Deadly Twisters; One-on-One Interview with Angelina Jolie
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Total destruction.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was like about a split second of hell.</s>ROBERTS: Tornadoes peel off roofs, ripped steeples from churches.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The only thing we could do was pray and lay on top of our boys.</s>ROBERTS: The devastating scope for five states and thousands of families.</s>MAYOR SHELVY LINVILLE, MACON COUNTY, TENNESSEE: You can follow the path of this one. It's total destruction.</s>ROBERTS: We're live across the disaster zone. State for state, dollar for dollar, Clinton versus Obama. The new debate this morning. Who has the money and momentum? Plus, the CNN exclusive interview.</s>ANGELINA JOLIE, ACTRESS: So, you know, I don't have the answers but I know that this is one thing that needs to be addressed and solved.</s>ROBERTS: Angelina Jolie in Baghdad on this AMERICAN MORNING. And good morning. Thanks very much for being with us on this Thursday, the 7th of February, a special edition of AMERICAN MORNING. I'm John Roberts in Lafayette, Tennessee. Good morning, Alina.</s>ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning to you, John. I'm Alina Cho in New York. Kiran has the morning off. And, John, I know they're assessing the damage. They're searching for survivors. Really, just a painstakingly long process.</s>ROBERTS: Yes. You know, here in Lafayette, they're actually still searching for survivors. They haven't even begun to assess the damage. And this is a scene that's repeated across five states this week as that super storm system came through on Super Tuesday, when everybody was getting out to vote, continued through Wednesday morning. Here's a look at some of the destruction in the location where we are in Lafayette. This is a house that has been rendered, I'm sure, uninhabitable. All the windows are blown out. Most of the roofing is stripped off. One of the walls, its parkway gone. And this is one of the fortunate structures that was actually left standing. You know, not far from here, just a few yards to the other side, homes are completely destroyed. There's not even enough light to really fully see them this morning. Thirty people killed in Tennessee, 13 here in Macon County, which is where Lafayette is. Thirteen people died in Arkansas, seven in Kentucky, four in Alabama. We are live from those states this morning. Full coverage on the aftermath of this storm system. But right now, back to Alina in New York.</s>CHO: I know you'll be talking to survivors and city officials. John, thank you. We'll check back with you later. New this morning, a CNN exclusive. Actress and U.N. Ambassador Angelina Jolie is in Baghdad right now on a humanitarian mission. She spoke with CNN's Arwa Damon earlier this morning. Arwa joins us live from Baghdad with more on that exclusive interview. Arwa, what did Jolie say and what is she trying to accomplish while she's there?</s>ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, actually, she told us that the decision to come out here was quite an easy one to make because she was very frustrated at not being able to get real answers about the refugee crisis here.</s>ANGELINA JOLIE, ACTRESS: I came to the region about six months ago. I first went to Syria because I work with UNHCR, and there are 1.5 million refugees in Syria alone from Iraq. And while I was there, I also went inside and met with some internally displaced people. And this trip is to get a better picture of the internally displaced people and to discuss with the local government, with our government, with NGOs, and with local people this situation and try to understand what is happening, because there are over two million internally displaced people. And there doesn't seem to be a real coherent plan to help them and there's lots of, you know, goodwill and lots of discussion but there seem to be a lot of -- you know, just a lot of talk at the moment. And then there are a lot of pieces that need to be put together so -- trying to figure out what they are.</s>DAMON (voice-over): And what kind of a sense have you been able to get so far, in terms of how severe the crisis is, and what actually does need to be done to help out?</s>JOLIE: Well, in my research before I came here, I looked at, you know, the numbers, and there are -- there are over four million people displaced. And of the two million internally displaced, it's estimated that 58 percent are under 12 years old. So it's a very high number of people and a very, very vulnerable situation in a lot of young kids. And, so far, the different U.S. officials I've met with and different local people I've met with, all have shared concerns -- very, very, you know, strongly -- they have spoken out about the humanitarian crisis, but there seems to be a block in -- I'm not good at policy and fixing all this and saying what's wrong, but I do know that, for example, UNHCR needs to be more active inside Iraq. In order for that to happen, they need -- they feel strongly about having some better protection, better security. In talking with the U.S. officials, they're willing to give that security to the extent that they can give it. And so, you know, I don't have the answers, but I know that this is one thing that needs to be addressed and solved because it does need to be a real presence here to help count the people and register the people. Also, even just the government here needs to empower -- the prime minister here needs to empower the government that deals with migration and displacement, to be able to address the concerns for these people and that hasn't happened in a significant way yet.