wasn t me. they insisted it was me. i felt like he was thrown in shark-infested waters. reporter: it took until tuesday for authorities to correct their mistake. this juwan johnson is a freshman on the football team and has no criminal record. special thanksgiving remembrances going out to the less fortunate from tornado survivors in indiana to u.s. troops serving in afghanistan. here s abc s marci gonzalez. reporter: a day of giving thanks, even for those who lost and sacrificed so much. from the families here in kokomo, indiana, sharing a meal after losing their homes to tornados less than two weeks ago. we all gather together. and help one another. reporter: to the 48,000 u.s. troops still serving in afghanistan. many coming together over turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, a taste of home on this holiday. message to my family would be that i love and miss them and i will see them soon. reporter: president obama calling ten service members,
you re right, that is a chainsaw. it s a family out there. day off from work, but not a day off for them, going through the rubble and looking for things, putting their lives back together. are we going to stay? are we going to rebuild? those are the tough decisions they have to make in the next few months. i m just going to throw this out there. people who are watching may want to help as they re giving thanks for their families. cnn.com/impact, if you feel like in a really particularly giving mood. ted rowlands, thank you. please wish the people you come into contact there our best on this thanksgiving day. reporter: sure will. happy thanksgiving day to you, too, ted. fellowship and food are not the only things that are helping illinois tornado survivors. this one is going to warm your heart. this therapy dog. let s just take that in for a minute, will you? just look at that. yeah, you are a special therapy dog.
flooding. eight to 11 inches of rain drenched the area. officials say the floods swept some victims bodies up to five miles downstream. a painful and all too familiar process is just beginning for the latest tornado survivors, the search, the cleanup, and the early tally of how much was lost. here s cnn s renee marsh. reporter: wolf, the task for officials here in oklahoma today is finding the missing, and they are vowing to search and search until everyone is accounted for. this was the bedroom. reporter: bobby steinburg rode out the tornado in the basement of a neighbor s house, but when she returned above ground, the place she called home in el reno, oklahoma, was gone. i guess it was our time. so, you know, we just have to take it one day at a time. reporter: now she faces the same task that so many other people in the heartland are
reaching the needs and getting people to the needs is a great challenge. prior to this moment, today, our plan has been to deploy small distribution centers, right into the impact the areas, right into the neighborhoods. so, you know, there is a problem with transportation and family who is have lost their vehicles through the storm, the rental cars are all rented up. and to really meet the needs of humanity, we have to go exactly where they are. so that s going to be our plan going forward. but really, to overcome the logistical challenges requires a tremendous amount of resources from the salvation army. it certainly does. and you will be reaching out to people. caller: thank you. you have to provide cleanup supplies, hygiene products, household goods and even financial assistance to tornado survivors. give me an example, if you will, what people will be going through in the morning when they
it s business as usual again on the seaside heights boardwalk, sort of. most of the iconic jersey shore landmark reopened this weekend. seven months after superstorm sandy. much of the region still has a long road to full recovery, but this weekend s memorial day reopening marks a hopeful comeback. president obama will visit new jersey tomorrow, joining governor chris christie, to tour the progress. the president last visited the region in october, and the immediate aftermath of the storm. victims of the superstorm have some advice for tornado survivors in oklahoma. keep on fighting. seven months later they re still trying to take back what sandy took from them. seven months after superstorm sandy tore through long beach, long island, fran adelson is about to rebuild her home. four feet of water caused so much damage that she decided, like many of her neighbors, to raise the house on a concrete