two twisters are reported near hodgenville, kentucky and there are fears of more dangerous weather in extreme northern georgia, southern and eastern kentucky, northern mississippi, western north carolina and much of tennessee. at least three people have already died in tennessee and the storm is absolutely massive. 750 miles across, and 670 miles north to south. we'll have much more breaking news from the scene in a moment and later, my exclusive and rather emotional interview with micky dolenz remembering his monkees bandmate, the late, great davy jones. >> we sort of had a lot in common and over the years, you know, our families and he and i even though we bonded, i mean, you know, after 47 years working with people like that, you know, he was like my brother. we were like siblings. >> we begin tonight with the big story, the tornadoes that began in the midwest and have already killed at least 12 people. hundreds were injured tonight. whole neighborhoods completely obliterated. harrisburg, illinois, took a direct hit, the town looks like something out of a war zone. cnn's don lemon is there with the latest. don, it looks appalling from the pictures i've been seeing today. what is it like to be actually there? >> reporter: well, piers, it's unbelievable and i think appalling, as you said, is a good word and also war zone, as well. you've seen these planters and people go outside and smoke. you've seen these in front -- i mean this thing just blasted through here. i'm going to take us in a little bit further, the mayor has graciously allowed -- careful, guys -- to go in and show some the debris. they're watching right off camera. he said we can go in, piers. this call was called hibbett sports and it's part of a strip mall here, there was a cash and carry and a couple of other stores that are here. look at this place. these giant steel gird others, these big pillars just flattened to the ground. in this, you can see come down here, there's brick in here. glass in here, just shattered and there's nails that have obviously been flung everywhere and some of the things are still here, you know, the baseball bat under here. another baseball. volleyball net, as well and then there's clothing and basketballs and you can see insulation and everywhere -- i mean it just took this -- this place and just really slung it around. i'm going to show you just go aroundary i'm not sure how much you can see at night but you've got to see this. if you look straight across there that's up on a ridge where you see those yellow flashing lights. i'm being told by the mayor, that's where most of the people died. those six people and the media camped out here, keep going around to the left and, piers, i want you to see this giant super walmart on the other side that we're told by the mayor, as well, is heavily damaged, as well. and just a little bit to the left you look -- we're in the dark here, but, look, normal, burger king, sonic, everything is normal. you've got red lights and everything working. come on back around over here and then you get to where the damage is. i mean, it looks like, you know, a couple of football fields the size of this thing that came through here. and, you know whey found interesting, the mayor said there were guys, piers, there are two big coal mines here, there were guys working down in the coal mine and came up out of the coal mine and went right to work to try to help the people who were either stuck or who had been hurt in this tornado. unbelievable but you can see the damage here. it's really incredible. >> and, don, i mean do we think that more people may be trapped still? i mean what is the state of the emergency rescue operation? >> reporter: well, they think everyone is accounted for. they think everyone is accounted for but they're not taking anything for granted. as you saw the flashing lights and looking and till going through debris, but they believe everyone is accounted for, they said more than 100 people were injured. but all they believe six people died so far. sorry they lost their lives but as you can see it could have been a lot worse with an ef-5. >> much more live from the scene later. right now want to bring in chad myers to keep track of all the weather. chad, we've talked before about tornadoes. where does this rank in terms of size and power and i suppose more pertinently what is happening tonight and which areas are most in danger? >> i'll start with the first one. power, ef-4, 170 miles per hour, piers. we get maybe four or five of those a year. ef-5s maybe one every five years but the 4 at 170 miles per hour, it was the largest tornado on the ground yesterday and it had to hit something. typically big tornadoes will just kind of hit farmland. but it seems in the more recent, in the recent future, in the pastit had just been one storm gets so big that it hits a town like tuscaloosa, birmingham and all those things that happened in alabama last year, things are getting better now. i don't believe there will be any big storms here in about an hour or so so from virginia back toward raleigh and atlanta, yes, there's still a little thunder and rotation, no rotation, nothing very big out there. let me show you the odds of this because i kind of want to put this in perspective. it was a storm that was 200 yards wide. here's illinois right there. there's chicago. want to zoom in here all the way into harrisburg. about 15 streets wide, 20 streets tall. there we go. as big as the city can right there. now zoom out and you will see how much noncity there is. there's miles, 15 miles this way. 20 miles this way of nothing but farmland but that tornado, piers, ran right through the southeast side of this town and it just -- it tore through harrisburg. it was in a big storm at the time but it was 5:00 in the morning. people weren't ready for it. they weren't ready for a storm because they were sleeping. very few people even heard the warning sirens, piers. >> yeah, terrifying experience for those