reporter: can t put a ladder up there. bill: damage possibly to this monument could be so high that this is the only way to access it but as far as we know this is the first time they have gone down this way, repelling. reporter: short of trying something off the wall, have a helicopter fly over and someone repel down from that, and engineers will be up there repelling and looking over every inch of that to see what has to be repaired and to assess the damage. the only way they can do it, bill to put eyes on it. only way to do that is go up to the top and repel down, looking at every square inch of that landmark. bill: that is a heck of a shot, kelly. it really is. the picture of the day. martha: i m so glad he volunteered to do it, that guy. bill: we will keep an eye on it, okay. when he starts going down we ll get back to you. reporter: going down safely, bill. bill: safely. thank you, kelly. some background and great information from kelly. built in two faces from lack
power lines as well so a lot of roads are impassable, but at this hour they re still trying to find missing. and i understand there s a curfew in place from 8:00 p.m. tonight to 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning and still a quarter million people homes, i should say, without power in alabama. a massive task ahead. thank you. in georgia, at least 15 people were killed, dozens injured. one of the hardest-hit areas of that state was the city of ringgold where a tornado flattened builds and killed people. chris warren is there and joins us now. chris, what are you seeing? reporter: well, contessa, the national weather service crews continue to survey the scene and the damage. i just saw a helicopter fly around. it may have been the national weather service. i say that because of the path they took. they swooped around and they re going what looks like to be the path of the tornado, which is 13 miles long. an ef-4. so an ef-4 is one of the stronger tornados you can have. it only goes up to
category one hurricane. that could happen as we get into the mid or later half of next week. we ll have more on this storm, where it s headed. how it may affect the oil spill. it s all coming up in mere moments. reynolds, we appreciate it. you re right. we busted me on the shirt. it s 7:30 in the morning. it is hot and humid already in new orleans. you just heard a helicopter fly by me on the river. we ll follow the storm and recovery efforts. we ll talk to people still being affected and expect to be affected for quite some time on the oil disaster. thanks, t.j. another big story many americans are waiting for a whole lot of americans will be sitting in front of their tvs at 2:00 this afternoon. why? all of them claiming to be soccer fans. the u.s. has a score to settle with ghana. we ll take you live there next.
one 9, one 13 years old. the governor, haley barbour, is touring the devastated areas. we saw his helicopter fly over here a short time ago. at least 15, maybe 17 counties in the state are now declared as disaster areas. they re working with state as well as federal authorities to try and help people out. electric crews are back in place now trying to restore electricity in communities. the state troopers have closed down several roads leading into communities and they will remain closed as they try to clean up the area to make it passable for everybody to get in here and of course the survivors stories are just incredible, to hear them talk about the explosions that took place as homes literally blew apart and many of them, like the woman who was here, was on the floor with that phone just praying, she said. and oddly, and i guess maybe i understand this, she says that she s blessed because she survived. yeah.
now, the european union council president said that trump s comments were not viewed as aggressive. in the past, trump has suggested he could slap tariffs on germany in retaliation for trade surplus. between the multiple meetings, president trump made a quick comment to cameras about greg gianforte s congressional win in montana. despite gianfortes assaulting a reporter. [ no audio ] italian organizers thought treating leaders to good food, wine, and visits to antiquities, they could set a propitious tone for meetings of the mind. the first spouses having a helicopter fly-over mount aetna, had lunch at the bar rock palace of el advance, hosted by the mayor. there s been of course as you imagine, heather and leland, a veritable ring of steel here.