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CNN NEWSROOM

At Least Nine Deal After Tornadoes Hit Oklahoma; Eight to Eleven Inches of Rain Drenches Oklahoma City; Teen Daughter Stabbed to Death by Her Friends

Aired June 1, 2013 - 16:59   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thank you very much, Miguel Marquez. Always a pleasure to see you. I wish I was in studio, but I am here in New York.

This is CNN NEWSROOM.

We're going to begin with that developing story that's happening now in Oklahoma and across the Midwest. Recovery efforts under way again across the Midwest at this hour. It's hard to believe that more tornadoes could hit Oklahoma and surrounding areas, but that's exactly what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Horizontal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Oh, man. We are getting far too used to seeing these scenes. It is an almost common sight near Oklahoma City in recent days. If a sight so terrifying can ever be considered common. That was the scene yesterday near El Reno, 25 miles west of Oklahoma City.

You heard from one of those storm chasers there with Miguel just a short time ago when storm chasers captured this video, it's near Union City as a when a tornado crossed right next to them, destroying a barn, debris as you can see colliding with that vehicle, really hitting it quite hard.

At least nine people around the state were killed in this latest outbreak. More than 100 were injured. And in all 17 tornadoes were reported across the Midwest, knocking out power and causing major flooding as well. We've got complete coverage of these storms for you. Every single angle.

Our Ed Lavandera is in Union City, Oklahoma, there is Mr. Chad Myers who has been stationed there really for a week now, he's in Oklahoma City. And Tom Sater is standing by in the CNN Sever Weather Center. He's going to be checking in all of this. We'll going to get to all of you in just a moment. So, please stand by. We showed you video of that twister near Union City, Oklahoma in another and another community outside Oklahoma City. It took one of the hardest hits in yesterday's storm.

So now, we go to CNN's Ed Lavandera. He is there. Ed, what are you seeing there now?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's been almost 24 hours, Don. And what we're seeing now is residence and it's, you know, not a cloud in the sky today. And temperatures have cooled off. Not as muggy. So, from that standpoint it's actually pretty good news, considering the kind of work that a lot of these people have to do. You look at the pocket of the neighborhood that we're in right here, you see family and friends showing up with trucks and trailers.

And the process here, Don, simply just beginning, going through the mangled homes, the destroyed homes, and picking up from the rubble whatever you can salvage. And you want to get that away as quickly as you can get to a safer place. And that's what we're seeing repeatedly. You know, we've talked to several residents, Don, what we keep hearing over and over again. Many people who have lived here in Oklahoma for decades are used to tornado season. Understand what it's all about.

And many of them are saying that this is a tornado season for the ages, one that they do not recall ever experiencing before. The man who lives in this home, we were speaking to earlier. Believe it or not, he moved here two years ago. There was a tornado just about 15, 20 miles away in the town of piedmont. His home was partially destroyed there. He moved to this house. And now, look at it. Again, two years later, cleaning up the pieces again. And that is the devastating toll that these storms have. This is a much more rural area compared to what the stretch, the 17-mile path of destruction that that tornado carved in Moore.

So, from that standpoint, not as clustered. Not as clustered neighborhoods that you see. It's much more widespread. But this is a pocket of homes here just off near Interstate 40, west of Oklahoma City that was damaged. But it was on the ground for quite a while. People saw it coming and, fortunately, no one in this area was injured or hurt as far as we've been able to tell here today -- Don.

LEMON: Oh, boy. So, listen, Ed, as I was watching last night, I'm sure many people transfixed on this going, saying my goodness, how could this be happening again? And what was concerning for people watching, and for the emergency workers and for the meteorologist, that so many people appeared to have been stuck in their cars when these storms hit. Why is that? What happened this time?

LAVANDERA: You know, I found that strange when I was watching that yesterday. One of the fastest -- one of the basic rules of tornadoes, the last place you want to be is in your car. I've been asking a lot of people, what exactly was going on in the roadways? Interstate 40 is just about a couple of miles up the way there. What I've heard from people is that it's been a combination of a couple of things, Friday afternoon, end of the week traffic. So, you've got, you know, normal traffic jam. Interstate 40 is an interstate that usually you find a lot of 18 wheelers on trucks moving, you know, heavy cargo, and that sort of thing. So, a combination of all that.

And then everything started falling apart. The trucks were getting blown over. So, essentially, it was just a log jam. And people in many cases were simply trapped there on the interstate. But then there was also a mix of people trying to drive out of the storm's path which is also a very, you know, dangerous situation to get yourself into as well. So, that's what kind of the combination of what we've been able to piece together so far -- Don.

