0 and not nato. >> lieutenant colonel alexander vindman, thank you for joining us. he's the author of "right matters," former security director for eastern europe and a fellow at the johns hopkins school of advanced international studies. all right. we'll bring you another update on the devastation in kentucky and other states after severe tornadoes. another hour of "velshi" begins right now. >> it's saturday, december 1st -- december 11th, i'm sorry. i'm ali velshi. a devastating series of tornados and tornadic thunderstorms touched down overnight in at least five states in the midwest, arkansas, missouri, kentucky and tennessee, 32 tornadoes are believed to have touched down and people dead in kentucky alone and the figure might be closer to 100. andy beshear is holding a news conference at 11:00 a.m. eastern and four tornadoes hit his state including one that stayed on the ground for 200 miles. scores of structures have been destroyed and a mass casualty event were declared in a ken tucky candle fact reeb. this drone vid why shows the total devastation in that plant in the town of mayfield has been, quote, devastated. the following audio came from inside that building and we should warn you, it's upsetting. [ screaming ] >> okay. i don't know who's watching -- we got hit by a hurricane. i'm at work in mayfield, and we are trapped. please, you all, get us some help. we are at the candle factory in mayfield. please. please. in arkansas, one person is dead and five seriously injured after an apparent tornado hit a nursing home. early reports say at least two people have died and multiple people were injured at an amazon distribution center in edwardsville, illinois, after a 100-foot portion of of a wall collapsed. joining me is storm chaser michael gordon who was on the ground in kentucky. i was listening to you earlier this morning before the sun came up. you were worried about the sun coming up because you'd see the devastation you believed to be the case and after talking to a state trooper an hour ago, it's really bad. >> yeah. it's -- now that -- i mean, i can kind of give you a little head's up view of what it looks like behind me. >> wow. what part of this did you see, michael? >> this? i was not here for the tornado as it went through. i was down in car uthersville, missouri and then i drove up through here. >> i mean, you've covered a lot of ground and so did the storm. one of these 32 storms touched down and there might be more and it was on the ground for more than 200 miles and bill karins our meteorologist was telling us these thing his a great deal of power in them, but people who don't experience tornadoes don't understand is how much more power they tend to pack than a comparable hurricane. >> yeah. no, i've been in multiple hurricanes, multiple tornados and this one -- this damage is surpasses all of the storms that i've been in. it's hard to see just on the ground, but i was just flying my drone and you will see a lot of other drone footage out there, but it goes from the candle factory through mayfield right through the center of town and levels everything until it gets right to about center of mayfield and then some of the destruction weakened and then again it strengthened after that and kept on its path, but yes, everything here is sad to see families. i just went by a family -- actually, it was back over behind me here. they were -- you know, he's coming back to one of his businesses -- well, he said that he started as a young boy and it's all gone. so it's -- the damage is -- heart wrenching. >> it's true, even the shot that you're in right now it's amazing to see the damage around you. i was speaking to a state trooper who said there are active rescues under way. mayfield doesn't have power or most of mayfield doesn't have power right now, but there are active rescues under way and there are people who continue to be trapped and have called in for rescues and they're hoping to see more rescue than recovery today. >> yeah. i was just -- i just came from -- i'm trying to get away from the wind, but yes, i just came from the candle factory and yes, there were multiple rescues under way. now that the light is -- people can see, i think the rescues will go a lot smoother. as you can see, i've got my hat on. i think temperatures have dropped. i think -- i haven't looked, but i think they're pushing below 50 and then with this windchill it's starting to get pretty chilly out here. >> what have you seen since you got there in terms of the arrival of ems and rescue? we know that the governor has declared the equivalent of a state of emergency. we know that we are expecting very shortly about federal help coming in. they do have the resources. i do know that fidukah has a center, and by the way, you're right. the temperature is starting to -- it's starting to cool down there so not having power is going to be a problem. >> yeah, no, i was just thinking that when i grabbed my hat and grabbed my gloves. going back to the ems, that was one of the first things i noticed when i pulled into here last night was probably about 30 minutes after the tornado hit was the -- it was ems in every direction. it was lake they almost have it under control. yes, they didn't have it, you know what i'm saying? but they were acting -- i guess, it was very professional and the helpers and the volunteers. i mean, everything -- i was, like, i was very surprised. >> right. >> compared to some of the other events that i've been in. >> right. >> it was very -- it seemed very organized to me. >> by the way, your observation about the weather is pretty clear. it has dropped more than 12 degrees in the last hour. you are now in the 50-degree range, but the interesting thing is it is not going to warm up with the rest of the day and with each hour it will get colder during the rest of the day and we will end up at freezing tonight. this is a major problem as stephanie was saying earlier. at least we don't have a blizzard or a storm, and it is late for tornadoes in the region and it will be all ofly cold and with that damage you're witnessing around you and a piece of the highway is blocked off because of the line across it which means we're not talking about power the next day. no. definitely not. >> i can look around and, yeah, it's going to take some -- i'll bet you it takes a few weeks. i just -- -- i can just, there's nothing, no holes are left and it's like they just snapped them up. >> yeah. >> the other thing down here now the temperature's dropping, but the wind's blowing 15, 20 miles an hour, too, so you have that windchill. >> it's another difference