good evening. it's a very difficult night and dangerous night here in joplin, missouri. the death toll, as you know, is 116 but that number, frankly, is likely to rise. the number of missing at this hour is simply not known. it's impossible at this point to know. we're going to try to talk to the mayor of joplin in a few moments to get the latest information we can. there's a lot to tell you about. now, the affected areas have been declared a disaster area by president obama. there are crews out even now still looking for people who may be alive, still trapped in the rubble. and the rubble is all around us. it goes for miles. as far as the eye can see. the location i'm at, it is just completely destroyed neighborhoods, block after block. all you see on the horizon are broken and bent and destroyed trees. there is lightning in the air. a heavy downpour of rain, which has been going on and off throughout the day, which has been making the search and rescue operations all the more difficult. and now night has fallen. again, there very well may be people still alive under the rubble some 28 hours after this tornado struck. this disaster is still very much ongoing. this isn't something that happened 28 hours ago, a single event. you still have driving rain, bad weather and people who still may be alive out there. at least seven people have been found alive in the rubble so far. the searchers will continue. more bad weather is expected tomorrow. again, it is not going to get any easier in the hours ahead. we have complete coverage tonight for the full hour here from joplin, missouri. i want to show you the picture of a young man named will norton, who is missing right now. he was driving in his hummer h3 with his father shortly after graduation ceremonies from the high school here when the storm hit. he was actually sucked out of the vehicle by the power of this storm. he's been missing all day. his family, obviously, has been desperate. we've gotten late word now just in the last couple hours he has been -- he is alive. he has been found alive. he is in a hospital, we're told, but we don't know -- we don't know where the hospital is. we're going to get the latest information from his family in a few minutes. i want to show you first what we have seen over the last 28 hours here, what the storm looked like when it hit and the aftermath. let's take a look. >> reporter: it's 5:40 on sunday evening and a monster rakes across joplin, missouri. >> strong tornado! strong tornado! >> listen to it! oh, man! [ bleep ] get in the car! get in the [ bleep ] car! get in the car! watch out. >> i can't film. i can't film. >> i got it. i got it. i got it. i got it. i got it. >> stop, stop, stop, stop. >> move your head. >> i got it on video. >> oh, man! >> stop, stop. stop the car. >> we want to stay with it. >> oh, we got lightning. >> let's go back. come on. let's turn around. >> oh, it's getting big, big, big. >> that's huge. >> i got it all on video. i got it all on video. >> reporter: as the twister roars toward this convenience store -- >> no, they haven't yet. the sirens aren't going. >> reporter: -- frightened customers huddle in terror inside a dark refrigerated storeroom. >> dad! dad! dad! >> heavenly father. jesus, jesus. >> [ bleep ]. >> jesus, jesus. >> we're good. we're good. >> we're okay. we're okay. it's -- >> i think we're going to do it. >> jesus! heavenly father! jesus! jesus, jesus, jesus! o heavenly father! jesus, jesus, jesus, heavenly father. >> i love everyone, man. >> love all you guys. >> we're going to be okay. >> i love you. >> jesus, jesus, jesus, heavenly father. >> we're okay. >> thank you, jesus. >> we're okay. >> come on, guys. >> we're all right! we're all right! >> reporter: amazingly, everyone inside survives. >> i got debris on the ground right here. debris on the ground. >> reporter: the massive tornado believed to be three-quarters of a mile wide with winds exceeding 190 miles an hour rips a path of destruction four miles long right through the heart of the city. >> oh, my god. >> reporter: by monday morning the devastation was clear. buildings on fire. entire neighborhoods wiped out. st. john's medical center with 183 patients took a direct hit. it was unclear if any of the patients were injured during the storm, but the twister hurled x-rays as far as 70 miles, heaved gurneys for blocks and smashed the building's facade. >> windows are blown out. debris hanging outside of the windows. part of the roof -- the top is missing. i mean, i'm standing behind the hospital and cinder block walls, brick walls, are just crumbled. >> reporter: the tornado also struck joplin high school, just as seniors were finishing graduation ceremonies nearby. parents and students escaped but the school was demolished. >> i walked around as much as i could to see it. it looks like it's just been bombed from the outside-in. i mean, it's terrible. >> reporter: the storm left cars and trucks on top of each other. this