LEMON: Oh my gosh! And Ed, look at all that rubble behind you. It is unbelievable these people suffering through that again. And the threat is not over yet. So, stand by, we'll going to get back to you for sure.

Meantime in the Midwest, not out of the woods yet. Not quite yet. People living in tornado-battered neighborhoods from Oklahoma, all the way in Missouri and beyond are keeping a close eye on rising floodwaters. Storms have already brought eight to 11 inches of rain to Oklahoma City, the rain soaked ground created a huge, single -- look at that. Causing a stretch of the road to collapse. That is ginormous.

In Missouri, portions of more than 200 roads are closed due to that flooding. Let's go to Arkansas now. The search continues for three people missing after a high water rescue attempt yesterday. Officers were trying to save two women from a flooded home when the women and one officer disappeared. A fourth person, Scott County Sheriff Cody Carpenter was swept away in the swift-moving water and sadly drowned.

You know, there's even more rain on the way from Southern Texas to Ohio. The severe weather threat continues today. Chad Myers now in Oklahoma City. My goodness, Chad. I mean, this is horrible. Some areas have already had nearly a foot of rain already.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The rain is done for here, thank goodness. But the front that's going to make the rain, Don, has slid off to the east by about 250 miles. So, today is an absolutely beautiful day. Today, we put sunscreen on. Because it's just going to be sunny all day. Humidity is gone other than what's evaporating from the ground because of the floodwaters. Take a look behind me. Showed you that sink hole from the sky. This is what's like from the ground. Equally impressive. Two big pipes going across that sink hole, one was natural gas, the other water. Those are now shut off.

For a while, some crude was leaking into the river as well. But that's now been shut off. This all happened because below, where you see that washout, used to be a culvert, a big pipe where water would just to go through when it rained a normal rain. This was not a normal rain. Hundred and ninety five people just south of me had to be rescued by high water rescue vehicles and also by boats overnight because this water came up so very fast. Fifteen people decided not to leave, by the way. They're still in there. Pretty much stuck in there.

And then the -- collapse and the water washed it all out. The water has been washing this dirt away all day long. The water is coming down. What we got here about five hours ago, the water was going over the roadway in a big waterfall. It looked like Niagara Falls out there. So, the water has coming down a little bit. Dirt is still getting washed away at this point. And they have no idea when they can get this all fixed. Obviously, they're going to try to re-open the roadways. This is a main artery, highway 62, from about Hera (ph) to Beaker all the way back into Oklahoma City.

There's a lot of traffic that will go through here on a Monday. Right now, there's no traffic whatsoever. They don't know when this roadway may be usable again. They may even open up just a couple of lanes on the side away from the sinkhole just to try to get traffic flowing. Because right now this is a big bottleneck.

LEMON: Let's talk about other concerns, threats facing people there. I mean, what's the biggest concern right now for the people of Oklahoma? Is it the threat of more bad weather? Is it flooding? Is it that they don't have water, electricity or all of the above?

MYERS: Kind of all of the above. I mean, 90,000 people this morning last time I look still without power and that was just scattered around like 1,000 in this county, 2,000 in this county. This wasn't a Moore day where this bulldozer roared through one big town. And that's why it's hard to find damage. This was just spotty damage like everywhere. People lost shingles all over the place, people lost power lines, power poles are down all over. So, this widespread damage is going to be harder to pick up because you're going to have to put so many power lines back up. I think the biggest threat today is you driving into floodwaters.

That's going to be the bigger threat tonight because you don't know how deep that water is because it's dark. Let me tell you, Don. We drove around about 3:00 in the morning last night looking for damage. When it gets dark in Oklahoma, when there's no lights, it gets dark. It's not New York dark. It's black dark.

LEMON: Yes.

MYERS: You can't see anything. Don't be driving around after dark tonight.

LEMON: Yes. And it was dark last night. We couldn't see all the damage and woke up just even more damage. It's horrific. Chad, you've been doing great work, you've been on this for an entire week. And of course, we'll be using you throughout the evening here on CNN. So, Chad Myers, please stand by as well. Chad is in Oklahoma City. We're getting remarkable pictures from inside these storms allowing us to see how they form, how they develop.

So, Tom Sater is in the CNN Severe Weather Center down in Atlanta. So, Tom, where do chasers go? I can't believe these guys even go out and do this anyway. I mean, they have more nerve than -- do, where do they go to get the best pictures?