</s>DAMON: She is going to be meeting directly with the minister of migration and displaced people here, as well as with the Iraqi prime minister himself. Earlier this morning, she did meet with General Petraeus. And Angelina also underscored the fact that this not only needs to be dealt with because it is a humanitarian crisis, but because the situation in Iraq will impact security not only in the Middle East but throughout the entire world.</s>CHO: Arwa Damon live for us in Baghdad. Arwa, thank you. Other headlines new this morning. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Afghanistan right now. She and the British foreign secretary made a rare trip outside the capitol of Kabul to the frontlines in Kandahar. The U.S. is calling on NATO allies to send more forces, anticipating the Taliban's resurgence in the spring. Breaking news this morning in the Benazir Bhutto assassination. Pakistani police have arrested two more people in connection with her murder. Four people have now been detained, including a 15-year-old boy, since the attack in December that killed Bhutto. Police have not said how the two arrested today are connected to the assassination. Pakistan's detailed elections are set to take place a week from Monday -- John.</s>ROBERTS: Alina, nearly 70 reports of tornadoes were logged through Tuesday and Wednesday. Some of those were probably multiple sightings of the same storms so the final tally is expected to be about half that number. Still, an incredible number of tornadoes. Fifty-five people were killed. That number could rise. Thirty-one people were killed here in Tennessee. That's an additional one from last hour as the body count keeps going up here. The one thing that we keep hearing from people here is just how fast the storm blew through. Up to 25 tractor-trailer trucks were overturned. In Arkansas, 13 people were killed. A tornado cut a six- mile path near Atkins. That's a small farm town of about 3,300 people. Four were killed in that town alone. Seven people were killed in Kentucky. Four of those came from Allen County, just north here along the Tennessee border. Emergency officials estimate that the path of destruction there was a half mile wide and four miles long. And in Alabama, four people were killed, three in the hard hit area around the towns of Moulton and Aldridge Grove. We have reporters across the Tornado Disaster Zone this morning. We are here in Lafayette, Tennessee. Rob Marciano is in Alabama. Let's begin, though, with Ed Lavandera, who's live about 150 miles southwest of where I am, which will give you an idea of just how widespread this destruction was. He's in Jackson, Tennessee. Good morning, Ed.</s>ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. And we also hope to give you a sense of just how intense this storm was. We're in the student parking lot which is essentially adjacent to the dorms that were demolished by here on the campus of Union University. Just look at this car in particular here -- flipped over on top of the others, windows all smashed out. You can imagine the force and the intensity and the fear that many people had just as this storm was hitting.</s>LAVANDERA (voice-over): When the tornadoes winds started whipping, the hands of Union University's clock tower stopped spinning, a terrifying moment frozen in time at just past 7:00 p.m. It's when Matt Taylor found himself trapped in the rubble of his dorm room.</s>MATT TAYLOR, UNION UNIVERSITY STUDENT: The last thing I remember seeing as I looked up on my way -- because I was on my stomach holding a gumball machine being dragged across the floor and I saw couches and tables going over my head and I'm not going to make it to that room. And the next thing I knew, I mean, I was under all this rubble.</s>PASTOR DONALD LANCE, LIGHTHOUSE UNITED PENTECOSTAL CHURCH: And this storage closet here, we had four families in here, lined up in this closet. We had to move everything out and barely got in here just in time.</s>LAVANDERA: Pastor Donald Lance was supposed to have been in the middle of a Tuesday night church service when the tornado struck in front of a packed congregation. But just hours before the twister came, he looked to the ominous skies and decided to cancel. So instead of 150 people in harm's way, only a few families were inside when the rumbling started.</s>LANCE: The lightning for some reason flashed all of a sudden, and you know how it lights up the whole sky. And when it did, we've seen the tornado and it was coming basically straight for us. And by the time we got in the storage room and got everybody in, that roar was on us. And when I shut the door, it was on us that quick.</s>LAVANDERA: In minutes, the roof was peeled off. The Lighthouse United Pentecostal Church, the steeple toppled over. Donald Lance is grateful he canceled services. His congregation lives to pray another day.</s>LANCE: I'm not depressed, worried nor down. It's not a tragedy. It's a testimony. It's great that all these lives were spared. It's a great day, a great day.</s>LAVANDERA: And, of course, that church not very far away from the campus here in Jackson, Tennessee. And you know there were 1,100 cars that were damaged, university officials tell us. And many of these students who have been told, to take a couple of weeks off, that classes wouldn't resume for another couple of weeks, this is the conditions that many of them are finding their cars in. So getting away from here is actually very difficult -- John.</s>ROBERTS: That pile of vehicles behind you there, Ed, have they even started the cleanup process there yet?</s>LAVANDERA: They haven't. You know, we've heard that there might be an opportunity for some students to get back into their dorm rooms today so they can gather some of their belongings and try to make it to that mess. But, yes, it's a heck of a cleanup process. This is just one parking lot in the campus. It goes back over this way, so there is a lot that needs to be done and cleaned up. And, of course, that process hasn't begun yet. We imagine it will begin rather soon, but it hasn't started yet.