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JUDY WOODRUFF: As of this afternoon, officials said six adults remain unaccounted for.

For more about the recovery efforts in the area and questions arising from this disaster, I spoke with Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin a short time ago.

Gov. Mary Fallin, thank you for talking with us. Tell us, how is the recovery going so far now after two days?

GOV. MARY FALLIN, R-Okla.: Well, the recovery is moving right along.

We have begun some of the recovery process of cleaning up the debris itself, and when I came in early this morning, I could see a change in the ground conditions, from the standpoint that debris was pushed off the side of the road, was being piled up in different areas alongside the grassway or the road itself.

So we're making good progress. As I look over here to the side I see all kinds of utility trucks and construction trucks that are here in this parking lot. You see various workers around picking up debris, and even trucks that say construction on them. So we're making progress.

We have also let the families go back into their homes to pick up their personal belongings, and hopefully they will be able to find some things they can save.

JUDY WOODRUFF: What would you say are the main needs this community has right now?

MARY FALLIN: Well, lots of prayer right now.

But the main needs are just having a way to get the different services they need. And we have FEMA here on the spot that's helping with disaster recovery and helping with finding shelter, certainly temporary shelter for all the homes that were lost. A lot of people lost their clothes and shoes and food.

And so as I have gone to some of the shelters, there's lots of shoes and clothes laying out. There are people coming in and picking those up. People lost, like, their cell phones. They lost their cars. They lost their purses, their billfolds, whatever it might be.

And so just providing the necessary services so people can just go about and live their daily life and hopefully someday get back to work.

JUDY WOODRUFF: You mentioned that FEMA is there. Of course, President Obama is going to be coming there on Sunday for a service. Is there something you will be asking him for?

MARY FALLIN: He is going to come in. We're not sure what time he's coming in during the day. And we do have a service and we're working on setting that time right now.

So it kind of depends on his schedule and what he would like to do. He did mention that he would like to see where the ground zero is, per se, as far as where the disaster has occurred, to the school and some of the residential areas. I'm sure he might want to see some of the business areas.

But we appreciate him signing our emergency declaration so quickly, and glad he recognizes that this is a major event in our nation.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Governor, in retrospect, should there have been more of a state or local requirement for safe shelter, especially in public buildings like the schools and the hospitals?

MARY FALLIN: Well, the one thing about our state, we actually started a rebate program many years ago after we had a tornado that came through here in 1999, in which we initiated a rebate matching federal FEMA money, that we would give grants out to people who applied for those.

And they did have to make the application for that to put in a shelter in their home or their school or their businesses. And, of course, that is something that we would encourage people to do. And I do know that since new structures have been built, whether it's homes or whether it's been schools, that many of them have chosen to put shelters in.

Now, what happened here this past week is not something that happens every day in our state. It's usually about one percent of tornadoes that come through in any season would be an F-5 tornado. So most tornadoes are not of this degree, and there are certainly safety precautions that the school took, and it's terrible that we lost 24 people, but it's also remarkable that we only lost 24 people with this kind of destruction.

JUDY WOODRUFF: But shouldn't public -- especially public buildings like schools and hospitals, be required to have a safe shelter?

MARY FALLIN: Well, that's something that we will be discussing this year, and certainly something that we will want input from, from the community itself, from the legislature. It's -- it's also an issue that will require looking at the building code themselves and working with the local cities. But we do think we need to have a discussion about that.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Do you think it's a good idea?

MARY FALLIN: Absolutely.

I think it's a good idea that people should look at the possibility of putting in storm shelters. I won't go as far as saying that we should mandate that, but I think we should make it as easy as possible to be able to do that.

And I was visiting with our emergency management director and our FEMA representative for this region, and FEMA told me they have spent $57 million dollars over the last decade putting in storm shelters throughout Oklahoma, both in individual homes and business and schools. That is a large sum of money.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And it does sound like a lot of that has been done, but I'm just curious why you think it shouldn't be mandated.

MARY FALLIN: Well, it depends on if a school district can afford it, frankly. The schools and school boards themselves have to pass bond issues to build schools. And there are individuals in this particular neighborhood that was hit that may not be able to afford a $2,000, $3,000 dollar increase in the construction of their home or putting in a shelter in their home.

And we certainly would encourage people to do that, and we can look at ways, such as our rebate program, to make it financially more able to be able to reach the goal of putting in those homes -- in the homes -- or the shelters into their homes.

But, you know, I think that's going to be up to the individual, certainly upon their budget, and certainly we have to take into consideration the state's budget.

JUDY WOODRUFF: What other lessons would you say, Governor, come out of this experience?

MARY FALLIN: That information is key, that hitting the ground running very, very quickly is important to saving lives.

And we did do that. The minute I saw the tornado on television striking this particular area and saw how large it was, I called our adjunct general and told him we need to be ready with our National Guard, to have search-and-rescue teams and dogs that could go out throughout the debris itself to help locate any survivors that may still be around.

We were coordinating with our highway patrol, our public safety, certainly reached out to the communities and the mayors and the sheriffs and the police departments and fire to do everything we could to have good collaboration.

That's one of the things I have learned over the many years that we have had disasters like this, is that the local people, the state people, and the federal people all have to talk and work together, or things just don't work well.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, Governor, we wish you the very best with all the recovery going forward. And, of course, our hearts and prayers are with those who were injured and those families who lost loved ones.

Thank you very much.

MARY FALLIN: We appreciate you, Judy. Thank you so much.

GWEN IFILL: Online, residents of Joplin, Mo., remember their own tornado tragedy, which happened two years ago today, and pitch in to help victims in Oklahoma. 

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GWEN IFILL: The numbers piled up today in Moore, Okla., two days after the town was ravaged by a tornado.

As authorities totaled the financial costs, residents coped with devastating loss, tallying the damages close to home.

The first official estimates came this morning: 12,000 to 13,000 homes damaged or destroyed across a disaster zone that stretches for more than 17 miles and an insurance bill that could top two billion dollars.

The secretary of homeland security, Janet Napolitano, flew in from Washington to pledge full support from FEMA, the agency that oversees disaster aid.

HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY JANET NAPOLITANO, United States: We will be here to stay. At some point, the cameras will leave. The national ones will leave first, then the local ones. But on behalf of President Obama and on behalf of FEMA, we will be here to stay until this recovery is complete.

GWEN IFILL: By this morning, more than 1,000 storm victims had registered with FEMA. Local officials are estimating that as many as 33,000 residents were affected, in one way or another.

MICHAEL RAMIREZ, Tornado Survivor: I'm just grateful that we weren't here. You know, my wife's with me, so that's all I could ask for.

GWEN IFILL: This afternoon, more of them were allowed back to see what remained of the lives they knew before the storm.

SHARON CAMPER, Tornado Survivor: It's just hard to imagine that one day, you walk out of your house, and the next few minutes, you come back and it looks like this.

CHRIS CATHY, Tornado Survivor: This is the first tornado I have been in, so it was -- it was something else. I don't want to do it again.

QUESTION: Will you rebuild here?

CHRIS CATHY: No. Move somewhere else.

GWEN IFILL: Some of those returning lived in the Westmoor neighborhood. It lies between the two elementary schools that were ravaged by the tornado, Briarwood and Plaza Towers. Now ceilings and roofs are gone, replaced with a view of the sky. Even where rooms are still standing, their contents are an unrecognizable mess.

Outside, trees that managed to keep their roots anchored stand stripped clean of their bark. Those who used to live there salvaged whatever they could from the wreckage.

JOAN GHRIST, Tornado Survivor: I have gotten to where I hate April and May because of the threat of storms.

GWEN IFILL: Joan and Clay Ghrist weren't at home on Monday, but they came back to pick through the remains of their home and to begin planning their future.

CLAY GHRIST, Tornado Survivor: We will collect the insurance, pay off our note, rebuild something here, sell it, and buy a house down in San Antonio.

GWEN IFILL: Another Westmoor couple, Jim and Beverly Brenner, relived the terror of Monday's giant twister.

JIM BRENNER, Tornado Survivor: There is nothing that can describe the sound of your house exploding with you in it.

GWEN IFILL: When the tornado hit, the 81-year-old Brenner took shelter in a closet with his wife. But he was sucked out by the vortex.

BEVERLY BRENNER, Tornado Survivor: I couldn't find my husband. And I was -- because I knew he wasn't in the closet with me, and I was yelling his name over and over and over and screaming. And finally he answered me.

GWEN IFILL: The home was flattened. Jim Brenner ended up under the rooftop with only minor injuries.

JIM BRENNER: I was over in Japan when they -- just after they dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. Believe it or not, Moore looks like Hiroshima did. I can't even talk about it, just flat and open for over a mile in any direction. The funnel was a mile-and-a-half wide. Ooh, I can't even talk about it anymore.

GWEN IFILL: For now, the Brenners are staying with a friend and receiving food supplies and help from the Oakcrest Church of Christ in Oklahoma City. Pastor Ben Glover organized a food and water drive for the area.

PASTOR BEN GLOVER, Oakcrest Church of Christ: After the first day, kind of after the deer in the headlights, you begin to see the reality of the situation settle in. And as they struggle through that, they are beginning to realize this is the long haul. It's not a sprint anymore. It's a marathon.

And so part of what we try to provide is comfort, but also knowledge. What do you need to be doing on day two, day three, day four? And so because we have been through this before in '99, we have a pretty good what steps they need to take.

GWEN IFILL: Not far away, Moore's only hospital is in ruins, after taking a direct hit. The top floor was ripped right off the building.

DEREK THAYER, Tornado Survivor: This was my truck. It's actually -- it's like my pride and joy.

GWEN IFILL: Physical therapy assistant Derek Thayer spotted the shiny hubcaps of his truck when he emerged from the wreckage of the medical center. He helped some of the patients get to safety.

DEREK THAYER: We just hunkered down, and soon as it came over you just knew it just from the pressure change in the room, and then it just became a little more chaotic just due to the people could tell it was going over, doors were being ripped off the doorjambs and things, and that's when it became very real.

GWEN IFILL: The state medical examiner today released the names of some of the 24 killed. At least 10 were children, and seven died when the twister struck the Plaza Towers school.

The schools had no internal safe rooms, but Oklahoma's director of emergency management says almost nothing could have withstood a direct hit from a tornado with winds over 200 miles an hour.

ALBERT ASHWOOD, Oklahoma Director of Emergency Management: This is the anomaly that flattens everything to the ground. So it's a bit remiss to say that -- that tornado precautions were not taken or facilities were not strong enough. Can they always be stronger? Absolutely. But I think everything was done that could be done at the time.

GWEN IFILL: Now, as attention turns to reconstruction, there's new focus on building safety, including safe rooms in homes, concrete blocks in the floor with a sliding door.

Moore Mayor Glenn Lewis said today he plans to build one.

MAYOR GLENN LEWIS, Moore, Okla.: If you ask most people out there, they're going to rebuild and they're probably going to get a storm shelter.

GWEN IFILL: In the meantime, rescue crews were winding down their search of the wreckage. And White House officials announced President Obama plans to visit Moore on Sunday to survey the damage and meet with victims. 

Watch Video On May, 22, 2012, PBS NewsHour revisited Joplin, Mo., on the one-year anniversary of the tornado that killed 161 people.

As homeowners, business leaders and city officials in Moore, Okla., begin to grapple with the damage from the devastating tornado Monday, just 220 miles away, residents of Joplin, Mo., remember their own losses -- two years ago to the day on Wednesday -- and are responding to the Oklahoma tragedy by sending emergency personnel, donations and volunteers to offer help and hope.

It was at 5:41 p.m. on May 22, 2011, when an EF-5 tornado tore through Joplin, killing 161 people and injuring 1,000. More than 9,000 people lost their homes and 550 businesses were damaged or destroyed. Volunteers -- nearly 200,000, according to city officials -- poured into Joplin to help with the rebuilding effort. FEMA estimates it will spend $177 million to repair or replace public buildings and $40 million in grants for home repairs. The Small Business Administration has approved $43 million in low interest disaster loans. City manager Chris Rohr says 84 percent of homes and 90 percent of businesses have been rebuilt, repaired or permitted for construction.

While the rebuilding effort has taken longer than most people expected, Jane Cage, chairwoman of the Citizens Advisory Recovery Team, says ultimately Joplin will emerge bigger and stronger than it was before the storm. She said while it was difficult for residents of her city to watch events unfold in Oklahoma this week, everyone's first response was "we must go help them since so much has been given to us." Members of the Joplin police, fire and school departments have already been dispatched to Moore, and the local utility company will go within the next day or two to offer its services.

One year ago, correspondent Jeffrey Brown visited with Cage and others in Joplin to talk about the rebuilding efforts. Now, two years after the storm, here is an update on some of the people who spoke with the NewsHour.

Jane Cage, Citizens Advisory Recovery Team Chairwoman: As she looks around Joplin, Jane Cage says she is amazed at the progress that has been made. At one point, nearly 600 FEMA trailers dotted the landscape. Today, only 20 trailers remain to shelter people who lost their homes in the storm. Most of the residential development is happening in the neighborhoods where Habitat for Humanity has built more than 61 houses. Cage says she understands that some people are frustrated that the city isn't further along, but says ultimately the city is going to emerge stronger. Her advice to the people of Moore is to "be patient and be creative. The rebuilding process definitely takes longer than you believe it will." This Saturday, a busload of volunteers from Joplin plan to go to begin sorting through the debris. "It feels good that we're starting to be on the giving end instead of the receiving end," says Cage. Reflecting on how she has changed over the last two years, she says "the tornado has made me bolder. Before, I might have been afraid to ask for something or approach a person in power. Now I never hesitate. I think doors have opened for Joplin that we never even considered before."

C.J. Huff, School Superintendent: C.J. Huff says he is proud of the headway the Joplin School district has made over the past two years. Two elementary schools and one middle school will reopen in January 2014 and Joplin High School will reopen later that fall. In addition, the city is building 14 "safe rooms" at schools where students and residents can seek shelter in future storms. Huff says while much work remains to be done, the energy and morale in Joplin remains good. "We've always known this would be a marathon, not a sprint." Although he has not been able to watch television coverage of the Oklahoma tornado because of the memories it would bring, Huff has this advice to the leaders in Moore: Concentrate on taking care of everyone's mental health. "The buildings will get rebuilt, but you need to take care of the people." He added that 1400 students in his district are still being treated for varying degrees of post-traumatic stress disorder. The Joplin School District has sent an assistant superintendent and a public affairs officer to help Moore's school officials. "So much support came to us from around the world, so now we need to pay that forward."

Evelyn Duvall, Joplin resident: The NewsHour first met Evelyn Duvall at the Spiva Art Center, where she was exhibited a sculpture made from items she collected from her parents' destroyed home. An employee at a mental health center, she said the art project helped her work through some of her guilt that she hadn't been able to help the injured when the tornado hit. That guilt also prompted her to go back to school to become an Emergency Medical Technician. Her biggest frustration now? She still has one last exam to complete, so she couldn't go to Moore to help with rescue efforts there. Still, she says she is heartened to see the spirit of hope and determination among the Moore residents. "They have that same hope that we had. It's inspiring to watch them, neighbor helping neighbor."

Jo Mueller, Director of the Spiva Center for the Arts: For more than 12 months, Jo Mueller and her husband agonized over whether to rebuild their destroyed home in Joplin. What had been a wooded property, was suddenly barren. Ultimately, they chose to move to a new community just north of the city. But Mueller continues her work every day at the Spiva Center for the Arts and is excited by the energy that continues to move the city forward. Spiva has hosted numerous exhibits dealing with the aftermath of the storm -- some with professional artists, many with the work of amateurs looking for a creative outlet. One of her favorite exhibits was by photographer Robert X. Fogarty called "Dear World, From Joplin With Love." It featured portraits of storm survivors, first responders, volunteers and city officials, all displaying a message to the world written on their skin.