TOM SATER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's a great question. And let me start by saying this, Don. We need storm chasers, there's no doubt. Radars as we know about can tell us about rainfall and hail. They can show us debris circulation. But it's the visual observation by a storm chaser that actually tells us the circulation, this funnel cloud has touched the ground to become a tornado. They not only give us the visual observation, they can tell us how wide it is, what direction it's moving, what intersection it's in, what community could be affected next.

The problem is there's getting to be only, almost too many of them. These are dirt roads, country farm roads that get, you know, weighted down with heavy rainfall. They'd become money, they can get stock and they can cause jams when they're trying to get back of the way. We'll come back in this video in a moment. But as you all know, watching Chad Myers or other meteorologists here at CNN, this is your radar image. OK?

This is our reflectivity, even on local levels, you've heard of the hook echo. And this is what we watched. This is El Reno here. This is to the south. We could see that, they don't really want to get positioned in this area where they'll going to get to heavy rain or not going to have a good observation. Then you get into the hail core. They don't want that. We've seen too many windshields shattered.

What they want to stay away from and many times the radar will show us debris. And it's call the debris ball. They want to stay down here in the clear, staying to the southeast, getting a visual, watching it move off toward the east-northeast. But they want to stay away from this area here. This enhanced V. Many storm chasers give the term the bear trap to this. And you got to stay out of the bear trap. And the video shows it best. And I believe, we'll going to talk to these storm chasers that you see in the debris hitting them.

The tornado is well off to the left of their screen. This is the in- flow valve, this is the suction, the storm is inhaling. So, they were caught most likely in this bear trap. And we'll going to hear firsthand from them coming up in just a little bit. But again, a dangerous situation. We obviously need them but there may be just too many on the roads these days -- Don.

LEMON: All right. Tom, thank you very much. We really appreciate it. Most of us seek shelter when tornado warnings are posted. But I want you to take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: No, no, go south! If you don't go south, we're going to die!

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Are you OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, you've been --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Duck down! Duck down! Duck down!

(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: Yes, you better believe duck down, duck down. You've been hearing, speaking to the storm chasers, talking about them. Tom Sater talked about them. Chad Myers as well. Guys will chase storms for a living. They'll join us live later this hour.

Some sad news to report to you. We have some breaking news here on CNN. And it's certainly saddened all of us. It hit our hearts hard here. One of the endearing TV characters of the 1970s has died.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(JEAN STAPLETON AND CARROLL O'CONNOR SINGING)

Boy, the way Glenn Miller played songs that made the hit parade guys like us we had it made those were the days

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: My entire family used to sit around in the '70s and wait for this show. We couldn't wait for this show to come on. Millions waited for that familiar Friday night theme to "All In The Family." Jean Stapleton who played, as a character, the ditsy wife Edith Bunker to the shows main character Archie Bunker, has died. She was 90 years old. The family says she died of natural causes at her home in New York City. But her character lives on in reruns. Of her many stage and film credits, her role in "All In The Family" is one of her most well-known. And we're all going to remember that. And yet in 1994, she told our very own Larry King something surprising.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KING, CNN ANCHOR: When you walk by the screen and "All In The Family" is on, do you watch?

JEAN STAPLETON, JANUARY 1923-MAY, 2013: No. I've seen, of course, seen them all and watched them carefully after we did them. But, no. I linger for a minute or two and I think, why? That's very good. But I don't watch it because I don't want it ever to creep in to anything else I'm doing, you know?

KING: And you had her down, right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Jean Stapleton will be missed. We're all going to miss you. Our very own Larry King is going to join us at 7:00 pm Eastern here on CNN. What a national treasure we have lost. Jean Stapleton, dead at the age of 90.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. Welcome back, everyone. The IRS already in the hot seat for targeting conservative groups facing a new round of scrutiny. This time over a dance video using your tax money. You've got to see it for yourself. Here it is. It's this tongue in cheek video made by IRS employees. It shows them learning how to do "The Cupid Shuffle" in preparation for a supposed dance competition.

Athena Jones now at the White House with more on this. Obviously, they're not great dancers. Probably not a good move for them to do this. So, Athena, what was this video for?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Don. Well, the video was for a 2010 conference of IRS employees that was held in Anaheim, California. And while it's a little funny to watch, it definitely raised some eyebrows at the IRS and we learned this video was going to be one of many things spotlighted in a report coming out on Tuesday by the IRS's inspector general, that report is looking into wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars at IRS conferences. And so, the IRS has responded to this video, of course the video from 2010, but it was newly obtained by us at CNN. Here's what the IRS said in their statement, this video produced for a 2010 IRS conference was unacceptable and an inappropriate use of government funds.