walmart, now flattened, this home depot crushed. we don't know how many shoppers were inside the store. when the twister hit. thankfully residents did have warning the storm was coming. >> by our count we had 17 minutes time from the sirens and first report of a strike. >> reporter: more than 24 hours later, this remains a search and rescue effort. >> we believe there are still rescues out there. we want to support the men and women that are on the ground out there literally going foot by foot, searching for folks. >> reporter: more than 1500 emergency response workers from four states have descended on this city of more than 50,000, trying to find survivors who may be trapped amid the destruction, which spreads for miles. it's just been incredible here the last 28 hours. i want to show you the picture of will norton. his sister sarah and aunt tracy join me now. you got word that he -- that he was found, but you don't know where he is now. what's the latest? >> the latest word, we heard he was checked into the hospital. he was alive when he was checked in in joplin, at freeman. then they transferred him. but we're not sure where he's transferred. when he was transferred, he was alive. we have no idea other than that. there's been -- >> you don't know what condition he's in? >>, no we have no idea. >> sir, tell me what happened. you were on the foeven with him coming back from the graduation ceremony that he had just graduated high school. what happened? >> i was riding with my mom, we were in a separate car. we were about 30 second in front of them, one block. we pulled into the garage, trees started blowing in. we immediately got our dog, went into the basement and then my dad called and he said, open the garage door. he didn't know it was so serious. and then i just heard him say, pull over, will. pull over. and then they started flipping. >> they were in a hummer? >> yes, hummer h3. >> what happened to will? >> well, my dad said -- when my dad gained consciousness, he said that he saw my brother -- his seat belt snapped and he was ejected through the sun roof. >> he was ripped through the sun roof? >> yes. that's what my dad says, yeah. >> how is your dad? >> he's in stable condition. he has broken bones and, you know, he got 20 staples in his head but he's stable. thank goodness we found him. >> where did you hear will had been found? >> well, we -- there's a -- there's a find will norton on facebook, a page, and people have been writing on there, people have been hold of sarah and our family and telling different things. every time we hear a lead, we obviously go find it. and then sarah was told today that someone -- by another lead, that one of the doctors saw him on the er roster, that he was checked in before my brother came to the hospital. but then he was also checked out. he was alive with when he was here. >> people are being moved around to different hospitals so it's very hard to find people and cell phone communication is very difficult. is that his hat? >> yeah. the hummer was destroyed. it was in really, really bad shape, and so my family, we went and we found it so we went back together and we've been searching with search and rescue team out of tulsa, oklahoma, with their dogs. my son found this in the car. this is actually his cap. >> he had just graduated? >> he had just graduated within 30 minutes. >> and he's going to go to film school in the fall? >> yes, he was accepted to chatman in orange, california. >> we're showing his picture now. i want to put out information. if anybody has any information of where to find him, there's a couple of numbers. there's the findwillnorton@gmail.com and then a phone number we're putting on the screen right now. 757-751-will. that's 757-751-will. >> what we need to know is we really need to have people, if they've seen him at a hospital, if they've seen him anywhere, he most likely has had head trauma and probably had some facial lacerations. i know going through glass sun roof, so he probably doesn't look exactly like that. but he is 5 -- he's 6'4" and he's slender, brown hair, blue eyes, slight freckles on his face and on his arms. >> how are you guys holding up? >> we're just it step by step. we're doing everything we can to find him. we're trying to get the word out saying, have you seen my brother? just taking it moment by moment. >> we'll continue to put the picture up throughout the hour and try to put the numbers up as well. i wish you luck. we'll keep in touch with you. we'll touch base with you in the morning. >> i want to make sure we thank all the help that has come. we've had some great people. a friend who got out there and helped getting the tulsa rescue. they brought their dogs in, we've had first responders from webb city. it's amazing how many people have come to our community to help. actually, we've had contact with a lot of them. they've helped us so far. >> yeah. people are really pulling together. i mean, it's -- >> yeah, it's incredible. >> it is incredible. thank you very much. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. again, we'll continue to follow will's story throughout this hour, throughout the next hours. a lot ahead to cover. we'll talk to the mayor of joplin to get the latest on how many people may be missing and how many people may be in shelters tonight and what needs are the greatest right now. >> take a look at this >> take a look at this neighborhood. all i can say is it looks very reminiscent of what we saw last month in -- excuse me -- in tuscaloosa. ♪ [ male announcer ] in 2011, at&t is at work, building up our wireless network all across america. we're adding new cell sites... increasing network capacity, and investing billions of dollars to improve your wireless network experience. from a single phone call to the most advanced data download, we're covering more people in more places than ever before in an effort to give you the best network possible. at&t. rethink possible. and today, we're re-inventing aspirin for pain relief. with new extra-strength bayer advanced aspirin. it has microparticles so it enters the bloodstream faster and rushes relief right to the site of your tough pain. ♪ in fact, it's clinically proven to relieve pain twice as fast. new bayer advanced aspirin. extra strength pain relief, twice as fast. >> i am! >> some of the images we saw from earlier. we're with mayor mike woolston, mayor of joplin. at this point 116 is still the death toll? >> correct. >> 17 people have been pulled alive? >> that number sounds accurate. i don't have anything that's real accurate. i know the 116 we have confirmed and i do know we found earlier about seven folks today. but the number 17 is a fresh number for me. >> that's certainly good news. >> oh, certainly. >> they're going to find more people. i mean, it seems there should be more people out there alive. >> we hope there are people out there alive, certainly. we have a number of apartment buildings, complexes that are completely flanted and we anticipate finding more people. >> are search and rescue going on at night or are conditions -- >> we've had them going on, especially last night. this evening we wanted to get the first search through the last grids. and then pulled people back in because of the lightning, the storms and having two people struck today we were leary of others getting injured. >> you've had two police officers actually struck by lightning? >> correct. >> so, that's a real concern. the weather is hampering -- >> yes, it is. it's my understanding it will be thursday before we'll have decent weather we can get out and work. >> this is an incredible tight knit community. there are shelters but you're seeing most taken in by others -- >> taken in by others and strangers. we haven't had a huge number in the shelters. you can look through here. we think 2,000 structures are effected and one would think at even 1 1/2 persons per you can look through here. we think 2,000 structures are effected and one would think at even 1 1/2 persons per structure, you would have 3,000 people. with less than 100 in shelters we know they have to be taken in somewhere out there. >> what's the greatest need? what's top of your priority right now? >> just carrying on our search and rescue functions. we've had about 40 agencies come in to help us, well over 400 people. those numbers are from early this morning. we've got sema folks, fema folks in, the governor was in town today, and i understand while he was here he spoke with white house, vice president biden, so we've been offered assistance by virtually every agency. >> the outpouring of people coming in to help is remarkable. a lot of neighborhoods you see crews have been through there efficiently putting xs on if nothing was found. >> correct. we tried to work through as many grids as we could to -- as efficiently and quickly to make sure we got to people as quickly as we could. we'll be going back through those again to make sure we're getting anybody that might still be there. >> you've been mayor now, for, what -- >> 13 months. >> when you look at this, i mean, what -- what do you first see? what does the future hold? >> well, this is just not the type of community that's going to let a little f-4 tornado kick our ass so we will rebuild and we will recover. >> this is not going to kick your ass? >> no, it's not. we've been here before. it's been a long time since we had one this bad. the destruction wasn't as bad as that. we'll rebuild again this time. >> have you seen anything like this? >> i haven't seen anything this bad, no. >> what do you want people watching around the world, frankly, to know? >> just your thoughts and prayers are helpful for us, particularly those families affected with fatalities. we've got, as i said, all kinds of donations coming in, all kind of volunteers coming forward to help out. you know, we just appreciate the thoughts and prayers of everybody that