David Starrett, Business Owner: David Starrett's pharmacy was reduced to rubble on that day in May two years ago. But just six days later, he had leased a new space and was up and running. Now, reflecting back, Starrett concedes it was a combination of hard work and luck that he was able to recover so quickly. He's doing more business today than he did before the tornado hit and he's optimistic that ultimately Joplin will be a better city than it was. "But you never forget. We'll never be the same. So many lives were lost." He says he knows he's a different person too. "Anyone who goes through an experience like this, you realize what's really important. Life is about more than business. It's about family and community and neighbor helping neighbor."

Pharmacists David and Sheree Starrett posed for photographer Robert X. Fogarty, as part of the "Dear World, From Joplin With Love" exhibit that was mounted at the Spiva Center for the Arts. Photo by Robert X. Fogarty.

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JEFFREY BROWN: Jay Newton-Small is in Moore for TIME magazine. I spoke with her a short time ago.

Jay Newton-Small, thanks so much for joining us.

Can you tell us, do you have a sense of where they are in terms of the search for survivors at this point?

JAY NEWTON-SMALL, TIME: Sure.

I spoke with the local mayor here in Moore, and he said that they're actually not expecting to find any more bodies. At least he hopes, fingers crossed, so. They're not going to completely rule it out, but they do believe, given they have done two sweeps, and by nightfall, they will have done three sweeps with sniffer dogs, that they don't think they are going to find any more people, that this will be -- at least no more people alive -- and this would be essentially just a recovery operation from here on in.

And that's a good thing, in the sense that, you know, hopefully they will get a real sense of the numbers of missing people and they can rule out any more deaths.

JEFFREY BROWN: You have been watching some of these sweeps, I gather. Is it literally door to door or wreckage to wreckage? How are they doing it?

JAY NEWTON-SMALL: It is literally door to door and wreckage to wreckage.

And you can see the X's marked on all the different cars and all the different buildings. And they do them in color code, so one pass means a black X. Another two passes means a red X. And that way, they know that this place has been searched, they have looked in every possible corner, and there isn't anyone inside, and they -- and the teams can move on.

JEFFREY BROWN: You have been with these responder teams. You have been going into some of the neighborhoods.

Just give us a sense of what you have seen. What does it feel like and look like?

JAY NEWTON-SMALL: You know, it's -- with tornadoes, the most amazing thing is just the hit-or-miss nature of it. And so you will have blocks where one whole side of the block, the houses are completely fine, and then on the other side of the block, they're just decimated.

I mean, they're literally -- and this has been an unusually powerful tornado, in that it's not just that they're flattened and pancaked and rubble. I mean, it's like licked clean. It's like the only thing you see on the plot is sort of the shadow of where the house once was and it's a bunch of brown grass that was once there, and they're the only thing that delineates that the house was there, and then there's debris everywhere else.

And so it's really just -- the power of this storm is stunning in this case and you see that with search-and-rescue teams. They really are looking under every plank of wood just in case somebody is hiding behind it. And you hear stories about a student actually in a school who was found underneath a chalkboard that was laying down.

So, it's really, like, every nook and cranny, that's what they're searching.

JEFFREY BROWN: And what are the people there telling you about their own either experiences of it coming or their own survival stories?

JAY NEWTON-SMALL: I mean, and that's also been amazing.

I spoke to one young man who saw it coming, ran into a 7-Eleven to warn people to take shelter. He left, drove off, was racing away from the tornado. All four people in that 7-Eleven died. He took shelter under a bridge. He managed to survive. They talk about the roaring of the air, how incredibly powerful it sounds, and you think that nothing is going to be left when you come out, and then, surprise, surprise, either your house is still there or, in fact, there really is nothing left.

And they do talk about just the debris that you see and the force of which the debris is embedded into cars, into stone walls, into concrete. It really just flings cars and smashes them like little toys. It's really just stunning, the power of nature that you see. And I think a lot of people you see walking around kind of in -- dazed, because they just are shocked by it.

JEFFREY BROWN: Well, that's what I was wondering.

Is anybody able to think about what now, what next, what do they do?

JAY NEWTON-SMALL: I mean, a lot of people this afternoon I saw for the first time really starting to clean up, take out brooms and start to sweep.

And it's such a little thing to be able to clear your driveway, but it's important to people. And, you know, when your house is a wreck, but your driveway is clean, somehow, it's really -- I spoke to one woman who was speaking her driveway of this house that had been totally ruined. And she was like, you know what? At least I know I won't get a flat tire with my car, and it's the beginning. It's the first step.

And so that's now what people are really looking to do, is the first steps that they are going to take to rebuilding this town.

JEFFREY BROWN: And let me just ask you very briefly, Jay, does it look as though they have enough resources there in terms of the relief effort?

JAY NEWTON-SMALL: The relief effort has actually been really impressive.

And, you know, they -- the -- the -- every official that I spoke to, from the governor to the mayor, has said that FEMA has been really amazing in this case and has provided whatever is needed and cut through red tape. And you see that with the search teams out there.

There's a combination of Homeland Security, FEMA, as well as local police and state police. And you see that also in terms of there's water everywhere. There's vans going around supplying first, you know, first-responders, as well as locals, with food, with water. Any kind of shelter that's needed, they have been supplying.

So, it really has been a very good response so far. And that seems to be the unified response.

JEFFREY BROWN: Jay Newton-Small of TIME magazine, thanks so much.

JAY NEWTON-SMALL: Thank you.

And shortly after that interview, we spoke with Sgt. Jeremy Lewis of Moore Police Department.

Sgt. Lewis, thanks so much for joining us.

We have heard that you're doing two and three sweeps of the area. Is there still some hope of finding people, or do you have a sense that most are accounted for at this point?

SGT. JEREMY LEWIS, Moore Police Department: Well, we have actually done one complete sweep. We're in the process of our second sweep.

We actually are also still working on Plaza Towers Elementary School. We have large equipment there now, that we're trying to move some of the larger debris out of the way. There's still 20- to 30-foot pile high at the elementary school that they have got to the go through.

And to go from one end of the city to the other, it takes pretty much an entire day. So we're about halfway through the second sweep. There is a possibility that we could find someone possibly still in a storm cellar or a safe room that's just been covered up.

Last night, most of the search was done in the dark. Now with the light, and we also have a lot more heavy equipment, we're more equipped at doing the search correctly.

JEFFREY BROWN: Tell us a little bit more about what else is happening in the community today, in particular shelters, food, and aid. How is that going for people?

JEREMY LEWIS: We are -- just in the past, we have had enormous support here in the city of Moore, and it's showing again.

You know, there's literally cases and cases of water being brought to the volunteers. I know at the different places we have for shelter, we have numerous things being dropped off for the victims of this storm. But it's just an outpouring of support in all different ways, volunteer, money bringing things, just everything. We're pretty much overwhelming with support that we have.

JEFFREY BROWN: Tell me. This is your community. What did you see today as you went around?

JEREMY LEWIS: Well, it's pretty hard to believe.

This is -- I have grown up here my entire life. I have worked here for 13 years, went to high school here. To see the center of the city pretty much from border to border almost wiped clean is -- I don't know that it's still set in for a lot of officers that are from the Moore area.

We have been so busy running here and there just trying to do our jobs. I think it will take a couple days to set in. But it's -- when you really stop is whenever it kind of gets to you. And it's -- it's extremely upsetting just to see what people are going through. It's devastating.

JEFFREY BROWN: And officials earlier today had said that the death toll -- the death toll still could rise. Is that -- is that still the thinking at this point?

JEREMY LEWIS: There's a possibility just for the fact that the size of this disaster is so enormous.

The amount of debris that has piled up, it's -- it's really hard to be 100 percent until you have the search-and-rescue dogs search nearly, you know, from one side of the city to the other. We have so many places that people could still be. It's hard to say 100 percent that we have found everybody.

JEFFREY BROWN: All right, Sgt. Jeremy Lewis of the Moore Police Department, our condolences to your community. Good luck to you, and thanks so much for talking to us.

JEREMY LEWIS: Thank you.

JEFFREY BROWN: And joining us live now from Boulder, Colo., Bob Henson, a meteorologist for the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

So, even as the rescue continues, what can you tell us about the size and force of this tornado and what caused it to be so powerful?

BOB HENSON, National Center for Atmospheric Research: Well, it was an extremely powerful tornado, now rated at EF-5 on the enhanced Fujita scale.

That places it in the top one-tenth of one percent of all tornadoes. The U.S. usually gets about 1,200 or so tornadoes in a particular year, and usually there's only about one on average that reaches this strength. In terms of what caused it to be so strong, there are a few days each year that have the general conditions that lead to strong tornadoes.

This includes very warm, moist, unstable air near the surface, colder air aloft, also wind shear, which is when the winds are blowing one direction below and a different direction aloft. And that imparts the air with a spin that can get sucked up into a thunderstorm.

And then that -- finally, that rotation is concentrated in the tornado. And there's some mystery about what makes that happen. So the conditions are there on a number of days, and it's still a little bit difficult to say, for example, a day ahead of time exactly which days will produce an EF-5.

It was apparent within a couple of hours that the potential for a bad tornado was developing quickly.

JEFFREY BROWN: Well, I want to pursue that a little bit more. How well was this tracked ahead of time, and what can you tell today about how much warning and when people -- people got the warning?

BOB HENSON: Well, actually, the immediate tornado was very well forecast.

Within about an hour of its formation, it was clear that severe thunderstorms were developing. About 10 or so minutes before the tornado touched down, there was a tornado warning issued, with the expectation it was going to touch down. It then moved into Moore about 10 minutes after touchdown.

So people of Moore had anywhere from maybe 10 or 15 to 20 minutes of the tornado's arrival. It was also seen a few days out that there was a potential for severe weather on -- yesterday. A product called Convective Outlooks are issued by the NOAA Storm Prediction Center.

And those are issued up to eight days in advance that outline in a kind of broad-brush way which parts of the country could see severe weather. So, you could see several days out the potential, and then in the immediate couple hours, you could see the conditions lining up for -- specifically in the Moore-Oklahoma City area.

The tricky part is maybe six to 24 hours out. And my lab, NCAR, is actually part is part of a project right now called MPEX, which is specifically trying to improve predictions in that six-to-24-hour window.

JEFFREY BROWN: What about the situation, the weather situation today in Oklahoma and elsewhere, because there were fears of continued -- of more tornadoes?

BOB HENSON: Well, this is a good example of that quandary, because as recently as yesterday, it looked like there was the chance for more significant tornado action today.

It now -- at least the last I looked -- was looking more like kind of garden-variety thunderstorms, maybe some severe storms, but probably not the kind of tornadoes like we saw yesterday. So the more we can improve calling those characters of thunderstorms, say, a day or so out, that will be fantastic. But, certainly, in terms of the warnings that are issued an hour before and the warning system, it worked flawlessly, I would say, in the Moore area.

The word got to people. There's still work to be done, I think, in how people interpret warnings and especially having a place to go. I mean, many places in Oklahoma don't have basements, partially because of the soil type. And so people don't necessarily have a place to take shelter, even if they know that a violent tornado is on the way.

JEFFREY BROWN: All right, Bob Henson, thank you so much.

BOB HENSON: You're welcome, Jeff.

GWEN IFILL: Online, you can watch our report from 1999, when another tornado devastated the town of Moore. 

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GWEN IFILL: The people of Moore, Okla., began the long climb back today from catastrophe. Authorities labored to clear wreckage in the shattered suburb outside Oklahoma City, and the death toll stood at 24, including nine children.

Officials said the numbers could rise higher yet in the wake of a tornado that was one of the most powerful ever.

The scene that met Jason Leger as he emerged from his cellar on Monday evening unscathed was one of total destruction.

JASON LEGER: The lord giveth and the lord taketh away.

GWEN IFILL: Today, similar scenes greeted those who had fled and returned to survey what, if anything, was left of their homes.

CHRIS PALMER, Moore, Okla.: It's going to take time to rebuild, yes. It's just the families -- you look at it, you see the movies and everything, but when you are actually standing there, it's -- yes, and -- yes.

GLORIA MARTINEZ, Moore, Okla.: It's hard. It's hard, but, you know, I know that the lord is going to provide. He's provided before. He has shown his power to us before.

GWEN IFILL: In the immediate aftermath, dozens of people were rescued from the rubble of homes that collapsed around them. The grueling search for more survivors went on through the night.

National Guard troops joined in, going house-to-house, shining flashlights into the wreckage.

2ND. LT. GABRIEL BIRD, 146th Air Support Operation Squadron: Each of our guys will have multiband communication radios. We can talk to aircraft. We can talk to personnel on the ground. Thermal images allow us to see cold, warm bodies, people in the dark. Night-vision equipment, we can see in the dark, low-light instances.

GWEN IFILL: Fire and police crews from around the region jackhammered their way through the debris. Bucket by bucket, they pried it away, looking for any sign of life underneath.

The twister, estimated at up to two miles wide, laid waste to a 20-mile stretch in 40 minutes. In that time, it reached EF-5 status, the most powerful, with winds of at least 200 miles an hour. Many told harrowing stories of survival.

RODNEY PENNY, Tornado Survivor: We see it coming straight towards us because it's heading east right up the middle of the road. So, at that point, it's time for us to just start making moves.

So, we go a little bit farther down the road, I would say about -- about 100 meters, and as it's coming up from behind us, I say, Katie, get in the storm ditch. We go in the very middle of the tunnel itself as the tornado passes over the highway.

GWEN IFILL: Among the survivors, schoolchildren who were just about to be dismissed for the day when the tornado hit a little before 3:00 p.m.

STUDENT: I was on the ground, and I just -- my ears just -- like "beeee." And I couldn't hear anything except cracking and kids screaming.

ISABELA ROJAS, Tornado Survivor: The tornado went in, and I was so afraid, that I was hanging onto one of the desks. And then I fell back, and then all the dirt start getting in my eyes and on my clothes.

GWEN IFILL: Briarwood Elementary was all but destroyed. Miraculously, everyone survived.

But at nearby Plaza Towers Elementary, seven children lost their lives. The superintendent of Moore Public Schools, Susan Pierce, said today they followed disaster drills to the letter.

SUPERINTENDENT SUSAN PIERCE, Moore Public Schools: Yesterday, our administrators, staff, teachers and students put our crisis plan into action immediately. We monitored the weather throughout the day, and when it was time to shelter, we did just that. A tornado's path is highly unpredictable, but, with very little notice, we implemented our tornado shelter procedures at every school site.

GWEN IFILL: In addition to the schools, a local hospital was ravaged and countless homes were flattened.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin viewed the destruction from the air today.

GOV. MARY FALLIN, R-Okla.: It is very wide. It is hard to look at because there is so much debris on the ground itself. In many places, homes were absolutely destroyed, taken away. There's just sticks and bricks, basically. It's hard to tell if there was a structure there or not. If you get into some of the major neighborhoods, you can't tell where the streets were. The street signs are gone.

GWEN IFILL: And in Washington, President Obama promised the federal government would do everything it could to get the town back on its feet.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: The people of Moore should know that their country will remain on the ground there for them, beside them as long as it takes.

GWEN IFILL: In the meantime, a caravan of semi-trucks loaded with bulldozers and diggers arrived in Moore today to do the heavy lifting. Search dogs were also on hand as teams planned to keep looking for anyone who might yet be found in the ruins. 

Homes, trees and automobiles damaged by Monday's tornado are seen by early morning light in Moore, Okla., on Tuesday. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman / NewsOK.com

President Obama declared a major disaster in Oklahoma Tuesday and has ordered federal aid to supplement state and local funds.