The IRS and the government as a whole now have strict new policies and procedures in place to ensure that taxpayer funds are being used appropriately. And so, next week we have that report coming out. And we also have three hearings dealing with IRS issues. Thursday is the hearing that we'll be talking about this report. The inspector general is expected to testify that day -- Don.

LEMON: So, Athena, as you recall, I'm sure, this isn't the first video. Remember, we were talking about -- we talked about the star trek parody and I think there was also one about Gilligan's island as well. So, this is -- they should have known better.

JONES: That's right, this isn't the first video. And, you know, this video, "The Cupid Shuffle" dance video, training video, I should say, costs about $1,600, which is really a drop in the bucket compared to the price of those other three videos you mentioned, the Star Trek video and the Gilligan's Island spoof. Those cost $60,000 to produce that pair of videos. So, it's a lot of money, drawing a lot of questions and we expect to get some answers next week on Capitol Hill on these hearings -- Don.

LEMON: All right. Athena Jones at the White House. Thank you very much. We appreciate that. Hey, coming up here on CNN. Eight people jailed after a riot breaks out, after a kindergarten graduation?

We'll have that. But first this, when a shopping mall goes up, more than likely the wooded area around the center goes down. Not only does, this story wildlife habituation often injures animals. That's when this week's CNN hero comes to the rescue.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MONA RUTGER, CNN HERO: In this fast-paced world, we do forget that we are animals, and part of the natural world.

This is a beautiful, female bald eagle.

Humans, we are wildlife's worst enemy in many, many ways.

She had been clipped by a small jet. We don't want her to live in a cage. We want her to get back out there in the wild.

I'm Mona Rutger. I rescue, rehabilitate and release injured wildlife back into their natural habitat.

I think we can get her fixed up and back out there.

When I started this center, I thought it was going to get 25, 30 animals a year. Once people found out, the phone never stopped ringing.

This Cooper's hawk is ready to go.

It is all-consuming, but I'm doing something I love.

One ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALES AND FEMALES: ...two, three, be free!

RUTGER: With an injured animal, everyone says, let nature take its course, but 90 percent of these animals' injuries, they're human- related. That's not nature. It is us.

We need to become more responsible caretakers of the earth. Each animal has a role to play in the food chain. If just one link breaks, the whole chain falls apart.

This is a big day for these little baby ducks.

We've successfully released thousands of animals back to the wild. It's the same thrill every single time.

Whoa!

We're counting on the children to do a better job than we have in the past.

Where do wild animals really belong?

UNIDENTIFIED MALES AND FEMALES: In the wild!

RUTGER: In the wild.

I desperately want them to feel the excitement that I find in nature. We can make a difference.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: A second man now facing murder charges in the grisly death of a British soldier 10 days ago. Police said, already charged Michael Adebolajo with the attempted murder of two officers as they tried to arrest him. So, from video shows Adebolajo and the other attacker hacking to death Lee Rigby on a downtown London Street.

Remember Joran van der Sloot? Well, he admitted to killing a woman in Lima for two or three years ago. And he is still a suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway. Now he is getting married in prison in Peru. For now, Van der Sloot's future wife, a Peruvian woman is still mystery. We know he met her while she visited someone else in prison.

Standby for details on that, of course.

In Cleveland, police had to break up a near riot after an elementary school graduation yesterday. Police arrested six adults and two teens and took them all to jail. Police don't know what started that fight.

A West Virginia teen disappears. Now police realize suspects have been under their noses the entire time. The story is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: I know it sounds like a cliche. It's really not. This really is every parent's worst nightmare. In July of 2012, 16-year-old Skylar Neese, Neese sneaked out his West Virginia home to just hang out with some friends, he climbed out of her window and got into their car. She was never seen again.

But six months later, the story took a gruesome turn, two of her best friends told police they stabbed Skylar to death.

CNN's Randi Kaye sat down with her grieving father.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Skylar Neese was a straight A student, a 10th grader at University High School in Star City, West Virginia. She loved spending time with her dog and played the flute in the band. Skylar's father says she had dreams of going to law school.

DAVE NEESE, SKYLAR NEESE'S FATHER: She wanted to be a lawyer and to hear her argue, she could have been a very good lawyer.

KAYE: But Skylar's story took a tragic turn July 6 last year when she disappeared.