people, chad, we'll be back with you later on. thank you very much for now. we can only imagine those awful moments when that massive tornado hit harrisburg. justin hicks lived through it and justin joins me now with his son donny. mr. hicks, thank you so much for joining me. i know your home has just been wiped away, right? >> yes, sir, my home was destroyed, yes. nearly nothing left of it. >> obviously devastating for you and your family but do you feel lucky to be alive? >> we're very lucky to be alive and just a good disaster plan at home and well executed at 5:00 this morning, that's the only reason we are alive and thanks to my oldest son here. he did a lot to help put it all together. >> i assume that you and your family, you had four children, you were asleep at the time. can you tell me what it was like. >> we were asleep -- >> when you realized what was happening. >> well, when we woke up half the roof was coming off the house and we managed to get the small children in the closet and about the time the small children were in the closet my wife and i noticed the walls separating from the house and it wasn't just a couple seconds later it was quiet and it was very obvious there was utter devastation around there. if i had any advice, it would be just to stay after the weather plans and get a good executed plan for your house when this stauf happens because it happens. >> is there anything more -- is there anything more that the people of the town could have done, do you think, or is it just one of those things when everyone is asleep and you just have to deal with what happens? >> you know, i watched it earlier on, and it didn't seem that bad on the news forecast and the weather forecast. i wasn't expecting it to be that bad. i woke up -- i'm pretty aware person and i woke up to a chaos and i'm sure a lot of people woke up to chaos like that i don't know if it there's anything anyone could have done dinly. it was just quick. >> you said earlier that you are your son had been a hero last night. tell me what he did. >> yeah, he got right up with me this morning as soon as it hit and he went and got one of his -- kid brothers and with me and helped me get everyone in the closet and once the storm had passed through he was very adamant to help me get outside and check for power lines and we got all the kids out in the truck and got them away from the house because obviously there were power line problems there, and it was raining inside the house so i just wanted to get them in the truck and he helped me get all that done. he was excellent today. i have to say. >> we've been looking, as you've been talking there, we've been looking at pictures inside your house complete devastation as so many homes are in the town. you've got the only microphone there. if you could just pass it so i can talk directly to your son. i wouldn't mind knowing what his experiences were last night. how he felt about -- >> he want s s to know some of your experiences, don. >> came through my bedroom window, busted out the window on top of me. immediately i got up, ran to my mom's room, made sure the babies were okay then we got everybody out of the house. that's about it. >> he was -- >> incredible. i mean a terrifying experience. do you know other people who have been -- >> yeah, i was really scared. >> -- wounded or injured? >> mr. hicks, did you know people who had been hurt? >> yes, we knew people who had been hurt today and injured in our town, yes, we did. no one in our immediate family, but, yes, we knew some of the people. >> yeah, i mean nothing obviously has ever happened to your town like this, right? i mean, this is one of those things you just hope and pray never comes to you. >> yes, yes, i hope and pray it doesn't come to me or anyone else because i tell you, it's the worst experience waking up to ever and you know i don't have any advice to anybody except to put together a home plan and do your best to execute it when it's time to execute it and there's no way to get past that stuff. it's so quick. it's so strong. there's no stopping it. just be ready for it. >> where will you be spending this evening, and what are your plans in the immediate near future for where you and your family will live? >> we've got insurance companies will be here in the next 48 hours and for right now a local church and a couple of other organizations put us in a motel room for the night so we're pretty fortunate tonight. >> well, it's an appalling story. i wish you and your family the best at rebuilding your home and lives and to all those in the town who have been going through a similar devastating experience, we all wish you the very best and hope you get back on your feet very soon. thank you very much for joining me. >> thank you, mr. morgan, thank you. now i turn to les winkler and he was at home when all hell broke loose. les, thank you for joining me. tell me about what happened to you. >> well, i just -- i felt my wife get out of bed. i couldn't -- i couldn't really -- and when she got up, it sounded like hail or rain really beating against our windows, but then i thought i many heard the siren too so i checked the -- i opened the window and checked and i could hear a siren so when that happened, then i started -- then i started getting a little worried so i walked out -- i got up and she screamed at me to get some clothes and we just kind of -- i don't know how i found it in the dark but somehow i managed to get dressed in the dark and we were in our hallway because we don't have a basement and she said where can we go and i said this is where beneed to be and slumped down to the floor and within just a few seconds, things were crashing all around us and we had -- we had a big chunk of house trail they are a couple blocks down blow through our window, so it all happened like the previous guest said it happened so fast that actually it was kind of an eerie calm that i had because you knew there was nothing you could do anyway so you just kind