saw earlier today and more, that s when we were doing live shots, we understand that a strong storm came through there. so i would imagine there s some damage there. we re going to assess that. yeah. george howell on the roads there just outside oklahoma city. george, be safe. thank you for checking in. we will check in with you throughout the night here. let s take this opportunity to stress to our viewers once again, there are downed powerlines, people need to stay off the roads, stay indoors. the latest on the storms, we re joined by the weather center. and i know that the threat of flooding is severe for oklahoma. this storm system continues to go across the region, you can tell us about that. but what i just heard from our correspondents and the storm chaser we talked, it s the sound of fear in their voices, this system was a hard one to figure out and to stay out of the way
situation where the entire city of oklahoma, oklahoma city was really blanketed by this big, huge storm that just continued to develop and grow. for us, it was a matter of getting out of the of the way. it continued to chase us, chad meyers earlier felt the same thing. he kept driving south, and the storm continued to develop south. that s what we saw as well. and we left well in advance of the storm getting close to us. we took all of the precautions. but it s one of those things with the weather out here in oklahoma, and the texas pan handle, north texas, these storms develop quick, hit hard and take precautions and get out of the way as soon as you can. the people in oklahoma have been through a lot in the last couple of weeks. we to want stress this is a developing situation. the latest numbers, 71 people
7,000 people exposed, and tennis ball size hail coming down across this region. and as you say, spring is just catching up. so tornado season is catching up right now. a lot of people need to be on alert. okay, we ll keep in close tabs with you, thanks. well, in the days after a major storm like this one, the federal government sends help. i m joined on the phone by cnn s national security analyst july yeet, she s a former assistant secretary at the department of homeland experience with experience on natural disasters. give us your assessment of the impact of the storm so far in oklahoma and, of course, the response we re seeing from authorities. well, i think we have no idea what the impact is because it s still ongoing as you have been discussing. i think people are going to wake up tomorrow having experienced the last 20 hours, have a sense of fatalities and injuries and
heading to oklahoma city. the highways are clear now. it was gridlock traffic, chaotic scene a few hours ago, people trying to get out of oklahoma city. that s not the case now. and our plan is to head into the city and start talking to the officials there to start assessing the damage done by these storms. keep in mind, the storm with the death toll at this point, we understand it s five dead according to the oklahoma county medical examiner s office. we also have some concerned information that a mother and her child were killed in the oklahoma storm according to on official. we re still getting information and this is an area, guys, that has been hit really hard over the last several weeks. again, first the ef-4 tornado that came through shawnee, oklahoma, monday, the ef-5, and a week later, or rather two weeks later, here we are in this
over the past 24 or so hours. blossoming in the past six to seven. just to show you the nature of the storm system and the triangles and the pollee gones in red, still have those in effect, out of oklahoma, even as far north and the east as ohio. tornado watches, is it going to happen? certainly can. we have seen lightning strikes tabulating. nearly 13,000 in the last 24 hours across this region. in the past hour, almost 500 lightning strikes coming down. not just the one-dimensional storm that s bringing tornados, but heavy rainfall, hail, dangerous lightning. with so much water on the ground, power lines, they talked about with 190,000 customers without power, it could impact people trying cross the roadways and water-covered areas. we try to discourage that over