Powerball Rising; Severe Weather Ahead; Teen Bags Big Gator
BERMAN: Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. So you do know what they say, of course. You have to be in it to win it. And this weekend you can turn $2 into half a billion.</s>SAMBOLIN: The jackpot for the Saturday's Powerball drawing has grown to $550 million. It is the second biggest Powerball prize ever. And CNN's Zain Asher is live in Passaic, New Jersey, where they expected to sell lots of lottery tickets between now and tomorrow night. Have you bought your own?</s>ZAIN ASHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I have not, Zoraida. But a lot of people here are lining up to buy theirs. What happens when the jackpot gets this big is people who don't usually play start to buy tickets. And people who do play start to buy more tickets. They start to buy 10 tickets, 20 tickets. Obviously, it is important not to spend more money than you can afford. As you mentioned, the jackpot right now is $550 million, the second largest in Powerball history. And, by the way, if you walked away with the lump sum you're still going to net $350 million, basically enough money to give a dollar to every single person in this country and you would still be a millionaire several times over. What I want to emphasize, though, is the chance of winning. You know, we hear this all the time. But the chance of winning is 1 in 175 million. Certainly far from being a sure thing. It was previously, by the way, 1 in 195 million. Now it's 1 in 175 million. So, we are getting closer. I did actually speak to the store clerk at this BP gas station right behind me. He said people are coming in by the droves. He expects sales to increase tomorrow as the deadline draws closer. I also asked people as they were walking in and out, hey, you know, if you woke up tomorrow and you suddenly had $550 million to your name, what would you do with the money? A lot of people say they would spend it on their family which I thought was quite sweet. One woman said is he would not quit her job. She's an EMT. She loves it. She told me that she would work part-time, that she would put the money towards her kids' college plan. I don't know. I think she would still have money left over at the end, Zoraida.</s>SAMBOLIN: Oh, I think so, toward the college plan, she could play for college for all of our kids. It seems like --</s>ASHER: Mine, too.</s>SAMBOLIN: Yes, it seems like we are constantly saying this is the biggest jackpot, a huge jackpot. Are they really increasing now?</s>ASHER: Yes, what happened is a year and a half ago, they actually redesigned the game, right? So, previously, the tickets cost $1. Now they cost $2. And, of course, if more people are putting money in, then, of course, the jackpot grows larger and larger. Also, what happened is that they changed the rule so that if you get five numbers right, you get $1 million instead of $200,000. Also, there are fewer Powerball numbers to choose from. It's 1 through 35 now. Previously, it was 1 through 39. So, you have bigger jackpots at stake, and also, a bigger chance of winning something -- Zoraida.</s>SAMBOLIN: I love it. I feeling kind of lucky. I say buy us a bunch of tickets over there while you're there. Thank you, Zain. Appreciate it.</s>ASHER: No problem.</s>SAMBOLIN: It is 45 minutes past the hour. Bracing for severe weather this weekend. This time the center of the country may be under the gun. Meteorologist Jennifer Delgado joins from the CNN weather center in Atlanta. Who should brace for what, Jennifer?</s>JENNIFER DELGADO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Parts of the Midwest as well the plains. That will fire up as we go into the weekend. And we are talking about tornado potential. Just like what we saw yesterday. Let's go to some video coming out of Granbury. There was an EF-4 tornado there. And we're talking about an EF-4 -- winds 166 to 200 miles per hour. That's why we saw so many homes off their frames. In Cleburne it was an EF-3. As I take you over to the radar, to make matters worse this area doesn't need any rain. There is a recovery and the search effort going on. Pointing out there are storms moving through parts of Cleburne right now as well as into Granbury. Our reporter mentioned hearing thunder as well as lightning. That will end around noon and then will clear things out for the weekend. On a wider view, boundary system all the way up towards the north. This is where we'll see some storms. For the northeast, today is going to be beautiful. Bad weather today potential looks like for areas including northern Mississippi as well as into Alabama, but for Saturday, Sunday and Monday we're talking a really good chance we could see some of these super cells developing and producing tornadoes. We are talking areas like Kansas city as well as St. Louis. Very highly populated regions. On a wide view, you will see sunshine in the central part of the U.S. for areas over to the east it will be beautiful out there. High pressure is in control. We are talking Boston, New York, even into D.C., highs in the lower 80's and lower 70's. Have a nice weekend. Back to you.</s>BERMAN: I think we will. Thank you. Appreciate it. We have dramatic video to show you this morning of a raging inferno following a car accident and rescue in Kansas. Two men who were unconscious inside a corvette that crashed through a truck, they were rescued by a guy just passing by. Jim Russell started recording video of the scene just seconds after he and another man pulled the victims out.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just helped pull this guy from the car. And his major truck - this car's on fire. The semi truck is on fire, it's all burning. I just pulled two guys -- we pulled two guys out of this.</s>BERMAN: Wow. Some fire. Both vehicles were completely engulfed by the flames. The accident victims are doing okay this morning.</s>SAMBOLIN: I'm so glad he had the presence of mind to do that. How many times do people just pass by and not want to get involved. Good for him. Up next, an incredible surprise for a precious little girl. She was throwing out the first pitch last night. Wait until you see who is behind the catcher's mask, coming up next.