking donations to help her out. the red cross responded immediately to the devastation, opening new centers in 11 states to help those affected by the tornadoes. in fact, news4 s derrick ward joins us live from the red cross on east-west highway in silver spring, maryland. derrick, good morning to you. reporter: good morning. as is often and always, really, in the aftermath of the devastation like we re seeing with those tornadoes, there are those heart-wrenching stories of loss and harrowing stories of survival, like that toddler. well, now it is time to turn that empathy into action.
some of those thunderstorms could produce wind damage in excess of 60 miles per hour. sometimes those real down burst winds can cause as much damage as a tornado. you still need to stay indoors. another place that we are watching that s included in this tornado threat is jacksonville, florida. there you can see a live picture from jacksonville at this time. it s extremely windy. that s why you see all that crazy shaking going on on the camera there. 86 degrees. it s a very warm, very moist, ripe atmosphere. as that cold front starts to come on down and move into the region, that s when we are going to start to see that severe weather threat increasing here in jacksonville. we are talking maybe another hour or two away before we start to see that squall line begin to push in. these thunderstorms with the energy and dynamics in the atmosphere with this, they could be holding together well after dark again tonight and through the evening, even maybe after you go to bed tonight a
in on the republican cd candidates who want to be president. announcer: from cnn world headquarters, bringing you news and analysis from across the nation and around the globe. live from studio 7, this is cnn saturday morning. we start now with the devastation across the midwest and the south. these are the scenes people are waking up to today. debris now sits where their homes once stood. at least 31 people are dead. a series of tornados are being blamed for the destruction. there are emergency declarations in place in indiana and kentucky. national guard troops have also been deployed there. before we take you live to indiana for the latest there, i want to show you now an amazing piece of video. it comes from west liberty, kentucky, shot just as the tornado was forming over the town. now, listen very closely to the desperate prayers from one woman as she pleased for her safety. take yourself away from our home. the prayers were answered. she did come through that s
this is cnn saturday morning. it s march 3rd, and i m david mattingly. tornadoes shred through the midwest and south killing more than 30 people, and there is a new threat of storms today. then in two hours washington state republicans will officially select who they think should go up against barack obama. could ron paul finally win one? bus t we begin with the ferocious killer storms that went through the midwest and southern u.s. at least 32 people are dead. now the frantic search is on for survivors, and there are new threat this morning of more severe weather. the monster storm stretched from the deep south, alabama, across the border into tennessee and all the way north into indiana. one of the hardest hit areas, henryville, indiana. a tornado leveled entire neighborhoods. school buses ended up slamming into buildings. businesses were demolished. lord, take this away from us. take this away from us. these people in kentucky prayed as the monster storm came clo
yards wide and it tracked through the city on the southeast side. everybody has been accounted for. most people are we do not have any injuries, just a couple injuries, no fatalities but marked damage on the south side of town. you re talking to us at the same time you re live streaming these images for us and in these images we are seeing people walking around. are these residents that are surveying the damage or are these first responders who are there to help, volunteers? reporter: both. we have a lot of local people here that are people walking down the streets that are local residents and family members. a lot of these people s farms have been here for a while, many generations. one family here on the south side of town, they have been here about three generations. their entire farm is gone, which is lost in the view right now. there s a lot of family members helping pick up the pieces and just trying to get all their belongings loaded into trucks and vehicles in c