NEESE: She got home at 10:00. She got home from work, came in and said I love you, mom, I love you, dad, and she went to her room and we never seen her again.

KAYE: Skylar's father realized the next day something was wrong when he found Skylar's bed empty.

(on camera): When she first disappeared, what did you think had happened?

NEESE: She had run away. You know, if she had run away, she would have took her cell phone charger and hair curler and all the other stuff kids take. That's pure hell because you don't know where your baby is, you don't know what has happened.

KAYE (voice-over): An open window in Skylar's bedroom offered a clue.

NEESE: Here's the one she went out of that evening. She used that black stool over there and put it at the bottom of the window, left the window open about that much when she crawled out.

KAYE (on camera): Investigators pulled the security camera video from Skylar's apartment building and saw her jumping into a car parked near her window. That seems to make sense, considering Skylar's best friend, a 16-year-old classmate, had told Skylar's father that she and another girl and Skylar had gone joyriding that night. Trouble is, that girl said they picked up Skylar around 11:00 p.m., the security camera video shows Skylar getting into the car much later than that, around 12:30 a.m.

(voice-over): That timeline only added to the intrigue. So for months, investigators tried to piece together clues, friends of Skylar's rallied together to comfort the family. They hung missing posters. There were hundreds of leads, but nothing panned out. Then in January, six months after Skylar disappeared, a stunning admission. The 16-year-old Rachel Shoaf, seen here in this picture from "The Examiner" smiling along with her friend, Skylar, admitted she killed her, but she said she did not do it alone.

KAYE (on camera): Rachel Shoaf told investigators she and another classmate who is 16 lured Skylar out of her bedroom that night and into their car.

She said they then drove her here, to this spot in rural Pennsylvania, about 30 minutes away, and then, just as they planned, the two girls attacked her, stabbing Skylar to death. Rachel Shoaf told investigators they were going to bury Skylar, but when they couldn't, they left her body here on the side of the road and covered it in branches.

KAYE (voice-over): The other girl's name hasn't been made public since she's charged as a juvenile, but Skylar's father says she is the same girl who told him she picked up his daughter for a joyride. Investigators searched that girl's car after Rachel Shoaf's confession and found Skylar's blood.

KAYE (on camera): What was your daughter's friendship like with these two girls? How close were they?

DAVE NEESE, SKYLAR'S FATHER: Inseparable. They were together all the time, especially the one that hasn't been named yet. She had just got back from vacation with her a week before this. She had been best friends with her since she was 8 years old. I mean, it's sick.

KAYE (voice-over): And remember those friends who helped and comforted the family? It's almost beyond comprehension, but Dave Neese says one of them was the unnamed alleged killer.

NEESE: She was finding out from us every week exactly what the cops knew because they were telling us what they knew. Of course, we were telling her because we thought she was so upset and missed Skylar so much, and to find out she murdered her, it makes me sick. KAYE (voice-over): And it's not just their behavior that's so troubling. Rachel Shoaf actually left for church camp the day after the murder. Her family issued a statement to Skylar's parents.

It reads in part, "We are at a loss for words to comfort your pain. We were shocked to learn of our daughter's involvement in Skylar's death. We know her actions are unforgivable and inexcusable."

So why did they do it? Why kill Skylar? The reason Rachel's given is simple and sickening.

NEESE: Because they didn't want to be friends with her anymore, which is sick, you know, if you don't want to be friends with somebody, leave them alone, but don't murder them.

KAYE (on camera): What do you want to say to these two girls?

NEESE: Rot in hell. How's that? Because that's exactly what I want them to do. I want them to go through the pain and agony my daughter went through. I want them to have no life because Skylar doesn't have one.

KAYE: Sixteen-year-old Rachel Shoaf had been charged with first degree murder. But after leading authorities to Skylar's body in the woods, she entered a guilty plea to second degree murder as part of a plea deal, though she still stands to spend the next 40 years in prison.

As far as the other unnamed girl, she's been charged as a juvenile with first degree murder. A judge will decide if she does want to charge her as an adult. There is no word on whether a plea deal is in the works for her, either -- Randi Kaye, CNN, Star City, West Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Randi, thank you very much.

Straight now to criminal defense attorney Holly Hughes from Atlanta.

Holly, what a sad story. One of the suspects, Rachel Shoaf, is being named. She has confessed to the crime.

Do you think that's going to help her case?