might see this. >> i passed by a church over there a couple blocks. it's totally destroyed but the cross is still standing, which is -- >> maybe that's a sign. >> mayor, i appreciate your time. i know you've been busy. thanks. appreciate it. a lot going on. let's talk to chad myers. chad, the weather is just brutal. it's been brutal all day. as the mayor was talking about, we're worried about tomorrow. >> no question about tomorrow night. and even for you, anderson, after dark. the most dangerous type of tornadoes. now, for right now, things are going to get better. literally in the next ten minutes, your rain stops. probably you'll see the stars in about an hour and a half. it's over for joplin. things get better there. and i know search and rescue is probably put on hold for the darkness but at least it's not raining now. maybe that's a little respite for some people. we've had severe weather from north carolina tonight, just south of hampton roads and across the bridge, to almost new york city. a tornado was on the ground north of allentown, pennsylvania, for a while, about an hour and a half ago. severe weather across cleveland, up into ontario. severe weather rolled through columbus with damage, cincinnati where with wind damage. now i'm talking about six states already will. we're going to keep going because the most severe weather today was kansas, missouri, oklahoma, even into parts of texas. this is where it's going to fire up again tomorrow. there's your weather right there, anderson. you are right there. it's just about over for you. literally, 15 minutes and you're done. now for tomorrow, the sun heats up again. all this rain goes away. but there's all that humidity that this rain brought down. the sun is going to warm the ground. the humidity will evaporate. it's going to be one sweltering mess across the midwest tomorrow afternoon. and then in the afternoon and late evening hours, something ejects from colorado into parts of new mexico and into texas. this is an upper level low that's going to make all this warm air want to rise in the atmosphere. when warm air wants to rise, you get bubbling clouds. there will be severe weather with significant tornadoes. we had ten tornadoes today. but ten tornadoes that were small. big ones tomorrow. all the way through the midwest. back to you. >> so, chad, can you show us, chad, what this storm looked like when it hit? i mean, why was it so bad here? what -- how did it get so strong? >> well, the humidity was in place. that was the moisture. there was cold air above it. so, it's just like taking a hot air balloon and turning on the gas. that's what happened. j.j., go ahead and hit this. put this into motion. warm air at the surface. sun heated it up. then cold air up above. that cold air made the warm air want to go faster into the atmosphere and rose straight to 60,000 feet, anderson, in the sky. you could not fly over that cell yesterday. then it began to spin. as super cells do, when they're by themselves, they want to spin and it happened. then just literally five miles west of joplin, this tornado got to the ground. very small to start with. but then rapidly bigger. literally not even time to see how big it was because at some point in time during this day, it got so -- they got so much humidity in the air, this turned into a storm that's called wrapped in rain. we'll talk about this probably tomorrow as well. because we're going to have more wrapped in rain storms. it was raining here and raining all around the tornado so you couldn't see the damage being thrown up. you couldn't see the debris being thrown up. all you could see is a wall of rain and people thought it was just raining. they tried to take pictures and they got in the way and 116 people lost their lives. >> yeah, chad, we just talked to sarah norton whose brother will -- they're trying to get information where he might be. she had a cellar in their home. you look at a lot of these neighborhoods, where we are now, there's no cellar, just the concrete foundation. there was no place for some people to go. i mean, you need to be underground to get through something like this if you're directly hit. >> there's no question that there's not a structure built, that i know of, other than a safe house built by safe house companies, that can withstand a 200-mile-an-hour wind. not just a gust. a sustained wind of 200 miles per hour. people were huddled in their houses, under their steps, in the right places. but there are not very many basements in joplin, so they were taken away, when that debris was pushed away by the wind, they were pushed away with it. and that trauma of literally being hit by the inside of your house, that's where most people died. i think 95% of everybody out there did the right thing. they had 20 minutes' notice. they were inside. but some tornadoes you can't survive them. they're too big. >> yeah. chad, appreciate all the update. it's all good information. such importan