Emergency response teams are continuing to search in the rubble after the mile-wide twister destroyed homes and roads in Moore, Okla., outside of Oklahoma City. On Tuesday morning, the state medical examiner revised its death toll from the tornado to 24 people, including nine children. Authorities said initially that as many as 51 people were dead.

Federal Emergency Management Agency director Craig Fugate is due in Oklahoma City Tuesday to ensure federal resources are deployed properly. According to Presidential Spokesperson Jay Carney, FEMA has adequate funds for recovery efforts, but did not rule out the possibility of additional request for money from congress.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is scheduled to travel to the state Wednesday. The White House has not announced a presidential visit to the damaged areas, except to say that the president wants to make sure travel plans won't interfere with recovering efforts.

The National Weather Service announced Tuesday that the tornado was a top-of-the-scale EF-5 twister with winds of at least 200 mph. The Associated Press reported Tuesday that the agency upgraded the tornado from an EF-4 on the enhanced Fujita scale to an EF-5 based on what a damage assessment team saw on the ground. The tornado's path was 17 miles long and 1.3 miles wide.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, city and county officials and emergency responders provide updates on the situation in Moore, Okla.

Rescue Efforts

Thunderstorms and lightning slowed rescue efforts on Tuesday as National Guard members, firefighters from more than a dozen fire departments and rescuers from other states worked more than 100 survivors from the rubble of homes and schools, the AP reported.

"The people of Moore should know that their country will remain on the ground, there for them, beside them, as long as it takes," Obama said at the White House Tuesday.

Moore fire chief Gary Bird vowed at a news conference that every damaged building will be searched "at least three times"

Seven of the nine children killed died at Plaza Tower Elementary School, which was hit directly. But according to Oklahoma State Police Sergeant Jeremy Lewis, there were also many successful rescue efforts.

"They literally were lifting walls up and kids were coming out," Lewis said. "They pulled kids out from under cinder blocks without a scratch on them."

Miguel Macias and his wife Veronica had two children at Plaza Tower Elementary School during the tornado. Eight-year-old Ruby was rescued from the destruction and six-year-old Angel was later found at a local medical center with wounds to the face and head, but was not seriously hurt.

Roxie M Albrecht, the director of Trauma and Surgical Critical Care at the Oklahoma University Medical Center said survivors suffered injuries ranging from minor cuts and bruises, to open wounds, impalements and open fractures.

Donations

Oklahoma City Thunder star player Kevin Durant is donating $1 million to the American Red Cross for disaster relief after Monday's tornado, matching a donation by the Thunder team.

"As the day went on and I saw the footage and the casualties and the houses being blown away, it was tough to see," Durant told the Associated Press "I call Oklahoma City my home. I go through Moore all the time. It's unfortunate. We're going to come together as a city like we always do and we're going to bounce back."

Durant has called Oklahoma City home for the last five years. He has grown to be a fixture in the community. He told the Associated Press that he will return home Wednesday and hopes to lift community spirits.

"Just to get to the hospital, see some kids," Durant said. "Something. Just something to give some hope. Playing for the Thunder, we mean so much to the state. So many people support us and I just want to go back and support those people."

The American Red Cross said they hope the gift from Durant will act as an incentive for potential donors.

"Our hearts go out to all those affected by the devastation that has occurred within our community this week," Thunder chairman Clay Bennett said in a statement issued by the team. "We are focusing Thunder resources to help where we can in the relief efforts and to support the organizations that are on the ground assisting those affected by this week's storms. Even with so much loss, the strength and resiliency of this community have once again been on display, and we will continue to work together as our community and state recover from this disaster."

Resources

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NewsHour correspondent Betty Ann Bowser visited residents just returning to their homes after tornadoes swept through Oklahoma and Kansas in 1999.

In 1999, Genny and Bob McLane, both in their 80s, had just redecorated their three-bedroom home in Del City, Okla., when the tornado hit.

It was a massive storm system that plowed through Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Texas and Tennessee from May 3 through 6 of that year. Sixty-six tornadoes struck Oklahoma and Kansas alone.

The one that swept through the Oklahoma City suburbs of Del City and Moore, which suffered another tornado on Monday, packed winds of 318 mph, making it the strongest tornado ever recorded. By comparison, Monday's tornado had 200 mph winds.

Paths of the tornados in 1999 and 2013. Map by the National Weather Service, Norman, Okla., office. Click on image for a larger version.

The McLanes escaped the storm in a nearby shelter and then were taken in by neighbors. They returned to their home several days later to see what was left, and NewsHour correspondent Betty Ann Bowser accompanied them at the time.

Genny McLane said she was hoping her 50th wedding anniversary portrait would survive, and there it was, amazingly hanging on what was left of their living room wall.

"Isn't that funny? It had mud on it the other day," she said.

The city of Moore will spend the next days, weeks and months ahead, also surveying what's left and rebuilding from there.

Monday's tornado was the fifth to hit the Oklahoma City suburb in 15 years. Besides the one in 1999, the other major twisters included Oct. 4, 1998, May 8, 2003, and May 10, 2010.

Related Resources

Massive, Mile-Wide Tornado Leaves Wake of Destruction Outside Oklahoma City

Watch footage of the tornado and aftermath -- from the Associated Press

Mapping the Devastation Along Tornado's Path -- from the New York Times

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Television footage shows the massive funnel cloud that moved across the suburbs of Oklahoma City Monday.

Update 11:48 p.m. President Obama signed a disaster declaration for Oklahoma, minutes ago.

BREAKING: President Barack Obama declares major disaster in Oklahoma after devastating tornado

— The Associated Press (@AP) May 21, 2013

Update 11:28 p.m. | The following AP video shows survivors being pulled from the debris and loaded into waiting ambulances.

Update 11:03 p.m. | Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin and city officials held a press conference earlier this evening. Fallin said that Oklahoma had received offers for resources from governors from other states across the nation, as well as from President Obama. She added that for now, downed power lines, blocked roadways, and overloaded telephone networks were hindering the emergency response.

The Associated Press has published a set of maps and graphics showing the path of destruction in Oklahoma, the latest information about the number of people killed or injured in the storm, and some background information on tornadoes.

Update 10:19 p.m. | Earlier today, the National Weather Service provided these details on the tornado:

Newcastle-Moore OKC Tornado was on the ground approx. 40 minutes. Tornado warning was in effect for 16 minutes before tornado developed.

— NWS Norman (@NWSNorman) May 20, 2013

Update 9:16 p.m. | AP has tweeted that the state medical examiner's office is now reporting 51 killed in the Oklahoma tornado, with children among the dead.

BREAKING: State medical examiner's office: 51 killed in Oklahoma tornado, with children among the dead -RJJ

— The Associated Press (@AP) May 21, 2013

Update 8:55 p.m. | There are at least 37 people reported killed. Authorities expected the death toll to rise as emergency crews moved deeper into the hardest-hit areas. At least 60 people were reported hurt, including more than a dozen children.

Update 7:02 p.m. | The Associated Press is following the story in Moore, Okla., where the twister touched down. Follow their updates via Twitter:

BREAKING: Several children pulled out of rubble alive at Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Okla. -RJJ

— The Associated Press (@AP) May 20, 2013

Update 6:17 p.m. | The National Weather Service says the tornado that hit Moore had wind speeds up to 200 mph. The weather service's preliminary classification of Monday afternoon's tornado was an EF-4 on the enhanced Fujita scale.

Update 5:30 p.m. | Authorities also report that an elementary school in the area took a direct hit from the twister.

Gary Knight with the Oklahoma City Police Department says the school suffered "extensive damage."

Update 5:05 p.m. EDT | The Associated Press is reporting that a mile-wide tornado has ripped through suburban Oklahoma City Monday afternoon.

Video showed homes and buildings in Moore, Okla., were reduced to rubble, and vehicles littered roadways south and southwest of Oklahoma City.

More:

Live updates from NPR member station KGOU in Oklahoma.

Live updates from The Oklahoman, including a map of the twister's path and video from the scene.

Follow the tweets from the National Weather Service in Norman, Okla.

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JEFFREY BROWN: Disaster struck the Oklahoma City area this afternoon for the second time in two days. An enormous tornado blasted whole neighborhoods in the suburb of Moore and left little but shredded wreckage in its wake. There was no immediate word on casualties.

NewsHour correspondent Kwame Holman begins our report.

KWAME HOLMAN: The image of the huge twister filled the TV screen, as it bulldozed farmland and subdivisions and flashes from exploding transformers dotted the blue-black horizon.

MAN: Oh, there's a huge flash right there. It is just ripping up everything in its path.

KWAME HOLMAN: In Oklahoma City, state lawmakers and employees alike quickly made their way to a basement shelter. Some 35 to 40 minutes later, the great cloud finally spent its fury and disintegrated.

In its wake, mile after mile of devastation south and southwest of Oklahoma City proper -- scores of homes and other buildings had been leveled, including an elementary school. Cars and trucks were smashed together on highways.

MAN: Oh, my gosh. I don't know if people lived in that one.

KWAME HOLMAN: And fires burned out of control. Part of a major interstate highway was shut down.

The suburb of Moore also was hit hard by a tornado in 1999, and today's storm came less than 24 hours after another tornado struck in the Oklahoma City area.

MAN: I had to stop because the winds were pushing my truck, and I had to slow down to about 10 miles an hour. And I was texting actually the lady I work with, and I told her, man, these are the craziest winds I have ever seen.

KWAME HOLMAN: Sunday's twister touched down outside Shawnee, killing two elderly men and injuring more than 30 people. Other twisters touched down Sunday in Kansas and Iowa.

WOMAN: We jumped up and ran into the shed. And once we got the door shut, we heard the roof take off.

KWAME HOLMAN: All of this came less than a week after twisters pummeled Texas, killing six people in the small city of Granbury, southwest of Fort Worth.

JEFFREY BROWN: Moments ago, I spoke by phone with Sgt. Gary Knight of the Oklahoma City Police Department.

Sgt. Knight, welcome.

What can you tell us at this point about the extent of the damage?

MASTER SGT. GARY KNIGHT, Oklahoma City Police Department: Well, there's areas of south Oklahoma City and Moore that have suffered total destruction or extreme devastation.

Moore sits on the south end of Oklahoma City. They sit adjacent to each other. And the tornado traveled through Moore and then moved northeasterly into southern Oklahoma City. There's a two- or three-mile area where there was just utter devastation. I don't have any numbers on injured people or if there are fatalities involved in this.

Our workers are still trying to get to many people who are trapped in those areas. Really, our message for the public is, for anybody in that area, please stay off the roadways. Stay out of the areas to let emergency workers in. I know they're having difficulty getting around everybody, plus getting around all of the debris that's in the roadway.

JEFFREY BROWN: I understand you don't have any sense of fatalities or injuries at this point, but do you have a sense of how many people -- were there a lot of people in the path of the tornado?

GARY KNIGHT: There were numerous neighborhoods in the path of the tornado that were just completely leveled. So that's certainly something that we're trying to address and get into those places, just as the Moore police and all the first-responders in that area are trying to get in there and do everything they can to assist anyone who is trapped or injured.

JEFFREY BROWN: Do you know how much warning people had?

GARY KNIGHT: There was a good amount of warning. The local television stations here -- I mean, obviously, they're very good at tornado forecasting, being in this part of the country.

But they were covering the tornado as it came down out of the sky, and were letting people know as soon as possible. I know the tornado sirens were sounding, but it was a very fast-developing storm, a fast-developing tornado. And, unfortunately, it moved through a heavily populated area.

JEFFREY BROWN: Well, that's what I was going to ask you, just to describe the area a little bit more, heavily populated. You referred to various neighborhoods. So this is a suburban area where -- homes, schools, everything, right?

GARY KNIGHT: Well, it would have been a suburban area.

There are some businesses that were struck. It crossed I-35 and it's to the areas just east of Interstate 35 that would have been hardest-hit. There are some businesses along I-35 that were struck. And then you move into neighborhoods where there was at least one school, one elementary school that was struck and suffered severe damage to it.

I don't have any numbers again on injured, but mostly neighborhoods. There were some businesses, but mostly neighborhoods that were just flat-out leveled.

JEFFREY BROWN: All right. So most important for you right now is, as you said, get people -- people stay off the street. What else?

GARY KNIGHT: Let the emergency workers in to do what they need to do to help get these people -- help get these people some help.

JEFFREY BROWN: And one more question. Was there a medical center also? There are some reports that a medical center was hit as well.

GARY KNIGHT: I don't have any information on a medical center being hit, although there is one very close to that area.

JEFFREY BROWN: All right.

Sgt. Gary Knight in Oklahoma City, thanks so much.

GARY KNIGHT: You bet. Thank you.

JEFFREY BROWN: And more now from Bill Bunting of NOAA's National Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla. He's a meteorologist and the operations chief there.

Well, thanks for joining us.

I'm not sure if you could hear that last interview. What can you add to the extent of the damage now? What are you seeing?

BILL BUNTING, Storm Prediction Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: Well, I haven't seen the most recent damage images, although, just from what I have heard, it sounds absolutely catastrophic.

I think the message I would want to get out is for folks that are in the path of storms that are still ongoing, take these warnings extremely seriously. Folks in this part of the country typically know that severe weather season is here and that they need to have a plan. Now is the time to put that plan into action.

If you're in the path of these storms, the seconds that you take now to put your tornado readiness plan into action could very well make the difference between life and death.

JEFFREY BROWN: What about the enormous size of this tornado? How unusual is that, and what would cause it?

BILL BUNTING: Most tornadoes typically are much smaller than this.

This is obviously towards the upper end of the enhanced Fujita scale that we use to rate them. When conditions come together just right, the change in wind speed and direction, with height, the amount of instability in the atmosphere, you can get these tremendous concentrations of energy, unfortunately, seeing tornadoes that are the size of what we have seen today. And, unfortunately, our worst fears have become realized, hitting highly populated areas.

And we just hope that folks heeded the warnings and were in a safe place when the storms hit.

JEFFREY BROWN: And because you have had so many tornadoes in the area in the last couple of days, do you know, in this case, one huge tornado, or do we even know if there were other tornadoes along with it or going along at the same time?

BILL BUNTING: We don't know for sure.

Typically, the local and National Weather Service offices will go out tomorrow or as soon as they can get into the area. Obviously, rescue and recovery operations takes precedence, but they will be out as soon as they can and do an accurate assessment of just how many storms, the path, length and width and the intensities involved, but, at this point, way soon to speculate.

JEFFREY BROWN: And, as to the warning, is it your sense that people did have fair warning, at least for this very large one that came through?

BILL BUNTING: Well, the Storm Prediction Center, the National Weather Service offices and the areas affected have been talking about the risk for tornadoes now for several days.

We mentioned that it was going to be a multi-day threat. And today, of course, was another one of those days. And it's not over after today. The threat will shift a bit eastward tomorrow. And so I just hope and pray that they heard the warnings and that folks were in the safest place they could be, and they're OK.

JEFFREY BROWN: Just give us a sense of how this works, because people there are quite used to tornadoes. How much planning goes into something like this? How much preparation is for an event like this?

BILL BUNTING: Well, we have been talking about the threat of tornadoes at the Storm Prediction Center, the local National Weather Service offices that really interface with the communities and the local broadcast media.

Everyone knew this was going to be an active weekend and into the first part of this week. The day-after-day threat of severe weather I think has made everyone aware that the danger is high. Most events, often, at least, the tornado threat exists, and then things are quieter the next day. This is not unheard of, but it's a bit unusual that we would have consecutive days of very intense tornadoes in the same metropolitan area.

And that is, of course, just going to make it more difficult for the rescue and recovery operations that are now under way in several areas.

JEFFREY BROWN: And we're seeing reports of 200-mile-an-hour winds. How about -- how unusual is that?

BILL BUNTING: Well, that's certainly extremely rare. And, again, the actual assessments will take place in the days ahead.