HOLLY HUGHES, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, since she has already worked out a plea deal, I would say they took it into consideration, Don, because something as brutal as this, if you listen to what she told authorities, she said, we didn't want to be friends with her, so we planned on this killing. This is a premeditated first degree murder.

They took a knife with them. They lured this beautiful little girl out of her house, took her out and just stabbed her multiple times. So I would say the fact that she did sort of man up, as we say, and confess to it is probably what played into her getting the second degree murder plea deal.

LEMON: So, Holly, the other friend, who is 16 and is not being named, is being charged as a juvenile.

HUGHES: Right.

LEMON: Do you think that will change?

HUGHES: I do think --

LEMON: They are going to charge her as an adult?

HUGHES: I do think it will change because the other one has already confessed. So she has flat out put the 16-year old into it. She has gone to authorities and said, yes, my friend was part and parcel of this. And if you listen to poor Skylar's dad, he said that is the same friend, the 16-year old who's currently a juvenile, who lured her out, who said, oh, yes, she came out and got into my car.

I think a judge is going to hold a hearing on this. And I think they will be charging her as an adult. Don, if you think about it, we've seen cases where they have charged 12-year olds as adults with first degree murder.

So I think after that hearing down in Juvenile Court we're going to see this case removed to adult court and she'll have to deal with it there.

LEMON: We'll be watching. Holly Hughes, appreciate you. Thank you again. Thanks so much.

HUGHES: Thanks, Don.

LEMON: When a tornado touches down, storm chasers risk their lives to bring us images like this.

But we're wondering, are they sometimes getting a little too close for comfort? That's next.

But first this. The housing market is getting hot again. Want to cash in on the recovery without even buying a house? Here's CNN's Christine Romans with this week's "Smart is the New Rich."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Home prices are rising. Demand is back. But it's not just home buyers and sellers who are cashing in.

When you buy a house or build a house, you're fueling an entire industry and creating opportunities for investing, and not just into real estate itself. Shares of Home Depot, Lowe's, Williams-Sonoma and Sherwin-Williams, all up more than 20 percent this year.

But when stock charts look like this, is it too late to get in? Maybe. But there are other places to cash in. STEPHEN LEEB, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, LEEB CAPITAL MANAGEMENT: If you own a home, it's a near certainty that you have a car. When people buy houses, they buy cars. Now the car industry has been doing very well lately. But there's still room, I think, for further growth. They're not expensive stocks.

ROMANS (voice-over): Making stocks like Ford, GM, Honda and Toyota more attractive.

There are also tiny components in your house.

SARAT SETHI, MANAGING DIRECTOR, DOUGLAS C. LANE & ASSOCIATES: Companies that make the chips, the microcontrollers that go into dishwashers, into washing machines, into garage door openers, a company like Microchip which makes those has a good 4 percent dividend yield, has global exposure and especially when housing improves, they're going to start doing even better because more products are being brought into the house.

ROMANS (voice-over): Also ripe for the picking? Supermarkets.

LEEB: As home ownership becomes bigger and more prevalent and grows, I think you'll see people eating in more. Any grocery chain is likely to benefit.

ROMANS (voice-over): Leeb likes Walmart and Whole Foods. So if you don't want to buy a house, but you want to buy into housing, that's how -- Christine Romans, CNN, New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Tornadoes bash the Midwest. We've been showing you that. And hardest hit again, and it's hard to believe, it is Oklahoma, right there at the center of it all. Nine people killed, including two children. More than 100 people injured.

This time, flooding is a major concern; up to 11 inches of rain pounded the area. And I want you to take a look at that. Entire neighborhoods submerged in Oklahoma City. Goodness.

Would you drive straight into a swarm of tornadoes? That's what professional storm chasers do.

This is unbelievable. It's a shot outside Union City, Oklahoma, by Brandon Sullivan and his team. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRANDON SULLIVAN, STORM CHASER: Brett, turn the car around! Let's get ready!

Brett, go! Quick!

Fast as you can!

It's on the right. Go! UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are we OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get down! Duck down, duck down!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: My goodness. Think you had a hard day at the office with everything coming at you? Not like that, literally. Smashed windshields, debris flying everywhere, obviously it's pretty scary stuff.

Let's talk to storm chaser Brett Wright; he joins me on the phone. Storm chaser Reed Timmer also on the phone; he'll be there shortly, he is in Union City, as soon as we can get him. And our very own Chad Myers, Oklahoma City, here, too.

Chad, first I want to go to Brett. And then I'll go to Chad.

Brett, what was it that broke the window? Was that a piece of a barn? What was that?

