From the flight 370 search area. Could the jet have crashed into the ocean thousands of miles away . Im wolf blitzer and youre in the situation room. This is cnn breaking news. Were following two major brecking news stories. Unprecedented punishment held down from the nba, to Donald Sterling, the Los Angeles Clippers owner. More on that in a moment. But first, theres another breaking story were following. Severe weather warnings right now covering 70 million americans and a threat of killer tornados. The risk right now is extreme in some of the very same areas that have been devastated only two days ago. Lets go straight to the meteorologist, Jennifer Grey tracking the storms in the cnn weather center. Tell our viewers, jennifer what they need to know right now. If you are in the south or North Carolina, you need to be on the lookout for today. We have that moderate risk of Severe Weather. However, wolf, most of the Tornado Warnings weve seen today have actually been around the raleigh, North Carolina area. Here are the tornado watch boxes in effect right now. Mississippi, alabama, a lot of areas were hit yesterday. You have the possibility of being hit with these strong storms again today and now were looking at raleigh. And this is where we have seen these Tornado Warnings over the past hour or so. And they are crawling up interstate 95. Thats not where you want to be right now. Some of the more powerful storms weve seen outside of the fayetteville area, dunn. These are heading north and east until 9 15. Affecting dunn and erwin. They keep going up. These are very powerful storms. They have a history of producing damage. If youre in bentenville and four oaks, you have a Tornado Warning for your area. Wolf these storms are not letting up. They are starting to fire up again in mississippi and alabama, places similar to where we saw yesterday. We have a couple tornados touchdown outside the jackson area. Were starting to see strong storms develop outside of that city once again and then also in southern alabama, seeing showers and storms starting to fire up once again there, too. Just on the youth side of montgomery. Heres the Severe Thunderstorm Warning in mississippi. Just on the north side of i20. Thats going to cross into alabama, coming up into the hour or so. And were still under that risk of Severe Weather for today. Moderate risk. Coverage places like jackson, birmingham, two places that were hit very hard yesterday, possibly again today. Were getting into the heat of the day, wolf. Where were going to see these showers and storms start to take off in the next couple hours. Jennifer, were getting video into the situation room. This is out in stedman, North Carolina. Look at this funnel cloud that has developed. Explain to our viewers who arent familiar with this, how serious, potentially, this is. Yeah. This is not your garden variety afternoon thunderstorms. These can be deadly. Weve had deaths yesterday. And we also head deaths on sunday. This is something you want to take very seriously. Its a life or depth situation that can touchdown in a moments notice. They can be very unpredictable on the ground. Make a shovel to the north or south with little to know warning. When you see a Tornado Warning in your area, if youre anywhere in that vicinity. Anywhere in those boxes that pop up, you need to immediately get to your safe spot, small interior room away from windows and stay there until its safe. You dont want to be on the road for sure and not in a building thats not sturdy. Weve seen the damage, seen the pictures and they are mindblowing what weve seen the past couple days. North carolina as you point you the out in the bullseye right now. Well be speaking with the governor of North Carolina. Were watching all of these severe thunderstorm, potential tornados. Much more on that come up. Theres other news were following. Including breaks news. The most severe punishment ever handed down by the nba against the team owner. The nba is banning clippers owner, Donald Sterling for life. Over racist remarks in a phone call. He faces a 2,r 2,50,000 fine. We have coverage with reporters analysts, let start with susan malveaux, this is a powerful statement. It was very dramatic. This action was swift. It was necessary. Its become a huge distraction in the height of the playoffs, 12 response earps dropped or suspended sponsorships with the team. Now that sterling is persona nongrata, where does that leave the clippers a team worth an estimated 575 million. And firestorm in the nba. L. A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling is out. Effective immediately i am banning mr. Sterling for life from any association with the Clippers Organization or the nba. Reporter after interviewing sterling and wrapping up its lightning speed investigation, the nbas commissioner adam silver delivered the blow. Mr. Sterling may not attend any nba games or practicing, he may not be present at any clippers facility, and he may not participate in any business or player personnel decisions, involving the team. He will also be barred from attending nba board of governors meetings or participating in any other league activity. Sterling was also fined 2. 