</s>ROBERTS: All right. Ed Lavandera for us this morning in Jackson, Tennessee. President Bush himself will get an up close look at the destruction there later on today when he visits the storm zone. Now, from a 150 miles southwest of where we are to 200 miles south of where we are now, Rob Marciano in Aldridge Grove, Alabama -- that's a very, very hard hit area -- tracking more extreme weather for us this morning. Good morning, Rob.</s>ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, John. Just over 24 hours ago, two immense twisters tore through northern Alabama. One fatality in Jackson County, three right here in Lawrence County, three right across the street, where a couple and their teenage son were living or sleeping when the storm ripped through their home pretty much gone. Their home, a lot of it on this side of the street now. All this debris from their house. Up there is the roof of their home, plywood and roofing material embedded in those branches, pinned to that tree, giving you an idea just how powerful this storm was. Brick house there -- pretty much damaged and destroyed. An elderly woman in there. She's OK, broken bones, some cuts and bruises. Eighty to 90 homes in this county damaged or completely destroyed. Tens of people were hospitalized during the day yesterday. I talked to the meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service. He said preliminary survey is that this was an EF3, at least 136 mile-an-hour winds. The ones who are north and east, that was an EF4. They'll come back out here today, take a closer look. They may very well upgrade this one. Storms these strong this far north are pretty rare and unusual for this time of year, but it does happen. It happened back in 1971 where over 120 people died. El Nino, which is what we had last year, typically brings -- and judging a little father south -- that's why we had those tornadoes likely in the cross central and northern Florida. This year, La Nina. That kind of agitates the atmosphere, and there are some studies from the Storm Prediction Center that says La Nina can sometimes make for more intense or more tornadoes a little bit farther north as we agitate that jet stream. So that could very well be a reason why we had this. But I'll tell you what? With that record heat that we had built up across the southeast and really the eastern two-thirds of the country, that certainly didn't help this situation. Now, the cold air has moved in. The weather pattern has shifted somewhat, and the storm system is off to Georgia, the north and east, and heading out to sea. But there is yet another one heading into the Pacific Northwest. Interesting note, John, I talked to one of our affiliate reporters here, Wade (ph), when we arrived in the scene. He was one of the first people on the scene. He said that there was a couple and their 2-year-old daughter in an SUV, trying to outrun this tornado, coming right up this road. The SUV was picked up and thrown at least 100 yards and came to place just to my right, on all four tires, upright. They were miraculously OK. You should never try to outrun a twister. But they got out of the car, the gentleman had a cell phone. He heard cries of help from both sides of the streets around this neighborhood. He was able to call 911 and get first responders here in just a matter of minutes. So in all of this, John, happening at the same time, it must have been quite an ordeal to say the least -- John.</s>ROBERTS: Unbelievable. And, Rob, in just a little while, we're going to be talking to a fellow who is inside his mobile home when the tornado hit, and it literally turned it upside down and tried to shake him out of it like that. And we're seeing just, you know, the extremes in the weather here. We got snow in the air this morning, Rob. What was it, the day that the tornadoes hit? Somewhere around 70 degrees or so?</s>MARCIANO: At least. And just yesterday, it was in the upper 60s across D.C. and New York City. So a tremendous amount of heat buildup. And as you know, now we're feeling the cold. You get those two air masses, that's just one of the ingredients that can fire up these storms and unfortunately, that's what triggered this atmosphere to get awfully turbulent just yesterday and the day before -- John.</s>ROBERTS: Just an extraordinarily powerful line of storms. Rob Marciano for us this morning. Rob, thanks. We'll check back in within a little while. Right now, back to New York, and here's Alina.</s>CHO: John, thank you. Just north of you, we're following new weather concerns this morning. Winter storm watches and flood warnings are up from the Great Lakes to New England. At least 500 flights have already been canceled at Chicago's O'Hare Airport. They've had a mix of snow, sleet and rain. Just a mess there. Delays on the remaining flights are running up to an hour. We're going to have a live report coming up in our next half hour. Also ahead, a CNN exclusive. The Halloween party pictures the Feds didn't want you to see. The costume that caused all the trouble and the immigrations chief whose job is on the line. That's coming up. New word from the campaign this morning. Who has the money to go all the way? You may be surprised. And the storms that ravaged the south. This morning, assessing the damage.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's pretty scary being in there and the top comes off of it, and you watch your whole house fly above your head.</s>CHO: Their stories of survival ahead. We're live in four of the devastated states, and John's live from Lafayette, Tennessee. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. We're back in a moment.