But it's a very small percentage of all tornadoes with wind speeds in that range. So this is a very rare event and, unfortunately, in a very populated area.

JEFFREY BROWN: All right, Bill Bunting of NOAA, thank you very much.

BILL BUNTING: Thank you. 

Last year's drought scorched over half of country last year. Now that drought is shifting towards the Southwest and western Plains, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which held a meeting on summer drought outlook Thursday in Washington, D.C.

Mark Svoboda, climatologist at the National Drought Mitigation Center, says the American Southwest and western Great Plains are likely to see the effects of the drought deepen, and it's possible for the drought to reach areas of the Pacific Northwest, like Oregon and Idaho.

But the conditions in the East are improving. Rain from last year's Tropical Storm Isaac brought much needed relief to the Midwest, and a wet, cool April has improved conditions for much of the Mississippi Valley.

At the end of last summer, about 65 percent of the country was experiencing drought. Today, the extent of the drought has dropped to 48 percent -- but it is far from over, Svoboda warns.

"It wouldn't take too much for the drought to push east again," he said. "It's still vulnerable and not in a full recovery."

Farmers and ranchers are still reeling from last year's heat, but this spring hasn't shown any relief to farmers and ranchers in the western Great Plains, where the drought is expected to continue. Chip Ramsey, a cattle rancher in the Nebraska panhandle, says if the region doesn't see half of its annual rainfall by the end of May, farms are in trouble. At that point, the cost of raising cattle will double. It means that cattle ranchers will have to start selling their herd, and paying higher costs for feed. And for ranchers like himself, there's a high emotional price tag as well.

"You spent your life building a herd, and now you're selling them off," he said. "It's quite tough to live with."

And people are running out of optimism, said Bradley Fuller, owner of Western Horizons Corporation in southwest Kansas. As a result of drought in his county, water bills have doubled, he said at today's meeting, because they haven't had normal rainfall since 2007.

"My pastures are going to take years to recover," he said.

You can check out PBS NewsHour's temperature widget to find out about record-breaking weather where you live:

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GWEN IFILL: Now: helping cities better prepare for natural disasters and extreme weather.

Judy Woodruff has the story

JUDY WOODRUFF: The damage caused by major weather events in recent years has often been enormous, costly, and led to bigger problems, cities and towns flooded by Superstorm Sandy, electrical power grids taxed beyond their capacity during extreme heat waves, and the flooding caused by both Hurricane Katrina and the levees themselves that were not adequately designed for the storm.

Scientists say no one disaster linked with climate change, but they also say some may be linked with climate change and the rise in greenhouse gases. Last week, the government reported that carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping gas, has reached its highest levels in human history.

Now the Rockefeller Foundation is hoping to spur cities to create new plans to better adapt to the times and to make them more resilient when disaster does strike. The program will allocate $100 million dollars to 100 cities around the world over the next three years.

We look more closely at that with Judith Rodin, the president of the Rockefeller Foundation, and Miami's Mayor Tomas Regalado.

For the record, the Rockefeller Foundation has been a NewsHour underwriter.

Welcome to you both.

Judy Rodin, to you first.

Tell our audience what you mean by resilience.

JUDITH RODIN, Rockefeller Foundation: Resilience is really the ability to withstand shocks more effectively and to rebound more quickly.

So it's a capacity that can be learned. It's built into individuals, to communities, to systems and institutions. And in this era, where we don't know where the next shock, the next type of storm is going to come from, but we know pretty certainly that it's going to happen. Building in the ability to withstand is really a huge preventative effort and very, very needed.

JUDY WOODRUFF: We have heard so much about sustainability, about preserving the environment, and yet just a few days ago, we heard the carbon dioxide levels are at their highest numbers in human history.

Does this suggest, what you're doing suggest that the fight to keep the environment from going off the deep end is really over and now it's about surviving the worst?

JUDITH RODIN: No, not at all.

And so this starts with the assumption that we have to continue sustainability and mitigation strategies. But it also understands the reality, and once-every-hundred-year storm becoming once-a-week storm somewhere, that so much of climate change that's already occurred is leading to these huge shocks, huge storms, wind, hurricane, tsunami.

And cities are going to have to adapt to that at the same time that they're building their excellent and overdue sustainability and mitigation strategies as well.

JUDY WOODRUFF: What are some examples, Judy Rodin, of what cities need to be thinking about and doing?

JUDITH RODIN: Well, cities need to build redundancy. They need to build in the capacity to wall off a piece of a system if it fails, so that the entire system isn't taken down.

Let's use a smart grid. As I worked on the commission, chairing the commissioner for Gov. Cuomo in the recovery of New York State from Superstorm Sandy, we looked at putting in -- and the governor is recommending this -- smart grid technology.

And it really does youth both sustainability and resilience principles, because it takes energy from any source, traditional sources, as well as alternative energy sources, and it uses whichever one is both most available and the lowest cost at any single time through a very complicated monitoring system.

And then it's also able to draw from geographically any part of the system. So if one part goes down, it can draw from another part. So there's a delinking in the networking, as well as redundancy in the system that really does create the resilience that the electric -- that the electricity system is going to need going forward in every city.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Mayor Regalado, as mayor of the huge city of Miami, what does an initiative like this mean to you? What would it mean for Miami to be the recipient of one of those grants? What kinds of things would you be able to do that you can't do now?

MAYOR TOMAS REGALADO, Miami: Well, I think it's important for Miami, and I think it's a great program.

Miami checks all the boxes, because we are on the coast. Construction has been wild. And we have, like, 70,000 people living right on the edge of the water. So the storm surge, the storms will affect -- you know, we live on the edge from June to November. That's hurricane season, and we haven't had a hurricane since Katrina and Wilma, but we remember those.

And, so, what do we do with that money? Well, number one, we could have one person, one office dedicated year-round to look at the way to outreach and get through the people and especially to invest in technology. So, when we have a storm, the first thing that happens here in Miami is the electricity goes off. And then we can use that technology to reach out to our first-responders and all that.

The fire department is the agency in charge of responding to emergency, as you know, and they are in charge of our emergency system. But they have to do other things throughout the year. So, if we could have one office, one person and some money for technology, it will be fantastic, because we will be always prepared.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And, Mr. Mayor, just staying with you, what about the idea -- people have looked at something like this and they say, well, that's typically the function of government, not of the private sector, not of a nonprofit, a foundation, to be doing this.

How do you feel about accepting money like this from a foundation, if you were to receive it?

TOMAS REGALADO: Well, you know, there is a new normal now in the United States. After the economy went back, cities have to cut budgets. And it's -- unfortunately, but that that's the way it is.

So the new thing is to partner with the private sector. And I think that it's important that foundations like the Rockefeller foundations will understand that governments do need help for a specific reason. You know, we are not -- we don't want a million dollars just to add it to the general fund, but for a specific something, going outside our general budget.

It will be fantastic. And I think that the people would appreciate it, because it is there as a buffer to warn them, to inform them, and to tell them that we are always ready during the year.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Judy, go ahead.

JUDITH RODIN: Judy, this is not just to replace government.

Certainly, this is not enough money to even imagine doing that. The role of philanthropy is to be leverage and risk capital. And, here, there's going to be billions of dollars in infrastructure that are necessary in cities like the mayor's around the world.

And our goal is to help and give the technical assistance and the support, so that the cities can really access private sector capital that right now is sitting on the sidelines waiting to invest in this kind of infrastructure in public/private partnerships.

The mayor has just done a brilliant one in the Port of Miami. And so he knows what the example is, but we have been struck. Even knowledgeable mayors around the United States don't yet know the kinds of technical and policy framework that might be best for their cities to crowd in the private capital and make them partners in building resilient infrastructure.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, it's a fascinating venture getting under way right now.

Judith Rodin, the president of the Rockefeller Foundation, and Mayor Tomas Regalado, the city of Miami, we thank you both.

JUDITH RODIN: Thank you.

TOMAS REGALADO: Thank you.

JEFFREY BROWN: And, online, we have a roundup of how escalating natural disasters have affected communities across the country. 

Homes in the Rockaways, N.Y., were severely damaged during Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. Photo by Spencer Platt/ Getty Images.

Last fall Hurricane Sandy crippled sections of the East Coast of North America. It left New York City and cities in New Jersey with damages totaling in the billions of dollars. And the fallout from that super storm continues, as displaced residents are still looking for housing, according to a recent report from The Huffington Post.

Wednesday on the PBS NewsHour, Judith Rodin of the Rockefeller Foundation and Tomas Regalado, mayor of Miami, discuss how major cities are preparing for future disasters -- not just hurricanes, but floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, snowstorms, droughts and even blackouts.

Recently the Rockefeller Foundation announced a $35 million grant program to help cities develop disaster preparedness plans and to ensure resilient cities that can bounce back.

As part of the NewsHour's Coping with Climate Change series, we've followed how extreme weather events are already affecting communities. Here's a look at some of those reports:

Protecting New York From Future Superstorms as Sea Levels Rise

When Hurricane Sandy barreled through New York, the city had no protective barriers to keep the water out. Engineers are going back to the drawing board, looking at plans to prevent another flood.

Battleground Dispatches -Norfolk, Va Prepares for Rising Seas

Hurricane Sandy left the city of Norfolk, Va., wondering, is rebuilding worth it? NewsHour's Mike Melia asks Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim about how the city should rebuild, keeping an eye on the rising sea levels on the Virginia coast.

Will Your City Be Underwater? There's a Map for That

Climate Central drew a map of the United States, looking at where rising sea levels and extreme flooding put communities at risk. You can explore the map here or view the report below:

Louisiana Fishermen Pioneer Floating Architecture

Fishermen on the vulnerable Louisiana coast are designing homes to keep on top of rising sea levels.

From Rooftop to Alleyway, Chicago Fights Extreme Urban Heat With Greener Ideas

After coping with deadly heat waves, Chicago is designing green roofs to cool the city and prepare for intense summers in the future. You can also check out our conversation with urban planner Peter Calthorpe on how trees are the key to keeping cities cool:

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KWAME HOLMAN: A fast-moving and fast-growing California wildfire reached the Pacific Ocean today. And so far, firefighters have it only 10 percent contained. The gusting winds and hot, dry weather of yesterday gave way to cooler breezes today, but the Springs fire still forced thousands out of their homes.

CARSON DOHAN, California: The fire was really close to us, and we decided to just water our house down. And then it got dark out and we couldn't breathe because of the smoke, so we just left.

WOMAN: We just lost everything, our spa, my cat. Everything is gone.

KWAME HOLMAN: Overnight, the blaze grew to more than 15 square miles as unseasonable Santa Ana winds blew toward the coast at 20 to 30 miles an hour with gusts up to 45.

CAPT. MIKE LINDBERRY, Ventura County Fire Department: Our field moistures are already up to the levels they should be in July. We're having Santa Ana events in May, which is -- an event like this is -- it hasn't happened in my career. I think we may be looking at a very significant fire season.

KWAME HOLMAN: The brush-fueled fire first erupted early yesterday near Camarillo, Calif., 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles. And smaller fires raged east of L.A. in Riverside County. The skies around the city last night were lit up with a molten glow.

MAN: It's just amazing to see how many fire -- fire trucks going up and down, and they're doing a good job. We're just hoping that everything will be OK.

KWAME HOLMAN: After damaging homes, R.V.s and closing a university, the fire today tracked south to the Pacific, crossing the Pacific Coast Highway and moving toward a Naval base.

MAN: Ready for water!

KWAME HOLMAN: Nearly 1,000 firefighters were battling the blaze on the ground today, and tankers dumped water and retardant from the air.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has ordered customs officials to check the validity of all international student visas in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings. The order came in an internal memo obtained by the Associated Press. The checks are effective immediately and mark the first U.S. government security change related to the bombings.

A student from Kazakhstan accused of hiding evidence for one of the bombing suspects was allowed back into the U.S. without a valid visa in January.

The surviving suspect in the Boston bombings told officials the original date for the attack was the Fourth of July. Law enforcement officials spoke on the condition of anonymity, as the investigation is ongoing. They said Dzhokhar Tsarnaev said he and his brother finished the pressure cooker bombs earlier than expected, so switched their target to the Boston Marathon.

In Pakistan today, gunmen killed the lead prosecutor investigating the assassination of the country's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali was shot at least 13 times in Islamabad as he was driving to court. His car was riddled with bullets. The gunmen fled in a taxi and on motorcycle. Ali was prosecuting militants jailed in connection with Benazir Bhutto's 2007 death in a gun attack and suicide bombing.

President Obama made an urgent appeal for immigration reform during a visit to Mexico City today. At least six million Mexicans are believed to be living in the U.S. illegally. Today, the president told a crowd of college students he's convinced that, working with Congress, they can overhaul the U.S. immigration system this year.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: The immigration system we have in the United States right now doesn't reflect our values. It separates families when we should be reuniting them. It's led millions of people to live in the shadows. It deprives us of the talents of so many young people, even though we know that immigrants have always been the engine of our economy, starting some of our greatest companies and pioneering new industries.

KWAME HOLMAN: President Obama also conceded the root of much of Mexico's violence is the demand for illegal drugs in the U.S. The president also acknowledged that most guns used to commit crime in Mexico come from the U.S.

Those are some of the day's major stories -- now back to Judy.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: Now the floods along the Mississippi and other Midwest rivers, creeks and streams.

This week, communities are coping with rising waters, heavy rain and increasing damage, with no immediate end in sight. The scope of the problem keeps growing, with flooding along the Mississippi, Illinois and Missouri rivers. Towns and cities from North Dakota to Arkansas have felt the brunt, with its biggest impact so far in Illinois and Missouri.

Ray Suarez has the story.

RAY SUAREZ: The rain-swollen Mississippi River neared its crest today near Saint Louis, after days of rising waters.

Muddy river waters covered the tops of trees and street signs, and a boat was the best way to get around in some areas. The unruly river caused more than 100 barges to break free earlier this week. A handful of them hit a Saint Louis County bridge. The Coast Guard says at least 10 barges sank.

Meanwhile, floodwaters on the Illinois River crested at 29 feet. That's the highest it's risen in 70 years. The waters began falling today. Volunteers worked steadily to throw up tens of thousands of sandbag barriers to stop flooding. But, for some houses, the waters couldn't be stopped. Many stood partially submerged yesterday. Buildings on the floodplain, like this one, were suddenly in the middle of the river.

Meanwhile, in the north of the state, the water receded enough in some areas to allow residents to start their cleanup. In Des Plaines, west of Chicago, the streets are lined with the unsalvageable.

WOMAN: We see people going through our things. And it's not something you just throw out that you don't want. This belonged to my children.

MAN: I have lived here all my life, and I have never, ever seen anything like this, never.

RAY SUAREZ: Steady downpours across the Midwest have swollen streams, creeks and rivers beyond their banks. Four people in three states have died in the floodwaters.

It's a striking change from just a few months ago. In Saint Louis, the river was almost 40 feet lower as recently as four months ago. Last summer's drought forced barges to lighten their loads to ride higher in the water. Shallow banks meant a long, single-file trip down the Mississippi for thousands of barges.

National Weather Service hydrologist Mark Fuchs spoke to our colleagues at KETC Saint Louis earlier today.

MARK FUCHS, National Weather Service: It's not entirely unheard of, but for the river to go as long as minus-4.6 feet, all the way up to 35.2, as it is right now, is -- is considerable. And we really haven't -- I have looked back in history trying to find comparable events. And there's a handful. But I have to go all the way back into the '60s, early '70s perhaps to find anything close to that.

RAY SUAREZ: The National Weather Service expects many of the rivers and creeks in the Midwest to remain high into next month.

Illinois' director of emergency management warned yesterday more flooding may be on the way.

JONATHON MONKEN, Illinois Emergency Management Agency: I just got the forecast up north for the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Their forecast is expected to be in the 70s this weekend, which means we're going to have an extremely rapid snowmelt up north, which will contribute additional water to what we're seeing here. So it's definitely something that people need to keep our eye on.