5 million, the maximum allowed under the nba constitution. Money which would go to charity. Justice was swift as well as the reaction. I believe that today stands as one of those great moments. Where sports, once again, transcends, where sports provides a place for fundamental change, on how our country should think and act. Its going to be a new day here in this city. And a whole lot of clipper fans will have a lot more to smile about. Lets hope this is an opportunity for all of us as player, former players, as a league, as a community, to help educate, and help take one step further to eradicating racism in our communities. We may be a twoteam town but today were behind one team. Reporter the ban comes after audio clips of racist rants with a conversation with v. Stiff yano. Yeah, it bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that youre associating with black people. Sterling has the threefourths majority necessary from the other nba owners to force sterling to sell the team. National Basketball Players Association said players threatened to boycott the games if sterling dont get the maximum penalty. Now pushing the franchise owners to act quickly. Were not content yet. We want immediate action. We want a time table from the owners as far as when this votes going to happen. Silver also issued an apology to legendary figures of the league who were oh fended by sterlings comments, including Magic Johnson who had been specifically targeted by sterling in those tapes. He implored sponsors to come back. Tonight all eyes will be on clinters game five to see how they play. Also whether coach rivers or anyone from the league addresses the history that was made just hours before. Well be watching. We certainly will. A powerful day indeed in the history of sports. I want to get more breaking news. Joining us, len elmore, also joining us, jeffery h toobin and cnns rachel nichols. How does this work, rachel . He makes the announcement, bans this guy for life but how does it work . The ban is going into effect now, within adam silvers power. Donald sterling will not be around an nba team ever again. Now, in terms of forcing him to sell the team, adam silver made a little power play by announcing to the public before go together owners and saying, im going to push and do everything in my power to get the owners to make this vote and force sterling to sell the team, hes putting it out there in front of the public and now owners will feel tremendous pressure. You heard rogeren saying, you want accountability. We want to know how our owner in our city is voting. During the press conference, i asked adam, have you done a policy . Do you know you have done the votes . He said no, i havent. He made a decision to put this out to the public first instead of going to the ownership first. By buy doing that, the pressure is going to come from a ground swell from the public and players from each of the teams pressuring these guys to vote one of their old cronies out. Jeffery, hes a very, very legalistic kind of guy. He likes to sue people. He gets sued all of the time himself. What if sterling decides to sue the nba and say, i own the team, if i want to go to the game, i have every right to go to a game. He can sue, he has very little chance for success. This is not the government enforcing a penalty. This is not where you have the constitution involved. This is a contract. There is a contract between the owners and nba and the powers of the commissioner and powers of the other owners laid out there very clearly, and as far as we know, the contract itself is secret but based on what has come out and what silver said, this action today, both the penalties and attempt to get him out as an owner, are well within the commissioners right, so, he can sue, anybody can file a lawsuit, but the chances of success seem basically zero. Len elmore, Dallas Mavericks owner, mark cuban tweeted this. Ill put it up on the screen. He said im 100 with commissioner silvers findings and actions taken against Donald Sterling. Do you expect all almost all of the own ares of nba teams to follow suit . Oh, absolutely. I mean, this is a situation where you cant fall on another side of this issue. The only right side of the issue is the way its been presented by the players, and by adam silver and by the rest of the nation. So, from that standpoint, i think every owner has to look at themselves, take a look at Donald Sterling and say, is this the type of person with whom we want to be associated . What did you think, len, of the actions announced today by the new nba commissioner . I thought it was outstanding leadership. I thought it was a great job, ensure swift and certainly severe punishment. Thats what you need in these types of situations so theres no room for anyone to debate whether or not theres a true commitment to having an nba that is free of this type of racism. Now, of this outward racism. We cant control what is in someones head. But we certainly, from an nba standpoint, can control how its presented and i think its very important for adam to do what he did. I also believe that, from the standpoint of the players, i know Kevin Johnson mentioned, this is a defining moment and you look at the unified voices of these players, on this particular subject, i think they need to look at themselves, leverage those voices and power that they have in other areas, particularly issues, again, that you cannot fall on the wrong side of. Such as childhood obesity, such as gang violence, and things of that nature. I think they can leverage their voices in that respect and move on and be a greater force in society. You make excellent point, len elmore, thanks very much. Rach rachel, jeffery, stand by well have more of this discussion later. Meantime were following other breaking news. A fresh storm outbreak threatening the area hit by several storms. 