BRETT WRIGHT, STORM CHASER: Yes. It was a piece of sheet metal from the barn that was flying off and hit the windshield.

LEMON: OK.

And then was that a car? What was that that hit the windshield again? What was --

WRIGHT: Well, other than the sheet metal, there was a hay bale and they weigh --

LEMON: That's what it was.

WRIGHT: -- 2,000 pounds and it was rolling and it hit the car.

LEMON: OK. So as you were going through, I thought, was like, was that a car, is that a hay bale? It was huge.

To our Chad Myers, Chad, you've been chasing this storm yourself. These guys literally put their lives at risk. You can hear the other guy there, going, "Brett, go; Brett, go! Get out of the way."

As much as they put their lives at risk, we really do learn from this video. And we need it.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, sure. There are chasers out there for universities, there are chasers out there for professional societies and there are chasers out there chasing to help the National Weather Service put out warnings in time.

But there are also chasers out there that are just kind of out there kind of looking, because it's pretty cool to look.

But this was a very tough storm to chase because of the way it moved. Most storms will chase to the northeast. You'll just park yourself on the southeast of the cell. You'll look right up into what we call the bear cage. You can see the tornado on the ground. It will move away. You'll drive a little bit farther to the east. It will move away and you'll just kind of follow it all the way.

This storm did a completely opposite thing, it was turning to the right, it was moving to the south, moving right into the path of where we all were. We got chased about 100 -- well, not 100; maybe 75 miles to the south as one after another after another storm developed on the south side of this one supercell.

This was a very tough day yesterday. And people did get hurt yesterday, Don.

LEMON: Yes. OK. So, Chad, I understand we've got Reed on the phone now.

Reed, we've got you, we've got Brett and we have our Chad Myers.

Is that you in the video saying, "Brett, go as fast as you can, get out of the way, come on. Move it."

Was that you?

REED TIMMER, STORM CHASER: No. That's not our vehicle. Our video is of the suction vortices. So we have the armored vehicle. And then typically, those tornadoes will make a left-hand turn when they start to mature and occlude. And that's when they get most dangerous. So we're waiting north of it, watching for that, watching the clear spot.

And no, we didn't put ourselves in that dangerous (inaudible) position. But we do have our armored vehicle, if that did happen, but we felt in complete control of the situation. And we had chased tornadoes for over a decade, and we were just waiting for that northward turn. And when we saw that happen, we stopped and then watched it cross right in front of us.

But we were on it earlier on, when it had the suction vortices in the middle of the field and they were in violent motion underneath it. But, no, that vehicle that got hit by the hay bale and blew their windshield out, I mean, that's what going to get storm chasers killed.

So I hope that people learn from Brandon and those guys, because that's very dangerous. And they're in a regular vehicle, too, not even an armored vehicle. And you should definitely not drive into a northward turning violent tornado like that.

LEMON: OK. So let's get back to Brett.

So, Brett, you're the one. Are you the one driving in this video?

WRIGHT: Yes.

LEMON: Yes, OK.

So your partner there, who is your partner with you that's screaming?

WRIGHT: Brandon Sullivan.

LEMON: OK. So Brandon is screaming, Brett, let's go. I mean, you're under an incredible amount of pressure as he's trying to shoot this video, to get them out of harm's way.

What's going through your head when you're doing this and he is screaming at you and you got the tornado coming at you and right in front of you?

WRIGHT: Well, it's a life-threatening situation. And I just tried to stay as cool as I can. And I knew (inaudible) that I go south, I'm in better position to get a way out of the path of the tornado. So I just tried to drive as hard as I could south.

LEMON: Yes. And so as you're driving there, too, we also see -- I think it looks like a station wagon that comes up alongside of you. And it looks like it runs off the road or it gets pushed by the wind.

Do you know what I'm talking about?

WRIGHT: Yes.

LEMON: Yes. So what happened with that car? I mean, what was going on here?

Were there other cars on the road? And were they getting pushed around as well?

WRIGHT: Yes. There was a few cars in front of us. And they ended up turning. And the car behind us flew up -- either got pushed by winds or he was coming up too fast. But either way, he ended up missing us in the ditch and ended up getting some air. But they were OK.

LEMON: Chad Myers, obviously, these young men are brave or, quite frankly, as my mom would say, they're incredibly brave or incredibly crazy, maybe a combination of both. And I don't mean that in a mean way.

But sometimes how close is too close?

MYERS: Oh, you know, I would say a mile is too close. But his was a very big tornado. It also had erratic movement.