RAY SUAREZ: In Clarksville, Mo., officials also said they remain on alert for what's still to come, even as floodwaters began falling.

MAYOR JO ANNE SMILEY, Clarksville, Mo.: Oh, yes, it can change in an instant. It could change if in fact we have a deluge of rain above us and the river should go higher than we can handle. Then we will have to increase the height of the wall that's there. And it can be done, but we'd have to pull things -- pull things back together really fast.

RAY SUAREZ: In North Dakota, residents are scrambling to prepare for the coming melt of plenty of spring snow. Bulldozers built more than seven miles of clay levees in anticipation of a rapidly rising river in Fargo.

APRIL WALKER, City Engineer, Fargo, N.D.: Intention is to get as much done in a managed fashion, so it's not -- I don't want to say Armageddon, but it's not as hurried as we were in the 2009 event or previous events.

RAY SUAREZ: Volunteers worked earlier this week to fill 500,000 sandbags in five days, ahead of the floodwaters.

While some communities brace for the snowmelt, the worst may be over in others. Floodwaters are slowly receding from the highest levels ever seen along the Grand River in Western Michigan. When it was running high, the Grand carried debris all the way to Lake Michigan.

MARY JO BOLETTO, Michigan: The piles are incredibly tall. And there's just -- just the amount of debris is pretty remarkable.

STEPHEN SHERWOOD, Michigan: I found a picnic table, some shoes. I found some caulk that it looks like people were using to cover up holes in their houses, so just all kinds of stuff.

RAY SUAREZ: Weather officials said the Grand River was expected to fall below flood stage tomorrow. 

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HARI SREENIVASAN: The search for survivors from a fertilizer plant explosion persisted today in the small town of West, Texas, with word 60 people are still unaccounted for.

Search-and-rescue workers sifted through the mangled, burned-out remains of buildings consumed by Wednesday night's explosion. Until this morning, the death toll was unknown, but Texas public safety officer Jason Reyes gave this figure.

JASON REYES, Texas Department of Public Safety: It is with a heavy heart that I can confirm 12 individuals have been recovered from the fertilizer plant explosion. The deceased have been taken to the Dallas forensics lab for proper identification. To date, there have been approximately 200 reported injuries.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Late today, the death toll grew to 14. Reyes added that he couldn't say how many of the dead were first-responders.

MAN: So, bomb just went off inside here. It's pretty bad. We have got a lot of firemen down.

HARI SREENIVASAN: One was identified as Captain Kenneth Harris, a 30-year veteran of the Dallas Fire Department who was off-duty, but lived near West and responded to the scene.

Authorities have now searched and cleared 150 buildings and have another 25 to examine. Meanwhile, federal investigators started collecting debris and other evidence to find a cause.

AMY HUTYRA, Texas: I have friends here. I have relatives just down the road, and you can’t get in touch with them. So that's why I'm here, just to see if they're even alive.

HARI SREENIVASAN: This afternoon, Texas Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz toured the devastation. Cornyn said there are still 60 people missing.

SEN. JOHN CORNYN, R-Texas: We know that there are a number of people unaccounted for. And right now, the authorities are going to the hospitals and making sure that they know where people are. So they're in the process. There are a number of confirmed dead, but there are others, people unaccounted for right now and, of course, more than 150 who suffered injuries. So, they're in the process of going -- of making that determination.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Meanwhile, the first remembrances of the victims began last night, as locals gathered for a candlelight vigil at St. Mary's Church. Authorities have also said there is still no sign of a criminal connection in the plant explosion.

It's been a violent 24 hours in Iraq, as the country prepares to hold provincial elections on Saturday. Mortar fire and bombs targeted two groups of worshipers north of Baghdad as they were leaving Friday prayers. Nine people died and 29 others were injured. Overnight, a suicide bombing at a popular cafe in the capital killed 36 people and wounded dozens more. Today, the families and friends of the deceased came to a hospital morgue to collect their loved ones' bodies.

Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is now in police custody after being taken -- after taking refuge at his home on the outskirts of Islamabad. The ex-military ruler is facing treason charges for firing senior judges while he was in power. Musharraf was arrested a day after fleeing the high court in a black SUV, as angry lawyers yelled after him, calling him a traitor. Musharraf insists his arrest is -- quote -- "politically motivated."

Serbia and its former province of Kosovo reached a tentative deal today to normalize relations. The pact brokered by the European Union aimed to settle the status of Kosovo's Serbian minority, which doesn't recognize the ethnic Albanian leadership. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. A deal could clear the way for Serbia to start negotiations toward E.U. membership.

Nicolas Maduro was sworn in today as Venezuela's new president. He was confirmed the winner in Sunday's election by a slim majority, after which his main challenger, Henrique Capriles, demanded an audit. Maduro's supporters wore red and lined the streets of Caracas leading to the national assembly, where he took the oath of office. The crowds also honored Hugo Chavez, who hand-picked Maduro as his successor before he died.

The Federal Aviation Administration issued a statement today clearing all Boeing 787 Dreamliners to fly again by next week. The planes have been grounded for more than three months because of a battery system prone to overheating. Boeing redesigned the system and the FAA approved the changes. The grounding has cost Boeing an estimated $600 million dollars.

The Boy Scouts of America said today they will ask their national council to vote on a proposal that would permit gay Boy Scouts, but continue to ban gay leaders. The organization, which has long banned gays, said the new direction is based on survey results from the scouting community. The vote is scheduled for late May.

On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 10 points to close at 14,547. The Nasdaq rose more than 39 points to close at 3,206. For the week, the Dow lost two percent; the Nasdaq fell 2.7 percent.

Those are some of the day's major stories -- now back to Jeff.

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HARI SREENIVASAN: A Mississippi man was charged today with threatening President Obama and a U.S. senator by allegedly sending them tainted letters. Paul Kevin Curtis was arrested yesterday, but maintains he is innocent. Lab tests confirmed a letter sent to Mississippi Republican Sen. Roger Wicker contained ricin. And the FBI confirmed the deadly poison was also in a letter mailed to the White House. Both were intercepted at off-site mailing facilities. If convicted -- if convicted, Curtis could face up to 15 years in prison.

Flooding became a problem for people in the Upper Midwest today, as rivers overflowed their banks. At least nine states are experiencing flooding or will soon. And the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced it's closing part of the Mississippi River to commercial navigation starting tomorrow. Heavy rain fell across the region, making the flooding even worse. And in Chicago, a sinkhole opened up on a street on the city's South Side and swallowed three cars.

A former justice of the peace has been charged in the killings of a North Texas district attorney, his wife, and an assistant prosecutor. Eric Williams has been in jail since Saturday for making terror threats related to the case. The murdered officials prosecuted Williams for computer theft last year. He was later convicted and lost his elected position. His wife, Kim Williams, was charged in the murders yesterday. She confessed to taking part, but insisted her husband was the gunman.

Experts gathered by the World Health Organization arrived in China today, ahead of a weeklong investigation into a new strain of bird flu there. So far, they are unsure how it is spreading to humans. The H7N9 virus was identified three weeks ago. Since then, it has killed 17 people and infected 70 others, including many who have never had any contact with birds.

In this country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was working closely with China to figure out the strain.

DR. JOSEPH BRESEE, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: The virus is still only found in six provinces or municipalities in China, so there's no cases outside China. Right now, we think the risk to the U.S. is very low. We think that we might see a traveler come to the United States that is infected in China, but gets sick in the United States. And we're preparing for that.

HARI SREENIVASAN: The team of international experts plans to visit the most affected areas of the country, Shanghai and Beijing, as well as Chinese laboratories testing the virus.

The Portuguese government pushed ahead with new spending cuts today to the tune of one billion dollars this year. The new money-saving measures are deeply unpopular, but necessary in order to meet deficit targets Portugal's creditors set out two years ago. The cuts will reduce spending on public sector staff, goods and services that have already been slashed in previous rounds of cuts. Portugal's unemployment rate is already above 17 percent.

On Wall Street today, a slew of disappointing corporate earnings reports sent stocks slipping. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 81 points to close at 14,537. The Nasdaq fell 38 points to close at 3,166.

NASA scientists announced the discovery of two new planets that appear to be capable of supporting life. The distant planets are 1,200 light-years away, orbiting a star in the constellation Lyra. One light-year is almost six trillion miles. The discoveries mark a milestone in the search for life on other planets. The find was made possible by NASA's Kepler telescope.

Those are some of the day's major stories -- now back to Jeff.

RAY SUAREZ: For more on the tragedy in Texas, we are joined from the town of West by B.J. Austin of KERA Public Radio.

B.J., is the fire out? Is the scene under control? Are emergency service personnel able to answer the area where the blast occurred?

B.J. AUSTIN, KERA Public Radio: We really don't know if the fire is completely out. There was a briefing about an hour ago and that question was asked, and the official, the sheriff, deputy chief deputy sheriff of McLennan County said that he didn't have knowledge of that, nor did a state trooper, Jason Reyes, who was also conducting the briefing.

So we're not exactly sure. I did have a conversation with a state representative who this morning was able to tour the site and the neighborhood, and he said that it's gone. It's -- the plant is no more.

RAY SUAREZ: Has anyone been recovered in an area close to the blast in the last several hours?

B.J. AUSTIN: Officials are being very, very careful with this whole thing of recovery, of discovery, and whatever, and they're backing off of any earlier numbers of possible fatalities that they were given.

They said they're doing this in respect of the volunteer firefighters and the citizens of West. They want to be extremely diligent and extremely careful before they say anything about the exact number of fatalities and the exact number of injured. We have heard anywhere on injured from 170, and the state representative told me he thought it was closer to 200.

RAY SUAREZ: Well, is everyone working on the presumption that there are going to be a lot more than the five to 15 that was earlier announced by law enforcement?

B.J. AUSTIN: It may seem that way, but we just don't know.

They're not tipping their hands in this at all. The state representative did tell me that when he toured the site, he was amazed at the level of damage done to the neighborhood homes. He said they weren't blown over like a tornado. They were blown up with the walls blowing outward. So, he said it's -- it looks like a war zone, is what he told me.

RAY SUAREZ: You had an enormous fire, then a catastrophic explosion. Is there a chemical smell in the area? When you're downwind from West, does it smell like you're near a chemical plant that has some serious trouble?

B.J. AUSTIN: Well, I have to tell you, where I am right now, the only smell you smell is cows. We're right next to a cattle yard.

I really don't know. The area is so blocked off, not even people who live there within like a two-mile radius can get there to check the damage of their homes or get their prescription medicine or get clothing or anything. They're -- everyone is being totally kept out of the area at the direction of the ATF, the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and folks.

RAY SUAREZ: In the core area, is there still material on site that still poses a danger either from fumes or from burning?

B.J. AUSTIN: We were -- we asked that question at the briefing about an hour ago and frankly got a pretty evasive answer that all state agencies, including the Texas Commission on Environment Quality, are on site. They are monitoring and they are ensuring that the public is safe. And that's all they would say.

RAY SUAREZ: Is this a plant that's had safety problems or regulatory problems in the past?

B.J. AUSTIN: We do know from comments made by the superintendent of education that a couple of months ago, in February possibly, the plant did a controlled burn of some lumber and trees that were on site, and they did a controlled burn, and they asked that the intermediate school nearby be evacuated while they do that controlled burn.

But other than that, that's the only thing or concern issued. One gentleman who cannot return to his home -- the blast knocked his windows and doors off and knocked him to the ground last night -- he tells me that he's had concerns about possible chemical contamination, but he never thought there'd be an explosion, and he said he never really pursued those concerns, but he did have them.

RAY SUAREZ: Ammonium nitrate is a commonly used fertilizer. Is this an agricultural area of Texas? Is West a logical place to have a plant of this kind?

B.J. AUSTIN: Yes, indeed, it is.

And the plant has -- services all of the farmers and ranchers in this Central Texas area around West. And one person told me that it's been there a long time and that a lot of things have just grown up around it. A lot of houses, apartment buildings and the school have just grown up around the plant.

RAY SUAREZ: B.J. Austin of KERA in Dallas, thanks a lot for joining us.

B.J. AUSTIN: You're welcome. 

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RAY SUAREZ: Rescuers worked in wet weather today to find survivors amid the rubble after the fiery explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant last night. Late today, authorities acknowledged there were fatalities, but declined to confirm how many. Earlier estimates ranged from five to 15, though there were reports the toll would go much higher.

The cause of the fire and explosion is still not known. Officials said today there's no evidence of foul play.

A man using his cell phone captured the moment last night when the west fertilizer company plant exploded.

MAN: You OK? You OK?

GIRL: Dad, I can't hear. I can't hear.

MAN: Cover your ears.

GIRL: Get out of here. Please get out of here.

RAY SUAREZ: That flattened buildings within a five-block radius and sent shockwaves out for miles around.

KEVIN SMITH, Texas: I was actually picked up and thrown about 10 feet, because I was standing at the end of my bed, and then where I landed was by the bathroom, about 10 feet closer into the house.

ULIZES CASTANEDA, Texas: I turned around and watched the explosion as it happened, and it threw me down into the bed of the truck. Next thing I know, shrapnel was falling down everywhere, burning all of us. And we just got out and ran.

RAY SUAREZ: The thunderous blast occurred in the town of West, Texas, a small farming community of 2,800 people that lies about 20 miles north of Waco.

Today, rescue workers continued to search the smoldering rubble for survivors.

Waco Police Sergeant William Swanton:

SGT. WILLIAM SWANTON, Waco Police Department: The number one priority is to rescue and save lives in the event we can do that. The number two priority is to make sure there are no further injuries and nobody else gets hurt.

RAY SUAREZ: Swanton added that cold, rainy weather had helped extinguish fires and keep concerns over chemicals in the air at bay.

WILLIAM SWANTON: There is no lingering threat. I think, again, the weather has kind of helped us with that. It has obviously dispersed some of the smoke. At this point, I have been told that that is not a concern.

RAY SUAREZ: The explosion destroyed at least 75 houses, a 50-unit apartment complex, a middle school, and a nursing home from which 133 patients were evacuated. First-responders and local residents described a terrifying scene.

MAN: As soon as I ran up, there was a woman holding two babies. And they -- they were soaked in blood, and one of them was just -- one of the babies looked like it wasn't responding. And it's just horrible to see something like that.

RAY SUAREZ: For Texas Trooper D.L. Wilson, the aftermath was reminiscent of another fertilizer explosion, the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, 18 years ago tomorrow.

D.L. WILSON, Texas Department of Public Safety: I can tell you I was there. I walked through the blast area. I searched some houses earlier tonight. Massive, just like Iraq, just like the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City. Same kind of anhydrous exploded, so you can imagine what kind of damage we're looking at there.

RAY SUAREZ: What caused the plant to catch fire and explode is still unclear. Officials are treating the area as a crime scene and say they will await reports from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

WILLIAM SWANTON: There is no indication of crime at this point from what I'm made aware of. That is what we will investigate. ATF will investigate. The state fire marshal will investigate to determine if in fact there was some type of crime there.

RAY SUAREZ: What is known is that at around 7:30 yesterday evening, the West Fertilizer Company plant caught fire. Local firefighters, many of them volunteers, responded and immediately began evacuating the area.

About 25 minutes later, the spectacular blast occurred, knocking out windows miles away. First-responders quickly set up a triage station at a football field to treat the injured, while others searched for survivors. Beds were set up at nearby high school for those who couldn't return home.

GOV. RICK PERRY, R-Texas: Last night was truly a nightmare scenario for that community.

RAY SUAREZ: Today, Texas Gov. Rick Perry asked Texans and all Americans to keep the people of West in their thoughts and prayers.

