their tremendous efforts in coming out and helping this community, and it s going to take a while, as you can see. it s just been devastating, the actual disaster. and right now the president has given us a declaration of a disaster which means federal assistance is now available to individuals as well as public assistance. i know that the city of tuscaloosa is still in the life saving and rescue mode. we re still trying to uncover life in this rubble. congresswoman, we have a photograph of the president comforting you personally and others. what did he actually say to you personally? you know, he just said my heart goes out to the people here, and he talked about the devastation and, you know, i heard words like this is unreal and surreal, and until you can actually see it with your own eyes, you can t see and
caught on tape. we ll hear how one man in alabama grabbed his camera and shot some frightening scenes of a gigantic mile-wide tornado taking a destructive path through the city of tuscaloosa. that doesn t even look real. that looks like something out of a movie. doesn t it? yeah, like something that is computer generated. but it was shot firsthand. really just incredible. these storms, though, unfortunately have been deadly. at least 77 people have been killed across 4 states. most of those deaths were in alabama. mike marusarz is now joining us this morning with more details on all of this good morning, mike. reporter: several tornadoes rolled across the south last night. a massive twister appears to have hit tuscaloosa, alabama. that is something that you pray that you never, ever, ever see. reporter: this monster twister dropped over northern alabama. at one point 25 tornado warnings were issued at the same time for the same state. the unprecedented outbreak stretched from
the price. martha: thank you very much michael reagan on the gas situation, the president hasn t been able to do much to fix it. americans sent to train the afghan military gunned down is an unbelieve story. a serviceman and contractor are death. an afghan man accused of pulling the trigger in this situation. we are learning more about what happened here. this is a horrifying story and we will get you up to speed on it. it s from the war zone in afghanistan moments from now. and also frightening video of a tornado touching down near a university campus here in the u.s. that is tuscaloosa. next we re going to talk to the man who took this video. you can hear him breathing in the background of it. we are going to ask him what was going through his mind when he shot this. when we come back with more on america live right after this.
we have to get a move on in this issue and time is wasting. simon rosenberg we thank you very much for being here. good to have you, sir. sure. martha: the big story is the search and rescue efforts that are underway right now in the disaster zones across the south. it is a horrific, horrific day for the people in these states, and we are going to have more for you live from tuscaloosa, alabama. we ll go there and get a firsthand look at how that community is coping right after this. the charcoal went out already? [ sighs ] forget it. [ male announcer ] there s more barbeque time in every bag of kingsford charcoal. kingsford. slow down and grill. or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.
county, alberta city, hope community, as well as the city of tuscaloosa, greatly affected. so people are starting to come back in and see what how they are going to rebuild their lives and what they have left and how they move forward. finally, sheriff, the university of alabama, students there, how are they doing? as i said, will was there were several student areas on if on the perimeter of campus affected and those areas were obliterated also. the university opened up shelters for those students affected last night. will were many there. and i saw the dock a few minutes ago. he has been very proactive in making sure that the students get whatever their needs are. they are in the last week. we are going into exam week. and so students have one more week in this semester. the university has been offering any assistance possible to ensure these students receive