in the state of oklahoma. some of them probably going to be on the high end, stronger than ef-3, and several tracks that we did have, large damage very damaging tornadoes, is they re very large. i filmed a mile-wide tornado coming across i-40 west of oklahoma city about 30 miles, and luckily that stayed just west of oklahoma city and stayed out of the heart of the city, which is very, very fortunate today. well, jeff, i mean, stay safe down there. i know you re doing a very dangerous job, a very valuable job, you get great research information from this storm chasing. we ll come back to you throughout the hour if and when you have any news for us. i m going to go now to sam champion, who s been monitoring what s happening in joplin. there s a new warning of a potential second tornado that may well hit joplin. sam, what s the latest? reporter: good evening, piers. the tension in joplin is just incredible, because we are all watching this line of storms develop from dallas-ft. wort
dangerous and life threatening. this extraordinary video shows you just how dangerous. take a look at this truck. you see a twister coming towards it and then literally demolishing it. that s the power of what is going on right now in oklahoma. there s also a new warning in joplin, missouri of possibly another tornado there, and i want to bring in storm chaser jeff petrusky, he s on the phone in oklahoma. what is the latest from where you are in oklahoma? piers, we ve had an incredible tornado outbreak and we have massive damage in so many locals. let s start, this afternoon, shortly after 3:00, we had severe storms that produced significant damage. northwest of oklahoma, we had tornadoes cross i-40 northwest of oklahoma city. we had major damage in the piedmont area with confirmed fatalities. back southwest of there, a mile-wide tornado on i-40.
and obviously, the death toll in yeah. i mean, the death toll in joplin has now risen officially to 124. they re expecting that to rise again. the figures from oklahoma at the moment, four confirmed dead, another four believed to be dead. and again serious concerns that figure will rise. jeff, in your experience, you ve been chasing these storms for a long time. how bad is this situation that s now enveloping this region? it s bad today. the good news so far, on most accounts i ve heard is the really large destructive tornado stayed just outside of the heavy metropolitan areas, the oklahoma city areas where you have high concentration of people, that we do have a lot of homes destroyed west of oklahoma city in the rural areas. if there s any good news about today, that s what i ve heard so far. with my limited knowledge of all the damage strikes. but we did have major tornadoes
and then just missing the heart of the city, up towards guthrie. another tornado track in the southwest suburbs of oklahoma city. also tornadoes tracked on the east sides of norman, up near i-40 near shawnee. and we just filmed a couple more tornadoes east of shawnee and east of oklahoma city. now we re tracking tornadoes back towards tulsa, where i live, tornado warnings are in effect in tulsa. we just had a tornado on the ground literally about five miles to the northeast. i m on i-40, tracking between tulsa and ft. smith and that s where the tornadoes are tracking at this time, as well as and jeff, jeff, if i may, just jeff, if i may just interrupt you there. i understand that you personally were helping with the rescue operation and pulling people out of debris and stuff. is that right? today, not in that situation, but in joplin on sunday, yes. i stopped to help with the tornado damage there in joplin and recover people out of rubble and finding people, both alive and that
take a look at this truck. you see a twister coming towards it and then literally demolishing it. that s the power of what is going on right now in oklahoma. there s also a new warning in joplin, missouri of possibly another tornado there, and i want to bring in storm chaser jeff petrusky, he s on the phone in oklahoma. what is the latest from where you are in oklahoma? piers, we ve had an incredible tornado outbreak and we have massive damage in so many locals. let s start, this afternoon, shortly after 3:00, we had severe storms that produced significant damage. northwest of oklahoma, we had tornadoes cross i-40 northwest of oklahoma city. we had major damage in the piedmont area with confirmed fatalities. back southwest of there, a mile-wide tornado on i-40. and then just missing the heart of the city, up towards guthrie. another tornado track in the southwest suburbs of oklahoma