RICK PERRY: In a small town like West, they know that this tragedy has most likely hit every family. It's touched practically everyone in that town.

RAY SUAREZ: Perry is asking the federal government to declare a state of emergency for McLennan County, the home county for the little town of West. 

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HARI SREENIVASAN: A Southwest Virginia interstate reopened today after a massive pileup killed three people and injured dozens more. Police officials said dense fog triggered 17 separate crashes along I-77 yesterday, all within the span of a mile. The chain reaction involved 95 vehicles in a notoriously foggy mountainous area near the North Carolina border.

The top court in India rejected a patent application from a Swiss drug maker for a major cancer drug. The ruling means Indian makers of generic drugs can keep on making copycat versions of the Novartis drug in question, Gleevec. It's been highly effective in treating some forms of leukemia. The decision sets a benchmark for intellectual property cases in India. Novartis responded to today's decision by saying it will not invest in drug research there.

Calm returned to the streets of Kisumu, Kenya, today after a weekend of heavy rioting. The city is home to Raila Odinga, who narrowly lost the presidential race to Uhuru Kenyatta. On Saturday, the Supreme Court confirmed Kenyatta was the winner of the March 4^th election. That announcement angered Odinga supporters, who set tires on fire and blocked major roads. Police responded by firing tear gas at the rioters. Kenyatta is expected to be sworn in on April 9^th.

Stocks edged lower on Wall Street today in a light day of trading. The Dow Jones industrial average lost more than five points to close above 14,572. The Nasdaq fell 28 points to close at 3,239.

Those are some of the day's major stories -- now back to Margaret.

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JEFFREY BROWN: And finally tonight: Japan two years after the massive earthquake and tsunami struck its northeastern coast.

Ray Suarez has the story.

RAY SUAREZ: The 2011 quake was one of the strongest in recorded history. It set off a tsunami that killed at least 16,000 people, left another 2,600 missing, and triggered meltdowns at a nuclear power plant.

Today, official records show over 300,000 people are still living in temporary housing.

For more on life in Japan two years after the disaster, I am joined by Yuki Tatsumi. She's a senior associate on U.S.-Japanese relations at the Stimson Center, a nonprofit, nonpartisan international research group. And she has just returned from Tokyo.

Yuki, welcome.

What are the observable effects of that earthquake in Japan two years later?

YUKI TATSUMI, Stimson Center: The answer depends on where you live, frankly.

If you live in the disaster-hit area, if you know anybody who were affected by the disaster, the disaster is still very much with you every day. People worry about radiation not only in their soil and the air, but also in the produce that they buy in grocery stores. But the further you move away from the affected area, you feel much, much less impact.

RAY SUAREZ: Well, you were just in Tokyo. There, is there a conscious feeling of still trying to cope with this disaster and rebuild the country?

YUKI TATSUMI: Yes. Yes and no, actually.

On the day of the earthquake anniversary, there were memorial services everywhere, including Tokyo. There was actually a big memorial service in Tokyo, where prime minister and emperor and empress attended, and gave a prayer to those who lost their lives.

And, at the same time, people in Tokyo at least live -- go around and live their normal lives, but I wouldn't say as if nothing happened, because parents very much worry about the radiation that still could be carried in the air, worry about their children's health, and then also, like I said, in the food that may be still contaminated.

RAY SUAREZ: Well, we should talk a little bit about nuclear power. Because Japan has no significant natural resources to create energy, it's relied very heavily on nuclear power. And that nuclear power became a subject of great controversy after the power plant disaster that followed the tsunami.

What's the state of play now? Is Japan abandoning its stated desire to move away from nuclear energy?

YUKI TATSUMI: Well, the reaction you just describe it, exactly what happened in Tokyo -- or in Japan, as I should say, in the immediate 12 months that followed.

The government at that time, partly because they were very much aware that they could not respond to the nuclear meltdown as well as they could have, so they went completely the other way and declared that the Japan will be a nuclear power plant-free country in some 20- to 25-year span.

However, since then, Japanese experienced two summers. And, as you may know, in Japan -- Japan's summer, wherever you are, it's very humid, hot, much, much worse than the D.C. metropolitan area. People actually feel the power shortages and the implication of trying to reduce their dependence on nuclear power to -- in a too soon, too short time span.

The current government has a little bit more balanced approach. They still do believe that Japan should reduce its dependence on nuclear power. However, they take a longer perspective of doing so. And they are intending to, I believe, invent -- more resources into accelerating the -- developing alternative energy to -- eventually to replace the demand that is currently met by the nuclear power.

RAY SUAREZ: You mentioned radiation. You can't see it, you can't smell it, you can't taste it.

We did a story on this program that showed fruits and vegetables still setting off radiation detectors long after the power plant disaster. It must be a little unnerving to think that everything in your life might be contaminated.

YUKI TATSUMI: It's very unnerving, and especially if you're a mother with a small child. It's very unnerving.

There's really no solid scientific data that really can say anything definitively about the impact of the health in terms of how much radiation it can take in a contaminated -- and so on and so forth. So, yes, it's still very unnerving. And in that sense, yes, the aftermath, aftereffect of the disaster is very much with Japanese.

RAY SUAREZ: There was a great deal of shock right after the tsunami and its aftereffects that more things didn't work better. Has this been a knock, now that we're two years away, to Japan's self-confidence?

YUKI TATSUMI: Right after the disaster, as you can imagine, everybody was completely shell-shocked. No one had ever imagined in their wildest dream that the disaster of that degree could happen, and to them.

And immediate -- immediate reaction among the public was that, in some strange way, they rediscovered their inner strength, in terms of the way they were able to -- kept their civility. As you remember, we really hardly heard any news about rioting, racketeering in the stores, none of that.

So, in a sense, at the public level, they rediscovered the self-confidence in themselves. But, at the same time, I think their confidence in the government very much were shaken by, like you said, the systems not working, the government not being able to respond to a nuclear meltdown as quickly, the government not being able to provide reliable information about the damage very quickly. So ...

RAY SUAREZ: And in the intervening months, of course, Japan has changed its government, changed its prime minister in -- partially in reaction.

Yuki Tatsumi, thank you very much.

YUKI TATSUMI: Thank you. 

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GWEN IFILL: Finally tonight: A Japanese town aims for a comeback two years after the earthquake, the tsunami, and the nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima reactor.

Our story comes from special correspondent Emily Taguchi, a graduate of the School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, one of our reporting partners.

EMILY TAGUCHI: It's been two years since the meltdowns at the Daiichi nuclear power plant. The city of Minamisoma is celebrating the Nomaoi festival, showcasing their heritage as horsemen and warriors.

About a third of the city is still uninhabitable. But, on this day, residents who fled the city return, standing shoulder to shoulder with former neighbors to honor their history.

MAYOR KATSUNOBU SAKURAI, Minamisoma, Japan: I'm Mayor Katsunobu Sakurai of Minamisoma. This year's Nomaoi festival, in the hopes of recovery for our residents affected by the nuclear crisis, is being held per the custom.

EMILY TAGUCHI: At 20 miles north of the Daiichi plant, Minamisoma was cut off from the rest of the world two years ago by radioactive plumes. Not even aid trucks would come near. Mayor Sakurai uploaded a plea for help on YouTube.

KATSUNOBU SAKURAI: The banks are closed. The people are literally drying up as if they're under starvation tactics.

EMILY TAGUCHI: Eiju Hangai, a Tokyo-based businessman born and raised in Minamisoma, felt a particular responsibility to help. He'd spent 32 years working for TEPCO, the utility that operated the stricken nuclear power plant. He'd wanted to work at the utility since he was a little boy.

EIJU HANGAI, Businessman: My grandfather took me to the construction site of the Fukushima Daiichi reactor one. That was where Japan's energy was going to be made with nuclear power for the first time. That left a powerful impression on me.

EMILY TAGUCHI: But now the crying need of his hometown was also leaving a powerful impression. So he arranged for supplies to go to a bakery that Mrs. Chisaku Ishida kept open after the earthquake. People needed the traditional funeral cakes to give proper burials to their loved ones.

EIJU HANGAI: Giving out supplies to people who'd come to buy the sweets was the fastest way to get them to people in need. But then Mrs. Ishida said, we're thankful for the supplies, but we're going to need many, many years to rebuild. We have to do something for the kids who have their futures ahead of them. Hangai-san, please think of something for the kids.

EMILY TAGUCHI: The baker's mandate became a personal mission for Hangai. His faith in nuclear, indeed the whole region's, had been shattered by the disaster. He listened when the mayor announced an initiative to buy coastal land from former residents and lease it to renewable energy companies to transform the region to solar.

KATSUNOBU SAKURAI: Whether it's nuclear, thermal, or hydro, electricity is electricity. Once it's produced, people have no choice but to use it in our lives today. So, selling electricity is a means to revive the industry we lost.

EMILY TAGUCHI: To bring together solar and the baker's plea to help the kids, Hangai worked to set up a partnership between Toshiba, which makes solar panels, and KidZania, the operator of a theme park where kids experience real-life jobs.

The result would be a solar power company in the city that not only generates electricity, but lets kids experiment with working in a renewable energy plant.

WOMAN: We would prepare a solar power generation system for kids. They'd have to figure out the best angle, direction, and how to place the panels to generate the most electricity.

EIJU HANGAI: So for me to answer Mrs. Ishida's homework, I thought, OK, couldn't we give the kids the experience of working in Minamisoma to support their growth?

EMILY TAGUCHI: Hangai's solar company became one of the first to sign on to the mayor's plan. Radiation levels here have dropped sharply. They are now lower than average background levels in the U.S., and the company is gearing up to open for business this month.

For Hangai, it's just the beginning of repaying for all those years he spent at TEPCO.

EIJU HANGAI: The fact that those words of Mrs. Ishida echoed so heavily for me is because I had a sense of guilt and the need to make amends for the reconstruction of my hometown, which will take many years from now, and for the children who will shoulder that burden. This, in some sense, is my life's work.

EMILY TAGUCHI: Mayor Sakurai tries to imagine a better future.

KATSUNOBU SAKURAI: In our long history, it's only a moment in time that we had nuclear power, 40 years. But it can destroy history itself. But as long as we don't lose our dreams, I think this town will come back in some form.

EMILY TAGUCHI: It's a big dream. The city of Minamisoma set a goal to produce all of the electricity it needs using only renewable sources by 2030.

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JEFFREY BROWN: Finally tonight: Monday marks two years since a devastating tsunami hit Japan. We take a look back through the words of a writer.

Gretel Ehrlich is best known for her nature and travel writing. She's authored 13 books, including three of poetry.

It was the most powerful earthquake ever to hit Japan, triggering a tsunami that reached over 130 feet, taking close to 16,000 lives and causing the meltdown of three nuclear reactors, a disaster of epic proportions.

Beginning in the 1960s, Gretel Ehrlich began visiting Japan regularly to study and write about its culture, its religion -- she's a practicing Buddhist -- and its literature. Soon after the tsunami, she returned for the first of three trips to document the physical and emotional aftermath.

GRETEL EHRLICH, Author: I felt a need to go. And it's been a lifelong thing about Japan that has called me. I wanted to hear the stories. I wanted to help people tell what had happened to them.

JEFFREY BROWN: The result was the new book, part reportage, part personal reflection, titled "Facing the Wave: A Journey in the Wake of the Tsunami."

She talked to us about it recently on Kent Island, Md., where she spends the winter.

GRETEL EHRLICH: We came to cove after cove of villages that just didn't exist anymore.

You would see parts of boats up in the trees and clothing and -- from rocks and -- but it was when we got to the larger towns, three of them right in a row, where you drive down a street, and the rubble on either side would maybe be two or three stories high. It became this illegible collage of a society that had been completely taken apart and left there.

JEFFREY BROWN: For Ehrlich, one response was in poetry, writing verse based on what she was seeing.

GRETEL EHRLICH: My old friend William Stafford, a poet now gone, said, a poem is an emergency of the spirit.

And I think that's -- were the moments that I wrote a poem, when I couldn't sort of tell the news anymore.

"Here, the earth altar breaks. We have always been on the move. Past and future, those are places I have never reached. Where the tsunami wave came and went, that's where I am."

Everything in Japanese culture is about beauty framed by impermanence. And a poem can be very brief and, in a way, explode out like an open door. It draws the mind and the heart in, and then it lets go. It sort of steps aside. Everything is transient. Everything is in flux.

JEFFREY BROWN: But many things in Japan, she says, also have historical resonance. One of her poems, referring to the 17th century poet Matsuo Basho, makes a comparison between the Fukushima Daiichi meltdown and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

GRETEL EHRLICH: "At Ishinomaki, where Matsuo Basho once wrote a poem, finally, the twisted roadbed drains and the daily flood tides at Ishinomaki dry out. The sky unmists itself and loss upon loss begins to feel like company. Nothing touches. Nights are brittle and soft, ink scraped smooth. To the South, Fukushima Daiichi blazes, flames we can't see. Sixty-six years ago, two other seacoast towns vanished. I stick my forearm out in moonlight looking seaward. My skin burns."

There was a sense of survival euphoria that came up, because it was so -- in such a field of loss, the possibility that you were still alive was kind of overwhelming.

JEFFREY BROWN: Amid the devastation, Ehrlich says, she found a remarkable resilience. This is a country and a people with long experience of natural disasters, including tsunamis.

GRETEL EHRLICH: "Oceans. Even underwater, I try to see, is the abyss dark or fed by fire? I hold a cracked tea bowl in my mind. It is lopsided, beautiful, spilling. The chilled depths into which I slide break open like doors. Abyss-san says, you have to be alive to die."

JEFFREY BROWN: Ehrlich says she hopes to return to Japan soon to help with efforts to move people from temporary government housing into permanent homes.

And there's more online, where you can watch Gretel Ehrlich read from her poetry. That's on our Art Beat page. 

Gretel Ehrlich, travel writer, poet and essayist, debuted in 1985 with "The Solace of Open Spaces," a collection of essays on rural life in the American West. Her first novel, "Heart Mountain," set in Wyoming and published in 1988, is about Japanese Americans forced into internment camps during WWII.

In the 1960s, Ehrlich, a practicing Buddhist, began visiting Japan to study and write about its culture, religions and literature. Soon after the earthquake and tsunami struck Japan on March 11, 2011, she returned for the first of three trips to document the physical and emotional aftermath.

The result was the new book "Facing the Wave: A Journey in the Wake of the Tsunami," part reportage, part personal reflection. She recently talked to us about the book on Kent Island, Md., where she spends the winter. (We'll post that segment here later Friday evening.)

"There were moments when the grief aspect of emptiness just seemed so heavy that it was falling like rain, that it was just a deluge of sorry," she said. "I met a fireman who lost his wife, his two children, his mother and his father and was just wondering why he was alive and how he was going to begin again." Her poem "Emptiness Fall" reflects on that grief:

Emptiness Falls

Beginning. Again. But how? Tonight's perfect moon-slice means we are half here half gone. Down deep sea urchins fatten on corpses and the Missing roll on amnesia's tides. All summer the body rains sweat and emptiness falls from the standing dead. Cedar. Rice field. Pine. Ehrlich said it's hard to capture the magnitude of the devastation. "The loss has been so total so in that physical sense, boundaries were erased, but then what percolates up into the psyche is that almost surreal moment of having no reference point. I walked around towns with people trying to figure out where their house had been or where their grandmother was washed away or where their fishing boat had been tied up, and they couldn't figure it out or it was just gone," she said.

Here's a prose excerpt from the section "Morning Sun":

"Then the van rolls down toward the coast. It lurches and leans. Ahead, winter sun shines on torn water; on crumpled water gates; on remnants—razed houses, grieving households, homeless dogs.

"Sun shines on the lonely.

"There's sun on red pine islets, on wrecked squid boats whose attractor lights hang like bells with no clappers. Sun on the unlit tunnels through which we hurdle, mountain after mountain, the hooded light at the end saying, 'Come, come.'

