joe. the conversation continues. it is 20 past the hour. we have senator claire mccaskill. we know your heart this morning is in joplin. it s just, the pain on these people s faces is something i will never forget. the devastation. i have been to a lot of tornado scenes, as you might imagine, growing up in missouri, tornado warnings are a rite of passage every spring. this is unlike nothing i have seen before. everyone needs a plan for their families for a tornado warning how we can make tribute to those who died and have a plan before those sirens go off. i want to ask you two quick questions. is the federal government doing everything it can do to help the people of joplin? in fact, fema, in an unusual move, declared a disaster almost
below that is texas. this entire line waves, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. eight super cells are all rotated, and eight super cells could have eight tornadoes on the ground at any one time. i know of three right now. there may be others that are just forming and others that are just lifting, but a dangerous night. if i take you over there, that s joplin, missouri. it s just a couple hours away. it s possible this severe weather is moving towards joplin right now? in a few hours. it would take three to four hours to get there. it would have to turn up the turnpike to tulsa and then even farther up i-44 to joplin, missouri. another ten miles to joplin as you get past the oklahoma state line. these people are used to tornadoes, but not necessarily these severe tornadoes. you could be used to an f-1, 100-mile-per-hour storm, and it s going to take your roof
tornado warning. people need to have plans, where they go in their homes, what they do if they re in a store, what do they do if they re driving. people need to plan for this. mother nature takes no prisoners and certainly we had a huge loss of life here and there was a warning. i just think a lot of people just weren t sure and didn t know what the right thing to do was to protect themselves. you make a valid and great point. senator mccaskill, thank you. red cross is still asking for help and the kansas city nfl and major league baseball teams have donated $35,000 each to joplin and the st. louis cardinals donated $25,000. thank you senator mccaskill. our coverage of the tragedy continues on msnbc.com. you can log on to see some of the incredible stories of survival emerging from the tornado victims by donating $10 to the red cross. text redcross to 90999. and right now one of the most anticipated murder trials in florida s history has started almost three years after the
relations. are the tensions of recent days any worse? any better? i m wolf blitzer and you re in the situation room. first, breaking news this hour. a large tornado has been spotted on the ground in oklahoma and storm-ravaged missouri is being hit by severe weather and possible in the coming hours, searchers in joplin have been taking advantage of the break in the bad weather for a few hours now. 17 people have been pulled alive from the rubble as of last night. but the death toll is far greater. up to 118 right now and that makes this the deadliest single tornado on record in the united states since the weather service began keeping records 60 years ago. almost 500 people have been killed by tornadoes in this country so far this year, including one in that storm and a security camera gives another look at the power of the twisters and how much damage they can do literally in an instant. now more on the twister reported on the ground in oklahoma just minutes ago. the danger
hurt. that s right. joplin has had tornadoes before, sirens did go off in time, they had ample warning, but even in tuscaloosa, over 300 people in the alabama area killed only over two weeks ago and they had sirens go off too. this has only so much you can do. and a lot of people there lived in trailers. so where can you go? right. and the topography and the quality of the homes being built in that specific and minute area, which is so hard to pinpoint. alison kosik is as the new york stock exchange. alison, is there any indication yet of the economic losses these record number of tornados have caused? carol, before i get to the economic worries in joplin, just want the mention, we are watching a sell-off here in the markets. the dow right now down 155 points on new worries about debt problems in greece, italy, and spain. all right. back to joplin. of course, if the past is any indication, carol, the economic losses in joplin are expected to