We were well away from it. We had fantastic pictures from seven miles away. We had a very long lens; we were in a very good spot. But the storm, as we expected it to move to our north, started to move to our south. So we had to break down, move off to the east and then turn south again to get on the correct side of the storm.

I believe that first storm that Reed was talking about kind of dissipated and then a new suction vortice (sic), a new tornado formed east of it, almost like hyper jumped to the east, because all of a sudden, we were -- we should have been 10 miles ahead of it and it was only a mile behind us.

And it was like where did that -- how did that move so fast? These things were moving very slow for a while.

This was just a difficult day. People did get in the way. And there was a lot of traffic out there, too. There were a lot of chasers. People couldn't get out of the way. The roads were blocked by chasers on both sides. You'd try to squeeze in between. It was a slow day. And these storms at that point in time weren't moving slow.

LEMON: Yes.

Chad, as we leave this video, if we just could put that video up a little bit, I have a quick question and we have to go.

Reed and Brett, first you, Reed, are you going to do it again?

TIMMER: Yes. A lot of times when the tornadoes mature, as the Greensburg tornado, there's Manchester, June 24th, 2003, there's the one that hit Cleburne the other day. When these tornadoes mature, they'll make a left-hand turn and you'll get the National Weather Service damage (inaudible) where all the (inaudible) down the path --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Hey, Reed, can you hear me?

TIMMER: Yes, I can hear you.

LEMON: You're cutting out. Just a quick answer to my question. You're going to do it again, right?

TIMMER: OK.

LEMON: Are you doing it again?

TIMMER: I can hear you.

Can you hear me now?

LEMON: Yes, I can hear you.

Brett, you would risk your life again to do this?

WRIGHT: Me? Most definitely. I love chasing tornadoes and I will continue doing it as long as I can.

LEMON: Yes. Obviously, Reed has a little trouble there. We want you guys to be as safe as possible. We appreciate your bravery. Thank you again. Please be safe out there.

And thanks to Chad Myers as well.

We are going to move on now and talk about the loss of a national icon, a national treasure, and that is Jean Stapleton. And she was a very accomplished actor, a very accomplished actress, but the role we remember her most for is that of Edith Bunker, the iconic Edith Bunker.

Jean Stapleton, dead at the age of 90. We will talk about that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: One of the most endearing TV characters of the 1970s has died.

(MUSIC PLAYING, "ALL IN THE FAMILY" OPENING THEME)

LEMON (voice-over): Listen, that was one of the most critically acclaimed television shows ever, one of the highest rated television shows ever, for those of us who are old enough to remember that, millions of us would wait for that familiar Friday night theme to "All in the Family."

That's because we wanted to see Jean Stapleton, one of the characters there, who played the ditzy wife, Edith, of the show's main character, Archie Bunker. Well, Jean Stapleton has died. She was 90 years old. And the family says she died of natural causes at her home in New York City, but her character lives on, of course, in reruns.

It is easy to forget that Stapleton was an accomplished film and stage actress. She appeared on our "Larry King Live" in 1986 and talked about that. She went on "Larry King" after returning to Broadway in "Arsenic and Old Lace."

JEAN STAPLETON, ACTRESS: I tell you, it's the most rewarding experience every single night to hear that laughter and to respond to it as an actor, it's marvelous, just a wonderful experience.

LARRY KING, TV HOST: The play holds up?

STAPLETON: It certainly does. It's a very funny play. And it's well crafted, it's tight. And we have a wonderful cast. So can't beat that. But I'm very pleased that it does hold up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Very critically acclaimed actress, and just before I read that, one of the stage managers here at CNN came up and said that was one of the best performances I ever saw, was "Arsenic and Old Lace" back in the '90s when she did it -- back in the '80s when she did it on Broadway. And then I read that story.

Again, Jean Stapleton, dead at the age of 90. We're going to have much more on this coming up on CNN, including our Larry King live at 7:00 Eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: And now an out-of-this world event, an asteroid called 1998 QE2 whizzed past Earth on Friday with its own moon in tow. Hmm. Imagine that, its own moon in tow. It got within 3.6 million miles of our planet. I guess it has its own entourage.

Scientists say it won't pass us again until 2028. Then there will be even more elbow room. The asteroid is expected to be about 45 million miles away, and probably will have picked up more moons, more entourage.

As people are starting to wrap their heads around the damage from an EF-5 tornado, more twisters hit. Homes in Oklahoma are leveled and more lives lost. We'll take you there live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)