going to take a live look now at moore, oklahoma, and first baptist church, where people from the area are getting ready to gather and remember the 24 people killed when that enormous tornado struck a few days ago, a memorial service begins there in just about a half an hour. i ve got one family s story now, one out of thousands of oklahoma families, who saw that tornado coming and braced for it the best way they could. they re still shaken up but they re alive. [ siren ]. we heard the sirens. jeff was at work when his phone rang. it was his wife. tiffany called me and said there was a tornado on the ground going through moore. i said i m out of here, i ll go and see what i need to do. i had told him morgan, our daughter, was going to be in the storm shelter next door at our neighbor s house so i felt confident that she was going to be safe. reporter: but their son, cole, was at school. i just knew that the path of
array of extra security measures and strengths. each one of the anchor bolts has a 10,000 pound sheer strength so by putting one every foot around here it can more than withstand any storm. the challenge has always been economics, even simple storm shelters can cost several thousand dollars and as bad as these storms can be, even in the most tornado-prone areas, odds are most homes will never be hit. it s about the money and the statistics, an ef5 tornado is very rare, 1% to 2% of the tornadoes. they don t happen very often. reporter: still proponents look at the plaza towers elementary school in oklahoma, the decimated houses and they stand firm. nobody can talk to me and talk me out of the shelters being worth it because i know they are. we re saving lives. reporter: tom foreman, cnn.
common side effects include nausea, trouble sleeping and unusual dreams. with chantix and with the support system it worked for me. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. president barack obama saw firsthand the heartbreaking destruction left by a tornado in moore, oklahoma. he toured devastated neighborhoods giving hugs and shaking hand. he also saw the plaza towers elementary school where seven children died. and he met with first responders. the president said everyone is proud of them and the work that they do and wants people in moore to know the nation has their backs. on to san antonio, texas now where two women are dead after being swept away by floodwaters. ten inches of rain swamped the area over the last two days. crews are now searching for a
words for the suspect. we ll have the latest on the manhunt. we begin in moore, oklahoma where president obama is touring the damage from an ef-5 tornado. he spoke at the plaza towers elementary school earlier today which took a direct hit. the president also toured some neighborhoods that were decimated by that twister. we have live team coverage now, george howell in oklahoma and athena jones at the white house. athena, let me begin with you. what was the president s message to the people of moore today? good afternoon, fred. well, the big goal of the president in making this trip was to meet with local officials to thank first responders, but also to meet with the families of people who have been hardest hit by this storm and most affected by the tragedy, families who have lost loved ones, people who have seen their homes destroyed, a school destroyed, a hospital destroyed, businesses destroyed. so he wanted to bring to them words of comfort and a promise of further help. let s
process on these foundations of rebuilding these homes and they decide if they can even rebuild, will the federal money be there. the president saying it absolutely will. he spent time today he went to the school that was so hard hit. he also talked to first responders, those people who went door to door looking for survivors. take a listen to what one first responder said after meeting the president of the united states. what was going through my mind was that he was so personal. it wasn t like what i expected. i expected a script, don t ask him this, do ask him this. none of that, it was just straight ahead. no different than me meeting you, you know. just how are you doing? did you get everything you needed? what can we do to help, blah, blah, blah. so he s a very personal, down-to-earth experience way different than what i was experiencing. reporter: joe that s really the theme out here the president saying that he s got your back, he s got the back of people here who are strug