with hurricanes, the degree to which pulls and large, structural things look like they've gone through a shredder in the tornado and it's not like they've fallen over and lift them up and put the lines back. a tornado literally shreds things and you've shown us a little picture of it and your aerial photos and other pictures that you've seen of that factory. it's not things that collapsed and it's torn apart. the description of what vehicles look like and houses look like after a powerful tornado, it's very different after a hurricane. they look like they've been put through compactors and shshg redders. >> yeah. it's crazy, and i went through homes early, early this morning and it's not just a hurricane that blows the wall in. it throws old trees through metal and sticking in. it just takes it and like you said shreds it. a hurricane is sustained wind. >> blows around. >> yeah. and the, like, when i was talking about the power lines and stuff, yes, it's a pole whereas during a hurricane most of the poles just tip over. >> we are glad you are documenting it because it will help us understand in the future better prepare for them. dealing with tornadoes is an evolving science. michael gordon is on the spot. he is a storm chaser. he's in mayfield, kentucky, where as you see there's extensive damage and there are many people who have lost their lives and the search and rescue continues. i want to go to msnbc correspondent, stephanie stanton. what have you got? >> i am struck by that storm chaser and the emotion in his voice. this is someone that does this professionally and you saw him struggling how to find words and how to think and how to feel, and that is so telling. that really puts it into perspective and looking at all of the pictures, too, that are coming in and all of the video. you really can't put it into words. it is complete and utter deaf station in some cases and what these people, what these survivors of this tornado will be, and for the next days, weeks, months, it will be extremely difficult and challenging. we're seeing some come now and when you see the tornadoes poos through and maybe you see one house that wasn't damaged that much and then you see houses reduced rubble, so you will have to have communities who will have it rely on one another. maybe they'll have christmas press enters and that is the least of their worries, of course, but these are just the little things that you think about and when it all adds up it is just so devastating and that is why the red cross is mobilizing and they're asking for done eggs and they are sending crews to the region as they often do during these disasters. the cdc is offering many tips on their website for folks on how to deal with what comes next, the aftermath. there are so many hazards that they'll have to deal with, safe food, water, shelter and even power lines and staying away from power lines and making sure they don't deal with gas lines and there are those hazards and potential fires and there are so many different things affecting that region right now and it is heartbreaking to stand back and watch it especially growing up in the midwest, ali. i've dealt with tornadoes. fortunately, i haven't had to live through one that created damage like, that but as a kid, we had to run down to the basement many times. this is just so heartbreaking and i know we have crewses did, and we are looking forward to them getting on the ground and bringing us the latest from there. >> it is an important note that people that live in when we think of tornado alley or places where tornadoes happen and thought what to do, not everybody lives in a situation where they have a room you can go to in your own home. sometimes they're central to a community, village or town that are known as a shelter and sometimes you can't get there fast enough. in some cases you see houses destroyed and there's no place to seek shelter when a tornado of this power comes along. >> exactly. not everyone had a basement to run to. that is absolutely correct. people, they know what to do and they go to the interior of the homes when they can if they don't have basements and it is always a wild card and you never really know and one thing you're talking about to, say the debris that is piled up and the people that did go to the basement and are they sitting in a tiny safehouse under a mountain of debris? how long will rescuers get to them and how long will that take? >> there are all of these nuances that people don't realize and it really is extremely challenging. these people are in for a very difficult time ahead, ali. >> a very difficult time. it is cold as we spoke to our storm chaser michael gordon about. it's dropping. the temperature is dropping. during of the course of the day you expect as the sun light comes up, it will get hotter and it will drop 12 degrees in mayfield and it will get colder and down to freezing tonight. you've said it from places that you've experienced these tornadoes, the power outages are not fixable and they're not like a hurricane where they go away and you get these cherry picker trucks and they're up in a few days. the poles are gone. they're destroyed and they're not fallen where they can put them back up and put those lines back up. they're gone. so the idea that it is cold, that it is december is pretty serious. stephanie, thank you. i want to go back to bill karins. it is december. this is an unusual time for tornadoes like this to be hitting. >> extremely rare, and in this portion of the country where we have kentucky, it just doesn't happen and occasionally yes, we can get them in the north florida panhandle and maybe louisiana, alabama, mississippi, possibly arkansas, but this is one of the strongest, late year tornado outbreaks we've ever seen and it could likely go down as one of the top ten deadliest tornado outbreaks we've ever seen in this country. i'm watching these pictures and we're desperately trying to get these videos cleared, ali. even while i'm talking, ali. go on my twitter account and look at what we will follow. he had a drone and we're just in the works and getting that all done. i don't know if this town of mayfield is going to be the same. it went through the downtown area and it's not just the factory. just a quick glance i'd say a quarter of the town, people won't be able to liver in the structures they were living in before, not to mention all of the people in town that probably worked at the factory that doesn't even exist anymore and their jobs don't exist anymore. greensberg, kansas comes to mind. it was a town that was wiped out from an ef-5 