"Sun on tangled fishing gear, on the eclipsed moons of black buoys fallen upward sea to earth.

"Sun on snow on sun. On collapsed waves. On bare seafloor. On seawater warmer than air. Faint warmth.

"Limpid water-light too thin to hold anything."

Listen to the Audio

HARI SREENIVASAN: A powerful late winter storm that tracked all the way from Montana to the East Coast deposited a snowy, icy mess on the Mid-Atlantic today. In Washington, federal offices closed ahead of the storm, but the city and its immediate surroundings mostly got rain.

Farther out in Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland, as much as a foot of snow accumulated in some places. The snow that did fall was heavy and wet, snapping tree limbs and power lines and leaving up to 200,000 people without power.

The state of Arkansas will now have the most restrictive abortion law in the country. Republicans dominating the legislature there overrode a gubernatorial veto today. The new law includes a near-ban on abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy. It's slated to take effect this summer, but a court challenge is certain.

A senator filibuster today stalled the confirmation of John Brennan to be director of the CIA. They focused on whether the government would ever use drone aircraft to attack Americans inside the U.S. Kentucky Republican Rand Paul cited a letter from Attorney General Eric Holder. It said drone strikes on U.S. soil might be considered in an extraordinary circumstance, such as 9/11.

Paul said he's alarmed.

SEN. RAND PAUL, R-Ky.: You can't take away someone's life and liberty without due process or an indictment. So it should trouble every American. I can't imagine that there wouldn't be an American in our country that wouldn't be troubled that we're talking about killing noncombatants in America with drone strikes.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Several other Republicans joined the filibuster, as did Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden. He supports the Brennan nomination, but he cited civil liberties concerns over the drone issue.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Holder told a Senate hearing that the administration will work to allay any fears.

ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER, United States: I have heard you. The president has heard you and others who have raised this concern on both sides of the aisle. And so I think there is going to be a greater effort at the transparency. A number of steps are going to be taken. I expect you will hear the president speaking about this.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Later, Sen. Paul insisted the filibuster will go on until he gets a letter from President Obama promising not to use drones on American soil.

In Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai warned Afghan forces today to put an end to incidents of torture and other abuse. An Afghan government investigation has found widespread mistreatment at government-run prisons. An earlier U.N. investigation had reached similar conclusions. Karzai addressed the problem in a speech to the Afghan parliament today.

PRESIDENT HAMID KARZAI, Afghanistan: The investigation showed that during the arrests by the foreign forces and their local partners, who are our forces, people have been abused. This is a serious order that this should be stopped and cameras should be set up during interrogations to stop the abuse.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Until now, Karzai had placed the blame for prison abuse solely on NATO troops.

The exodus of refugees from Syria has now topped one million. The U.N. Refugee Agency reported the figure today. It also said 700,000 more Syrians have not yet registered. Meanwhile, Britain moved to give more help to the Syrian rebels, while heavy fighting continued in northern Syria.

We have a report narrated by Jonathan Miller of Independent Television News.

JONATHAN MILLER, Independent Television News: On the banks of the Euphrates River, a two day battle's been hard-won today by Syria's rebel fighters, the city of Raqqa now the first Syrian provincial capital out of regime control.

But this afternoon, the regime hit back, airstrikes targeting what the rebels had renamed Freedom Square. Freedom has come at a high price in Raqqa, it seems. Today, in the House of Commons, Britain's foreign secretary announced what some say is a landmark shift in policy. The U.K., he said, would provide millions of pounds of non-lethal military equipment to Syria's rebels.

The government does concede there are no easy answers, but Mr. Hague said that, faced with what he called increasingly extreme humanitarian suffering and diplomatic deadlock, Britain could not look the other way.

The Syrian exodus has gathered pace so dramatically that the one million milestone's been reached four months before the U.N. Refugee Agency predicted it would. It's taken just three months for the numbers to double. More than half the refugees are children. And only a dribble of the money the world pledged a month ago has been forthcoming.

This is how fast the Zaatari refugee camp has expanded in Jordan's northern desert, 2,500 tents last September, 18,000 last month.

ANTONIO GUTERRES, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees: Yes, a milestone in human tragedy, one million refugees, but accelerating in a dramatic way, 3,000 a day in December, 5,000 a day in January, 8,000 a day in February.

JONATHAN MILLER: What the British government effectively said today was that helping the rebels was the best bet for stopping the conflict and the refugee exodus.

But two years into this civil war and what Syria's rebels want is lethal assistance, arguing that failing to actually arm them is prolonging the conflict. A small group of Syrian rebels, one of more than 1,000 such groups that have sprung up just since last year, are tonight holding hostage 20 U.N. peacekeepers hostage, all Filipinos. They seized them on the Golan Heights. They won't release them, they say, until the U.N. and the U.S. press Syrian forces to withdraw from a nearby town.

HARI SREENIVASAN: The U.N. Security Council demanded the peacekeepers be freed immediately, and without conditions. The Russian ambassador to the U.N. presiding over the council this month called the incident bizarre. He said the peacekeepers are unarmed, and that their mission has nothing to do with the civil war in Syria.

The government of Egypt confronted new uncertainty today when a court suspended upcoming parliamentary elections. They had been scheduled to begin in April. The court ruled that the Islamist-dominated parliament rushed through the law setting up the elections. It said the country's supreme constitutional court needs time to review the statute. Advisers to President Mohammed Morsi said they plan to appeal the decision.

The European Union has fined Microsoft more than $700 million dollars for failing to provide a choice of Internet browsers. The software giant had pledged in 2009 to make those options available to users of its Windows operating system. Instead, Microsoft failed to comply in at least 15 million installations of Windows 7 in Europe between May 2011 and July 2012. The company blamed a technical error and agreed to pay the fine.

On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 42 points to close at 14,296, reaching a record high for a second straight day. The Nasdaq fell a point to close at 3,222.

Those are some of the day's major stories -- now back to Judy.

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JEFFREY BROWN: Yes, a large chunk of the country has been hammered by a fierce winter storm this week, but even so, scientists and businesses are concerned we have seen less accumulation and faster melts in places that crave deep powder, the ski slopes.

Hari is back with our story, part of our series Coping with Climate Change.

HARI SREENIVASAN: It's peak ski season in Aspen, Colo. The mountain town draws tens of thousands of visitors from around the world every winter just for the snow.

For championship skier Chris Davenport, skiing is more than just a pastime.

CHRIS DAVENPORT, Professional Skier: Skiing through powder snow, champagne power, as we call it here in Colorado, is almost an indescribable experience. You have got gravity pushing you down the hill. The snow is sort of coming up over your body silently. The air is cold. It's blue sky, and these crystals are sort of glistening in the air.

It's almost an out-of-body experience. And that's the thing that makes skiers -- that gets skiers addicted to the sport.

HARI SREENIVASAN: But these days, Davenport is worried his sport is headed for a fall.

CHRIS DAVENPORT: You don't know if you're going to have good snow. You don't know if it's going to come early or late, or if the spring is going to become warm, and the season is going to end prematurely. We just don't have that dependability anymore.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Those variations are what Mark Williams, a snow hydrologist at the University of Colorado, has been studying.

MARK WILLIAMS, University of Colorado: In terms of climate change, the parameter that's going to change the most is snow. In particular, we're starting to lose snow on the shoulders.

That is, snow accumulation starts later and snowmelt start earlier. And that's going to have all kinds of repercussions in terms of water availability, in terms of recreation, in terms of ecosystem services. The list goes on.

HARI SREENIVASAN: The 2011-2012 winter season was the fourth warmest on record for the United States, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That year, Colorado saw only half its average snowpack, making it the worst ski season in 20 years.

And Williams thinks it could get worse.

MARK WILLIAMS: We knew that, our work showed that snowmelt is going to start earlier. We're going to start to lose some of that late season snow, but it didn't look like it was going to really be a problem until we get 30 or 40 years into the future.

However, what we saw last year, March 2012, there essentially was no snow first time ever. It was the lowest snowfall here in Boulder on record. So there's reason to be concerned.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Across the country, on a small community ski hill, the realities of warmer winters are felt more acutely.

COREY SMITH, Campton Ski Area: Well, we're here. We're at Campton Mountain Ski Area in Campton, N.H., part of Waterville Estates. And that's our 1969 stately compact double chair lift, an oldie, but a goody. And then over to your left there is our rope tow. Families just love watching the kids out there. And lots of people have learned to ski right on that little hill, you know?

HARI SREENIVASAN: It is more a community resource more than a profit center, but due to low snow, it has been closed since 2011.

COREY SMITH: And we get e-mails from the members every day. They're just, when's it open? They want to know. The kids want to know. The families want to know. Everybody wants to know. And just, we can't do it. We just don't have the -- it looks white, but if you went over that with skis that you cared about, they'd be ruined.

HARI SREENIVASAN: The lack of steady and deep snow has measurable economic effects across the country. Visits to ski resorts were down 15 percent nationwide in 2012.

ELIZABETH BURAKOWSKI, University of New Hampshire: And what we found is that there's a pretty big impact. And when you have a lower-than-average-snowfall winter, you have got about $800 million dollars of unrealized revenue in the United States, and it can cost the U.S. about anywhere between 13,000 and 27,000 jobs.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Elizabeth Burakowski is a climate scientist at the University of New Hampshire. She co-authored a report looking at the economic impact of a bad season on the winter sports industry.

ELIZABETH BURAKOWSKI: By the end of the century, some regions are going to be seeing winter temperatures that are anywhere between six and 12 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than they have been in the past couple decades. And that spells trouble for our ski industry.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Even in a wealthy resort community like Aspen, a slow ski season means losses.

DAN MCMAHON, Incline Ski and Board Shop: We do. What are you looking for?

HARI SREENIVASAN: Dan McMahon, whose shop is at the bottom of Aspen Mountain, does not want another winter like the last one. In March, his ski rental business tumbled 20 to 30 percent and the losses snowballed for the rest of the year. For McMahon, low snow means high costs.

DAN MCMAHON: If it's a low snow year, our skis are going to get beat up. People are hitting rocks. More equipment gets broken. And a lot -- it just gets damaged more. So we spend a lot more on our staff, bring in more people to help tune the skis.

MIKE KAPLAN, Aspen Skiing Company: Have a good run.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Mike Kaplan, CEO of the Aspen Skiing Company, says the industry operates within a very small window every year.

MIKE KAPLAN: Our business is -- it's make-or-break business based on really four months of the year. We're open about 140 days a year, but it's that Christmas-through-March period where, yes, you either make it or you don't.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Snow guns like these are a ski company's last resort against warmer temperatures. But even here in Aspen, where they have invested millions in turning water into flakes, the machines only cover 10 percent of the ski area.

RICH BURKLEY, Aspen Skiing Company: We can turn these on individually. Water and electricity are required.

And Rich Burkley, vice president of mountain operations for Aspen Skiing Company, says making snow is energy-intensive.

RICH BURKLEY: We will blow about 200 million gallons of snow -- of water converted into snow, and that sounds like a lot, but it's -- in the natural environment and in other resorts, that's a very small amount of snow that we make.

It's energy-intensive, there's no doubt about it. So when we're at full capacity across the four mountains, we're using about 10 meg of power, which is kind of the power equivalency of a small town.

HARI SREENIVASAN: That kind of power is too costly for many resorts to sustain. It also adds to carbon emissions. So to help lower its carbon footprint, Aspen has is trying to go green, everything from more efficient lighting to powering its electricity with methane vented from a coal mine.

MIKE KAPLAN: We are just finishing now bringing our third one-megawatt generator online, so we have three one-megawatt generators that are being powered by this methane that was just being vented in the atmosphere. So, destroy carbon, make money.

HARI SREENIVASAN: While a big snowstorm like the one that hit this February may be a short-term boon to the resorts in the Northeast, Burakowski says it doesn't reverse long-term trends.

ELIZABETH BURAKOWSKI: Over the long term, like since the 1930s, we have seen decreasing trends in snowfall, including in the Northeast U.S. In terms of what we really care about is whether that snowfall stays on the ground. But the number of days with snow cover has been dropping off pretty precipitously.

HARI SREENIVASAN: And while this season is looking better than the last for Colorado, the possibility of shorter winters has skiers like Chris Davenport concerned.

CHRIS DAVENPORT: By traveling around and seeing these things firsthand, it really is shocking. I come back to my own home and I go, oh, my gosh, what are we going to do about it? I have three small children. I want my kids to grow up seeing the same glaciers and enjoying the same long winters that I have been able to enjoy. And I fear that they are not going to be able to do that.

HARI SREENIVASAN: A chilling thought for all skiers.

GWEN IFILL: Since our visit to New Hampshire's Campton Mountain, the ski area has been able to open, but not under the best conditions.

We have much more online for Science Wednesday, including a look at the challenges of making snow for resorts and pictures from our viewers who shared their own stories how snow shortages have affected their winter sports plans. 

Listen to the Audio

HARI SREENIVASAN:  Wall Street bounced back today.  Stocks rose after news that new home sales in January were the best since July of 2008.  The Dow Jones industrial average gained nearly 116 points to close at 13,900.  The Nasdaq rose 13 points to close at 3,129.  

J.P. Morgan Chase will cut some 4,000 jobs this year, about 1.5 percent of its work force.  The bank's announcement today said the reductions will come mainly through attrition, but there will be layoffs as well.  Meanwhile, profits at U.S. banks grew 37 percent from October through December, compared to a year ago.  It was the best fourth-quarter showing in six years.  

The second blizzard in a week paralyzed parts of the country from Oklahoma to the Great Lakes today. More than 100,000 homes and businesses lost power, and Kansas City declared an emergency. The storm had already battered the Texas Panhandle. Winds there reached hurricane-force, and piled drifts more than two feet high in some places.  

Negotiations on Iran's nuclear program restarted today for the first time in eight months.  The two-day talks opened in Kazakhstan. The U.S. and other world powers offered to ease some international sanctions, if Iran will limit activities that could lead to nuclear weapons. .  

MICHAEL MANN, Spokesman, European Union:  The offer addresses international concerns on the exclusively peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear program, but it's also responsive to Iranian ideas.  And we hope very much that Iran will seize this opportunity and come to the talks with flexibility and a commitment to make concrete progress towards a confidence-building step.  

HARI SREENIVASAN:  In response, Iran said it will make a counteroffer during the talks.   

In Egypt, at least 19 people were killed in one of the deadliest ballooning accidents ever.  A hot air balloon carrying tourists caught fire over the ancient city of Luxor and crashed in a field.  The dead were from Europe and Asia.  In addition, the Egyptian pilot and one British man were hospitalized with burns.  

Italy's politicians searched for a way forward today after an election that left a political stalemate.  That, in turn, generated new fears of economic fallout.  

We have a report from Jonathan Rugman of Independent Television News.  

JONATHAN RUGMAN:  The news from Rome has sent shockwaves across Europe, a rebellion against austerity, a rebellion, too, against their fossilized politicians.  
This man has upturned the old order: Beppe Grillo, a comedian, pitching a 20-hour working week, tax cuts and a referendum on the euro.  a clown-turned-potential-kingmaker here, after polling 25 percent of Italy's vote.  This taxi driver backed him.  "It was a protest vote," he told me.  "Grillo might be a comedian, but he can't be worse than what we have got."

The extraordinary success of Beppe Grillo's grassroots movement has taken Italy by complete surprise.  And if you're looking for a party headquarters for him here in Rome, well, you won't find one.  All there is, is this staff room in the basement of a Rome hotel.  

And if its politicians won't do the job, Italy is at risk of becoming ungovernable. The Milan stock market tumbled almost 5 percent today and any halt to economic reform here endangers the rest of the Eurozone. Germany's foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, now urging Italy to form a stable, functioning government and to do it quick.  