of laid there and hope your house didn't come down around you. >> and it's every american's nightmare when this season comes around that you get hit directly by a tornado of this size and power. for those like me who have never been anywhere near a tornado, what is it actually feel like? i mean describe the power and the force of this thing which devastated you -- your family, your home and your town last night. >> well, when i did wake up, i mean, you could just -- you knew that this was no ordinary storm. it just sounded different. that's all i can say. like the sirens were going off, which doesn't happen a whole lot. when that happens, you know, you need to take cover and, but the sound was just -- i mean the people say it sounds like a train. it didn't sound like a train but it was just really loud. i knew it was serious and we just did what we had to do. >> feel lucky to be alive, i would imagine. >> compared to our neighbors, we got off really well. our house is livable. we'll be able to stay there tonight, but just a block from me some of our friends' hopes were just totally devastated. i mean they're gone so we dodged a bullet. we're really lucky and we know it and just start again tomorrow. >> yeah, we'll be looking at pictures while you're talking you provided us with. i mean utter devastation. it's a horrific scene down there and we do wish you and all of your neighbors and friends and family all the very best in getting the town back on its feet. it's going to be a lot of hard work, a lot of people. we wish you all the very best. >> well, thank you very much. >> thank you for joining me. a town destroyed. determined to rebuild. the mayor of harrisburg joins me live next. 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[ brian ] there's a bright future here, and there's a chance to get on the ground floor of something big, something that will bring us back. not only this company, but this country. ♪ you can see the images for yourselves, simply horrific. the town of harrisburg, illinois, reeling after the deadly tornado last night that took many lives and wounded many, many others. joining me now on the phone is ashley plumlee whose young family narrowly survived the twister. i know you fielded so scared by what happened you don't want to leave your house. tell me about what went on last night. >> well, luckily my brother called me about 4:30 and told me to turn the news on because it was getting really bad so we were -- my husband and i were luckily awake whenever it got really super bad and we heard the sirens went off and we went and grabbed our little girls out of bed and we had just pulled the mattress off and stuck their helmets on their head and stuck them under -- we didn't get time to get under the mattress before it felt like the house was being ripped apart around us. >> again, i mean, i've asked people this earlier, but what is it like to be in the eye of one of these tornadoes? describe the physical experience. >> oh, it was the scariest experience of my life. it kind of felt like an earthquake. you could hear glass breaking all around us. you could feel the air pressure change and my ears started popping really bad and the most terrifying experience. my children were crying. it didn't last -- i mean it only lasted for like 30 seconds but to sit and feel your house -- >> looking at pictures -- yeah, i'm looking at pictures you've supplied which is just complete devastation. i mean, how any of you got out alive is a miracle. >> we were actually lucky because our house is the last house on our street that was hit so we actually were the best house on the belong. we're missing about half of our roof and we had a carport and an attached garage, and it's missing, but i mean i sent in pictures of the trailer that was about 15 feet away from my house, i mean, my husband went outside to look around and he just started screaming that the trailer was gone. i mean, we didn't -- the trailer was just ripped off its foundation and gone. we didn't know where it was for about a half an hour. >> and how far had it gone? >> there's an apartment building about 15 feet away from it and it had picked the trailer up and thrown it against the apartment building. but it was pitch black when the tornado happened so we couldn't see it for awhile. but my husband and an emt actually managed to pull that man out. they found him. he was still alive. so he's -- he was okay. >> incredible. i mean, what a descriptive moment there of a trailer wrenched off its axis and smashed into walls. i mean it's just an apparent scale you can't imagine. i'm so glad you're okay, ashley. thank you for joining me and stay safe along with all your friends, family and neighbors. >> thank you. we've heard from people in harrisburg with their harrowing testimony and talk to the person in charge there eric gregg, has an enormous task. thank you for joining me. i can see just behind you the scale of what you have to deal with. what are your immediate actions to try and bring the town back under i guess some form of order? >> well, piers, thank you so much for having us on this evening first of all. it's been a very difficult day in harrisburg, illinois, but what we're doing right now is we're making sure that everyone is safe. everyone is accounted for and we're again making sure that we're taking care of those that have been displaced. we're going to do our due diligence to get our hands around this, again, when the sun comes up in the morning we're going to start -- actually we'll be working all night on this and for many days to come but this is a horrific event, heartbreaking day in harrisburg and small community in the midwest, a wonderful community, a very loving, giving area of the country, great people and we've just been hit hard today, piers, and it's a heartbreaking day. we've lost six lives. >> certainly awful and mr. mr. felzer, i hear the local hospital was hit too. how much damage was done there and what has happened to the patien