tornado, population was roughly a thousand people or so and the town was gone and they rebuilt it green and there are stories about that seeing these pictures from this town of mayfield, kentucky, it just makes you wonder how they're going to rebuild and how they're going to survive. sometimes we talk about this like mexico, florida when michael made landfall as a category 5 hurricane there and we were just saying how does this town ever rebuild? will the town exist after this? this is the type of narrative we're going to have out of mayfield. i haven't heard anything yet about the high school or the elementary schools, but from the pictures i've seen, it will be tough to live in this town for a while. >> the relocation of a lot of people -- >> yeah. again, you know, tornadoes sometimes hit less populated areas. this is 30 miles from paducah, about 20 miles from paducah, about 30 minutes where they have two medical certains and two hours from nashville. so it's not close to a bunch of stuff. we talked to a state trooper who got -- i'm trying to get a confirmation on whether that's happened and i suspect with this multi-state incident the emergency declarations will be on the way and fema will be put into place through the course of today if they haven't deployed already, but these images, these images that we've got on the screen i want you to help with us this because, bill, 90% of the stuff we do together and 95% of it is hurricanes. we're looking at cars that look like they've been crushed and it was one of those lots where they compact cars. that's what a tornado does and although you have some stuff, you have some stuff, but those pictures tell you, what does take to cross the car? >> it is maybe an ef-2. when you look at video and you don't know what you're looking at we are talking about the enhanced fujita scale. that's a scale that tells us how strong tornadoes are. i'm watching this video with you and some things are more obvious than others and i can't tell you if this was a car dealership or a workplace that had vehicles parked that just got tossed. every which way, there are different directions and cars that are upright and cars underneath cars, it's amazing. >> and then, ali, we're a national newscast and question than people in washington, d.c., and people in fema are watching this, and there need to be fema trailers that are getting on trucks that are getting shipped to this area. this is a town of 10,000 people. so even if a quarter of the town people can't live there anymore, we're talking, we need housing for two to 3,000 pem. they need to be securing for the holidays for people and fema trailers, it will get cold very quickly and we'll be talking about snow and ice in this portion of the country and it makes cleanup so much more difficult and in hurricane season it's still warm after the hurricane goes through so people that don't have power it's not quite as bad. you don't have power, you don't have gas and a way to heat your house that's a whole different ball game. we'll have to relocate thous of people and we need to save lives and that's what first responders have been hit haft night is that the picture needs to come and support the lives of these people. >> before i checked because he told me it's gotten very cold and very windy and cold and i looked it up and it was a 12-degree drop in the last couple of hours and it's just going to get colder all day and into the night and he was talking about the power infrastructure which you and i talk about after storms. it's not easy after a hurricane because there is a lot of devastation and power lines down. in mayfield, the polls are ripped out and the infrastructure to get power to people is not there. it's not a couple of day, vent before people get their power back in december. >> i covered on this last and i was finishing up these photographics and one of the questions i always get is how much notice did the people have and that's the job of the national weather service. there are local national weather service offices that cover where you live. the paducah office covers this area. they issued a tornado warning. the tornado warning for mayfield went up at 9:05 p.m. we upon the town was hit about 9:30. they had a 25 minutes' notice to where the storm will come through and that's a tornado emergency. it means you the possibility to be hit pie a tornado. them they issued they minutes before they hit a tornado emergency. what happened was a chaser saw this light, and saw this wedge on the ground and they say listen, it's about to go through the town and they can escalate it to another level and they call it a tornado emergency. you are already under the warning. the emergency means you are about to have a life-threatening event hit you guaranteed. there's no maybe it hits. >> wow. >> that was only three minutes before it went through mayfield. you know, regardless they still had 25 minutes that a tornado was possible. at three minutes before it hit they knew it would devastate their town and that's the difference between a tornado emergency. some people have been asking what's going to happen and are we still under a threat today? we do have a tornado watch and strong storms between birmingham and huntsville, but ali, nothing like what happened overnight. we that's where we have the devastation and as you mentioned there's not a lot of huge cities and not a lot of huge media. >> and the damage area. >> yes. >> we are seeing bits of vid why coming in from different places including arkansas. we spoke to a reporter outside of st. louis in southern illinois and we just happen to be in a place where we have a lot of video of it in mayfield. i'll stick close to you as i always do in times like this. meteorologist bill karins. i want to bring in key ana parsons perez. she was stuck in the candle company. we have been looking at images of that factory and we spoke to a state trooper who are still conducting questions. where were you and what happened? >> well, we were towards the back in case someone marched there and they took attendance and we were right there waiting andal are all of a sudden i could hear revel belling if be, and everybody started moving in and as they moved in then we kind of all spread out from the middle and they were, like, get down! get down, and at some point the lights went out and we did a rock back and forth thing and then -- boom. >> wow. >> it collapsed on us. >> what happened to you when it collapsed? what happened? the roof came down? did it hit people around you? what was the situation. >> oh, we were completely trapped underneath there. we were comple