The center-left leader, Pier Luigi Bersani, says he will try to do that. He won the lower house of parliament. But whether he can now form a grand coalition to run the country is anyone's guess. And it could be political suicide to strike a deal with Silvio Berlusconi, who staged a political comeback from the dead last night and who today hinted at compromises for the sake of Italy.  

HARI SREENIVASAN:  Google and the government of Spain went before Europe's highest court in a privacy fight that could have far-reaching implications. The case involves whether Google can be forced to erase search results that people feel violate their privacy. The company says it shouldn't have to delete lawful content which it didn't create. A ruling is expected by the end of the year.  

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HARI SREENIVASAN:  A winter storm headed east today, after socking the Plains with snow, sleet and freezing rain.  It was already blamed for four deaths, flight disruptions and hundreds of road accidents.  The huge system was moving north and east, and losing some of its punch.  But it was still expected to make trouble in the Northeast and New England this weekend.

The sounds of snowblowers roaring to life and shovels scraping the driveway could be heard in state after state today.  Much of the nation's midsection spent the day digging out from under more than a foot of snow, and for drivers, it quickly turned into an icy nightmare.  The highly unsettled storm also brought lightning and thunder, but it was the snow falling at two inches an hour in places that caused the worst problems.

Kansas City Mayor Sly James said it was the pace that was hard to deal with.

MAYOR SLY JAMES, Kansas City, Mo.:  It fell fast.  It fell heavy and it fell at the wrong time.  You know, it started in the morning around rush hour, early rush hour, and just continued until about 2:00.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  The mayor said Kansas City's Main Streets had been cleared by midday, and crews worked on residential neighborhoods.  But, yesterday, it was a far different story.  This Kansas City bus couldn't navigate the drifting snow and fishtailed into a lamppost.  The snow came with strong winds that piled up large drifts.  And that, in turn, caused problems on the interstates.

MAN:  Man, it's kind of tough out here, even if you got a four-wheel drive.  I advise you to just stay in because everybody's getting stuck all over the place.  It's a mess out here.  I mean, it's really a mess out here.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  Crews worked through the night and into today in Missouri and Kansas to plow I-70; 200 miles of the highway in Kansas had been shut down as the storm blew through.

Today, as the system tracked north and east, it created more travel woes.  A United Airlines plane skidded off the runway in Cleveland in icy conditions.  No injuries were reported.

NATO defense ministers discussed plans today for keeping 8,000 to 12,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014.  That's when international combat forces are scheduled to withdraw.  Those remaining would focus mostly on training Afghan units.  In Brussels, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said it's unclear how many Americans would be part of that longer-term force.

DEFENSE SECRETARY LEON PANETTA, United States:  We want to be able to have the flexibility to look at a range of options that we ought to have for our enduring presence.  But I want to make very clear that the range of options we were discussing was with regards to the NATO force, and the NATO force consists of both a U.S. presence, plus NATO contributions.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  Some 66,000 U.S. troops are currently stationed in Afghanistan.

In Egypt, a general strike in the city of Port Said entered a sixth day, with major new protests.  Thousands of people rallied in the streets waving signs and chanting slogans demanding that President Mohammed Morsi step down.  They also denounced his call for new elections beginning in April.

AHMED AL-TOHAMY, Protester:  Morsi's call for parliamentary elections is null.  I want to give a message to Morsi, who is a representative of the Muslim Brotherhood group.  I want to tell him that Port Said is the one that will get rid of this regime.  We have started this revolution and we started our strike.  We do not fear them.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  One opposition leader, Mohamed ElBaradei, said holding elections amid the current upheaval is a recipe for disaster.  His group threatened a boycott of any vote unless Morsi first agrees to political talks.

The states of Texas and Georgia executed two men last night by lethal injection.  Carl Blue was put to death in Texas for dousing his girlfriend with gasoline and setting her on fire in 1994.  She died later.  And in Georgia, Andrew Allen Cook was executed for killing two college students in 1995.  A second death row inmate in Georgia had been scheduled to die this week, but his attorneys argued he is mentally disabled and they won a stay.

The Food and Drug Administration approved a first-of-its-kind breast cancer drug today.  The medication, named Kadcyla, attacks tumor cells without harming healthy ones.  Studies by the drug's maker, Roche, found it delays the progress of breast cancer by several months.  The FDA approved its use for patients with an advanced form of the disease that's more aggressive.

Wall Street closed out a volatile week with a big day.  The Dow Jones industrial average gained nearly 120 points to close just over 14,000, making up most of the lost ground of the last two days.  The Nasdaq rose 30 points to close well above 3,161.  For the week, the Dow gained a fraction of a percent.  The Nasdaq fell nearly 1 percent.

Those are some of the day's major stories -- now back to Judy.

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HARI SREENIVASAN: A new winter storm blasted its way across the nation's midsection today, bringing heavy snow, freezing rain and even thunder and lightning. Weather warnings and watches extended to at least 20 states, from New Mexico all the way to Virginia. In parts of Kansas and Colorado, the snow fell at a rate of more than two inches an hour. It caused whiteout conditions, shutting down highways, schools and some state legislatures. Forecasters said the system will push on to the Great Lakes and Appalachians, with a spinoff storm dumping heavy snow on New England.

The snowfall in the Plains brought some relief to the drought-stricken region, but not enough. In fact, government climate experts warned the drought is likely to continue through at least spring. Drought conditions are also expected to spread to California, Texas and Florida. Currently, just over half of the U.S. is affected by some form of drought, but that's down from last year.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO have agreed on principles for a key part of immigration reform: letting in more lower-skilled workers. The two groups called today for a new worker visa program that makes it easier to hire foreign workers when Americans are not available to fill those jobs. The principles also envision a federal bureau to track labor market needs and shortages.

The focus of the gun control debate shifted back to Connecticut today. Vice President Biden attended a conference in Danbury, just miles from Sandy Hook Elementary School, where 26 people were killed last December. Biden urged support for the administration's proposals to curb gun violence and he warned there is a moral price to pay for inaction.

VICE PRESIDENT JOSEPH BIDEN: The president is absolutely determined that the loudest voices will be for the voices of the people who lost their voice. They will be the loudest voices in this debate. We intend to speak for them. Enough is enough. We have an obligation to act. And we are taking that obligation seriously, responsibly, and we're acting expeditiously.

HARI SREENIVASAN: We will have more from our "After Newtown" series later in the program.

Gunfire erupted in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip before dawn today and when it was over, three people were dead and at least six injured. The shooting sent a Maserati crashing into a taxi, sending that car up in flames. Police said someone in a black Range Rover had opened fire on the Maserati near several major casinos. There was no word on a motive. Police in Nevada and neighboring Southern California were on the lookout for the Range Rover.

In Southern India, a double bombing killed at least a dozen and injured scores more. The targets were a movie theater and a bus station in Hyderabad, a city that's a major center for information technology. Indian authorities said the explosives were attached to bicycles that had been parked in a busy market. They were detonated minutes apart.

There were startling numbers today on this season's flu vaccine. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that among seniors, the vaccine works just nine percent of the time against the most common and virulent flu strain of the season. That's the one causing most of the illnesses this year. For all age groups, the vaccine has been about as effective as it has in previous years.

In economic news, first-time claims for unemployment benefits rose last week, signaling that the recovery is still moving slowly. The news put a damper on Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrial average lost nearly 47 points to close at 13,880. The Nasdaq fell almost 33 points to close at 3,131.

Those are some of the day's major stories.

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HARI SREENIVASAN: The Northeastern U.S. spent much of this Monday still digging out from Friday's blizzard, and utility crews kept working to restore power to some 150,000 customers. In some places, the snow was three feet deep and the work of snowblowing and shoveling was still going on three days after the storm hit.

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick was in Scituate today, and said most major highways were clear of snow.

GOV. DEVAL PATRICK, D-Mass. (D): Over the last day, crews have been out on all of the roads really trying to get down to the secondary roads -- I think that's true here in Scituate as well -- to make sure that they are passable and safe so that school can resume and people can come and go through their routines.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Many public schools throughout the region remained closed out of safety concerns. Overall, 15 deaths were blamed on the storm.

Wild weather was also to blame for damage across Mississippi on Sunday, this time including a tornado. A nearby resident captured the moment that a funnel cloud tore through the main street of Hattiesburg, Miss., damaging scores of buildings and homes. More than 60 people were treated for injuries, but no one was killed.

In Syria, rebels captured the country's largest dam today, as fighting raged nationwide. The seizure of the al-Furat dam in northern Syria was a coup for the opposition. It gave them control of much of the country's water and electricity supplies. Also today, a minibus exploded at a Syrian border crossing with Turkey, leaving at least 13 dead and dozens more injured.

Democrats in the U.S. Senate pushed back today against a threat to hold up two of President Obama's Cabinet nominees. The chair of the Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin, announced plans for a Tuesday vote on Chuck Hagel to be defense secretary. On Sunday, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham warned he might hold up Hagel and John Brennan, the choice for CIA director. Graham demanded more information on the U.S. Consulate attack in Benghazi, Libya.

Today, White House, spokesman Jay Carney rejected any delay.

JAY CARNEY, White House Spokeman: What is unfortunate here is the continuing attempt to politicize an issue, in this case through nominees that themselves had nothing to do with Benghazi, and to do so in a way that only does harm to our national security interest. Senator Hagel, Mr. Brennan, they need to be confirmed. They're highly qualified candidates for their posts.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Any effort to hold up the Hagel and Brennan nominations would wait until they reach the floor of the Senate.

Former U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Clinton Romesha received the nation's highest military decoration this afternoon, the Medal of Honor. On October 3, 2009, in Northeastern Afghanistan, he and 50 other Americans were attacked by 300 Taliban fighters at Combat Outpost Keating. He led a desperate daylong battle, despite being wounded, and killed at least 10 insurgents himself.

At the White House today, President Obama said Romesha risked his life to rescue the wounded and retrieve bodies.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Clint Romesha lives the soldier's creed: I will never leave a fallen comrade.

So he and his team started charging as enemy fire poured down, and they kept charging, 50 meters, 80 meters, ultimately 100-meter run through a hail of bullets. And they reached their fallen friends, and they brought them home.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Romesha is only the fourth living Medal of Honor recipient for actions in Iraq or Afghanistan.

On Wall Street today, trading was light and stocks drifted lower. The Dow Jones industrial average lost more than 21 points to close at 13,971. The Nasdaq fell a little less than two points to close at 3,192.

Those are some of the day's major stories -- now back to Ray.

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JEFFREY BROWN: Millions of people in the Northeast and New England battened down today for a weekend blizzard today. Forecasters warned it could be one for the record books.

By this afternoon, the gathering storm was beginning to whiten the landscape for hundreds of miles, with long hours of snowfall still to come. Fueling the fall, two low-pressure systems, one from the Midwest, the other from the Southeast, colliding over the Northeast and New England.

Blizzard warnings were posted in seven states from New Jersey on up to Maine. At least three declared emergencies, and schools closed in a number of cities. Forecasters predicted New England would get the worst of it, with up to three feet of snow likely in Boston.

Mayor Thomas Menino:

MAYOR THOMAS MENINO, D-Boston: This is a storm of major proportion. Stay off the roads. Stay home. Let the public works crews do their job.

JEFFREY BROWN: The region also braced for winds reaching 75 miles an hour that will pile up drifts and almost guarantee widespread power outages. As ever, the threat prompted shoppers to pack stores, stocking up on supplies.

SUSAN LICHTENSTEIN, Massachusetts: This is panic shopping, so bread, milk, a snow shovel in case our snow shovel breaks.

IAN WATSON, Massachusetts: You have got to plan ahead. A couple feet of snow would shut everything down and, who knows, it could be a couple of days, right?

JEFFREY BROWN: In New York City, predictions called for as much as a foot of snow, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city had marshalled an army of plows and salt trucks.

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, I-New York City: The Sanitation Department will deploy something like 1,700 snowplows and 65 front-end loaders. It also has 450 salt-spreaders already deployed.

JEFFREY BROWN: The storm also focused new concern on the New York and New Jersey shore areas still recovering from Hurricane Sandy. They faced the prospect of being flooded again.

MICHAEL BAILEY, New Jersey: We are trying to batten down the hatches here if any storms are coming. And the last one ruined us totally.

JEFFREY BROWN: And long before the worst hit, air travel was in a shambles. Well over 4,000 flights were canceled through Saturday, sending ripple effects across the country. The snow also halted Amtrak and some mass transit service in the Northeast.

And for more on what's expected tonight and this weekend, we turn to Bernie Rayno, a meteorologist with AccuWeather.

So, what is the latest on the track of the storm and expected snow amounts?

BERNIE RAYNO, AccuWeather: Well, I will tell you what.

The worst of this storm, as we have been pointing out all week, is going to be across Southern New England. Two storms, as you mentioned, and the first storm across the Midwest already producing quite a bit of snow across parts of New York State. But it's the second storm as it strengthens and moves north and northeast, we're already starting to get bands of heavy snow now across New England in toward Boston, Providence, Hartford, snowing in New York City.

And by tonight, this storm is really going to start intensifying here. And anywhere in this white, New York City, Providence, Boston -- Boston, right up the I-95 toward Bangor, Maine, this whole area is going to start seeing snowfall rates of one to two inches per hour.

We're going to see wind gusts between 50 and 60 miles per hour, and that's going to produce a lot of blowing and drifting snow, heaviest snow accumulations in the blue here across Southern New England anywhere from 18 to 24 inches, and there will be locations that pick up over two feet.

JEFFREY BROWN: So when you say two storms, what is it that causes a big one like this?

BERNIE RAYNO: Well, there's three ingredients. Number one, arctic air came in across Northern New England.

That was really the key out of anything. But then we have the storm system coming across the Pacific Northwest, came across the Midwest. That added energy. And it's that southern storm, though, that added something that we have seen in the last week, Gulf moisture, arctic air, Gulf moisture, and that energy coming in from the west all funneling into one area, Jeff, Southern New England.

JEFFREY BROWN: So, Bernie, when you talk about particular areas of concern, of course, a lot of people looking at the areas that were hit by -- well, devastated by Sandy, for example. What about those areas?

BERNIE RAYNO: Well, those areas, they are going to have problems tonight because there's going to be strong gusty winds along the Jersey coast.

We are going to get coastal flooding and beach erosion, mostly from Long Island all the way up toward Cape Cod and into coastal Maine. But across New Jersey, Long Island, Long Beach Island on north, there is going to be about three to six inches of snow, strong gusty winds, but really this storm will target Southern New England, Boston, Providence and Hartford.

So for the areas New York City on south, it is a formidable storm, about six to 10 inches around New York City, but the worst of this storm right up here in Boston and New England, and it could be historic.

JEFFREY BROWN: Well, historic. We talk about -- we use that word, we throw that around a bit. How historic? How does this compare to other storms that you have covered?

BERNIE RAYNO: Well, if you take a look at the all-time snow records for Boston, by the way, it's 27.6 inches of snow back in February of 2003. That is a possibility.

It may run just short, but that is a possibility. They can break that -- Providence, 28.6 inches, we could get awfully close to that. Portland may get closer to 27 inches here. So this is a storm that I think for many locations in Southern New England will be a top five storm as far as snowfall production.

But let's remember we have that wind tonight. And this has already shut down travel. And it will shut down travel across Southern New England. You're going to see lots of wild weather tonight, Boston, Providence, Hartford. You are going to see snowfall rates of one to three inches per hour, all kind of blowing snow, whiteouts, and you're going to thunder and lightning as well. That is the kind of storm this is.

JEFFREY BROWN: Bernie Rayno of AccuWeather, thanks so much.

JUDY WOODRUFF: We have gathered photos of the snowstorm that you have posted on social media. Find that collection on our website.