70 million americans, at risk. Were tracking the story live. 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West of athens this was a complex of duplex apartments and Single Family homes not much survived even home was strong foundations and support beeps like this one got blown away and unbelievably, these folks are not out of danger yet. Its moving to the right. Reporter pummeling of a historic scale. Dozens of strong tornadoes kept come, battering Southern States in waves over three days. Northern mississippi, northern alabama have taken the brunt. And strong storms once again back in the region today. Officials are bracing for more hits while trying to handle dangers from the last round. Main thing is clearing roadways. Of course we have a big problem with power poles down in the western portion of the county. Reporter power lines that could still be hot sheriff mike blakely said and could injury people rummaging through their homes. Colin, his mother and stepmother were inside their house and somehow survived. Colin showed us the area of the broom closet he jumped into, which is not there anymore like the other home. I got a blanket and pillow to cover up. In case it did hit, to save me from debris. As soon as i got down, not even covering myself up with a blanket. It just hits and i black out. Sandra davis and her husband saw most of their home pulverized. Sandra was in the duplex with soninlaw, daughter and grandchild when she heard the terrifying roar. I was in my bathroom with my dog under a big old futon and laid close to the floor. What is your feeling coming back and living in this place . I wont live here. Reporter no shelter as theyre trying to assess damage. This neighborhood is in a wideopen area. If some residents are back here when the next round of storm cells hit, theyll be exploded. Wolf. Youre getting new information about the strength of mondays tornadoes . Thats right. We heard from the National Weather service. They issued a preliminary finding of two tornado, one that hit Winston County, mississippi and rankin county, mississippi. One hit Winston County was a strength ef4. Ly is 200mileanhour assessment of wind damage. The second highest strength possible. The one that hit ran ding county was ef3 below that. Preliminary findings, so the final readings of these tornadoes might be a little different. Those are two really strong tornadoes that hit those two counties yesterday. Devastating, devastating information. Lets go back to our weather expert. Meteorologist chad myers, what are you seeing, where are you right now, chad . Reporter we are very close to columbus, mississippi close to the Columbus Air Force base. Traveling to the south, staying ahead of the storm near starkville mississippi, or Mississippi State university where all of the meteorology majors go, now that they want to be on tv. We get south of those storms to look back at it to see if its rotating. I dont want you to do this. If you take a look outside, please, if its hailing, dont go out and look at anything at all. To be safe. You need to be aware theres something called, wolf the calm before the storm. I should say the calm before the tornado. If the storm is wrapped up like yesterday. Mississippi and alabama. As it comes over you. Youll get hail storm and it hails. Thats the storm on the back side of that hook. Theres a small ion the back side of a supercell thunderstorm and thats the iyoure in for a while. Thats the tornado. Please go look at it. This will be a dangerous night. Many of these happen after dark anyway. Maybe keep the Weather Radio on. At least that radio will wake you up. Very quickly, how extreme, unusual is it, three days in a row for these tornadoes . Well, it happens probably once every other year. There have been much bigger outbreaks than this, no question about it. Especially the day tuscaloosa, alabama got hit. Thats a much bigger series of days than the three we have here. We still have the opportunity for a fourth day. That may be the most unprecedented as it moves to wednesday further east. This storm was a large bowling ball, in the middle of the country and had this been colder, we would have been talking feet, three feet, of snow in many, many big cities. Were kind of glad its only rain but not glad when you get it warmer like the spring snowstorms furnace into tornado storms. Well keep checking back with you. The images are very, very ominous. Standing by this very dangerous situation. Mississippi, North Carolina, thats coming up. Also a huge hunt for malaysian airlines. Has a private Company Found debr debris, where nobody has been look. Stay with us. Youre in the situation room. Frequent heartburn . The choice is yours. Chalky. Not chalky. Temporary. 24 hour. Lots of tablets. One pill. You decide. Prevacid. 24 hour we cannot let the fans down. Dont worry the United StatesPostal Servic