unfortunately, that s exactly what we saw yesterday in oklahoma. and something we ll keep an eye out today across texas. very interesting. thank you very much. dylan, we ll have more from you later as the storms develop. right now, the president is receiving updates throughout the day at the white house. he s also pledging the country s support to moore for as long as it takes. as a nation, our full folk right now is on the urgent work of rescue and the hard work of recovery and rebuilding that lies ahead. oklahoma needs to get everything that it needs right away. americans from every corner of this country will be right there with them, opening our homes, our hearts to those in need. because we re a nation that stands with our fellow citizens as long as it takes. nbc s kristen welker is live on the north lawn for us. do you think the president is going to travel to moore? i would be surprised if president obama doesn t travel to moore, although the white house hasn t announced
we are back now with our continuing coverage of the tragedy in oklahoma. the official death toll now stands at 24. we have seen that number change several times over the past day. let s get you another update now from the middle of it all. chris jansing is in moore, oklahoma. chris, what can you tell us? well, we have just seen over the last half hour, the rescue efforts continue here. you can see the absolute devastation behind me. and groups of men in yellow coats came and started walking down this block that has been absolutely wiped out. across the street, there are homes that are at least partially still standing. and we saw that yesterday they put large xs in orange paint on them. today, i don t know if you can see on one of the doors, there s a bright green sticker that says
destroyed nearly 5,000 homes and businesses. this time experts fear the damage footprint is twice as large. here s the 1999 path, and here s yesterday s. you can see the town of moore smack in the middle. the oklahoman ran this headline this morning, worse than may 3rd, the monster returned. the article then captured the worst fear of any parent, the day ended with ultimate horror, where are the children? it s the most heart breaking part of the story, teachers racing to save their children. at least nine children among the dead. most killed as their brick and concrete school no match for the winds. this is what the tower plaza elementary school looked like until 3:00 p.m. yesterday. president obama again leading the nation in its grief. among the victims were young children. trying to take shelter in the safest place they knew, their school. our prayers are with the people of oklahoma today.
so they ve had three violent tornadoes in 14 years. the odds of that in one town are staggering. mike, it s s.e. now. if you live in louisiana, you re taught what to do about hurricanes. maybe if you live in california, you re taught what to do in wildfires. if you live in oklahoma, they tell you what to do, and maybe getting in a bathtub is one of the things they tell you to do in the case of a tornado. what other kinds of things are the residents of moore, oklahoma, preparing to do as the tornado was rolling in? yeah, first of all, there was plenty of warning, a watch out. they had about a half-hour warning on this tornado because it came in from new castle. the problem with a tornado like this, ef-4 or 5 is about the only place you can be that is really safe is underground in a shelter or basement. most of these homes don t have basements so what we tell people to do is go to the interior most room and cover yourself up with something like a mattress, and a
people warned and we have armored vehicles for research purposes. keep chasing and stay safe at the same time. thank you very much. hour to hour, we re getting new information about the scope of the tragedy in moore. this is still very much an unfolding news event, but it s very likely that ultimately this will be one of the five most damaging tornadoes, and in history, ironically, moore already was on the list as having experienced the fourth costliest tornado on may 3rd, 1999. the bridge creek, moore, twister, that day killed 36 people and injured 583. damaged thousands of homes, businesses, and public buildings. melissa ray burger covered that devastating tornado 14 years ago. she joins us now to give us some historical context. you know, for all of us who were there then and are looking at this now, the irony is shocking. i think most of us are left speechless that it hit ultimately in the same place, in prablthically the same