. in its drive to lure the oakland a s to the south bay. the council voted in a special meeting to move forward with plans to expand the area around the station. this is near the proposed downtown ballpark. let s bring in damon trujilla. this is a big risk because there s still no word from major league baseball, as you know. reporter: the risk is what the city has to take according to the mayor. a high speed rail station, a b.a.r.t. station, the potential ballpark, housing, retail. that s what the city envisions for this area, revitalizing the downtown along the way. the city hopes major league baseball is watching. it s a good lunch hour at 71 st. peter but this is how it usually looks these days in the downtown san jose restaurant. many of its neighbors are gone and business here is down 50% from last year. it s scary. monday, tuesday and wednesday and thursday, we ll sit here and there are times we really don t do we do very little business. reporter
president obama called the loss of life heartbreaking. i want every american affected by this disaster to note the federal government will do everything we can to help you recover. reporter: this is what several parts of that region look like. the middle school, it collapsed. reporter: people scouring the debris for belongings that may have been blown miles away. to several areas, homes that are nothing but foundations. we are searching for additional victims. hopefully it will be a rescue situation. reporter: based on the number of dead alabama was the hardest hit. they ve transformed at the flagship university town into a makeshift selvage liar. campus was largely untouched. the last salvage yard. seeing the damage done by stern s by katrina, ivan, dennis when they moved through. storms. the damage here is a lot, a lot worse. reporter: the town s mayor says it could take months to recover. president obama is expected to tour the areas to see firsthand the