Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / Likely tornado rips through Houston area as holiday week flights are delayed or cancelled

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Likely tornado rips through Houston area as holiday week flights are delayed or cancelled · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: And good evening. We begin tonight with the severe weather
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  Speaker 1: breaking out across the South, tornadoes touching down, and this
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  Speaker 1: dangerous system now marching east as millions prepared to take
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  Speaker 1: to the skies and the roads for the Thanksgiving holiday.
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  Speaker 1: This was the scene just outside of Houston. Take a
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  Speaker 1: look at that, a massive.
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  Speaker 2: Funnel cloud forming over a highway.
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  Speaker 1: The dangerous weather ripped through this neighborhood, tossing trees on
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  Speaker 1: homes and on cars. The same storms pounded the major
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  Speaker 1: airports in Texas today with wind and rain causing massive delays.
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  Speaker 2: And look at this.
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  Speaker 1: That storm system is now on the move, heading east
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  Speaker 1: and north, just as the busiest travel week, perhaps on record,
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  Speaker 1: ramps up. We're covering the forecast and the airports today,
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  Speaker 1: but we want to begin with Priscilla Thompson on the
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  Speaker 1: ground in hard hits Spring Texas.
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  Speaker 3: Tonight's a menacing funnel cloud slicing through the Houston area.
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  Speaker 4: That's crazy.
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  Speaker 3: The likely tornado touchdown this afternoon, causing significant damage, holy
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  Speaker 3: huge trees and ripping pieces from homes. Justin Vosquez's brand
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  Speaker 3: new car was smashed.
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  Speaker 5: I dropped everything that I was doing, ran into the bathroom,
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  Speaker 5: crabbed at a toilet, close the door, and.
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  Speaker 2: The pressure was so bad and almost I thought it
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  Speaker 2: was gonna blow my ear drums.
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  Speaker 3: Take a look at the mountains of debris lining this neighborhood.
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  Speaker 4: Just got another natural disaster call nine zero one to
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  Speaker 4: nine Value Bluff Climb FB fur friend's house struck by
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  Speaker 4: a tornado. Roof has caved in at this location. Unknown
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  Speaker 4: if anyone's inside the residence.
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  Speaker 3: This image from the Harris County Emergency Response Center shows
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  Speaker 3: the likely twister sending debris flying.
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  Speaker 2: I've never seen two men look more terrified.
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  Speaker 3: Nearby. Two maintenance workers were inside this building when it
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  Speaker 3: collapsed on itself. He was just hanging on for dear
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  Speaker 3: life and his partner was holding onto a metal rack,
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  Speaker 3: and he looked up and the roof just sheared off.
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  Speaker 3: This haunting time lapse shows the dangerous storm approaching. It
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  Speaker 3: also dumped torrential rain on the area. A massive cleanup
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  Speaker 3: looms as this holiday week gets underway.
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  Speaker 1: All Right, Brisilla Thompson joins US Now Live from that
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  Speaker 1: hard hit neighborhood in Spring. Priscilla talk to our viewers
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  Speaker 1: about how widespread the damage is there.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Tom, it is damaged throughout this neighborhood, just about
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  Speaker 3: every house in this line. They just managed to clear
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  Speaker 3: one tree here, and already you've got another downtree here,
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  Speaker 3: more of them back there, chainsaws everywhere, and these down
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  Speaker 3: trees have also caused gas leaks that officials are now
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  Speaker 3: out working around the clock to fix. As at nightfall approaches.
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  Speaker 1: Here, Tom, we can hear that cleanup is already underway.
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  Speaker 1: All right, Priscilla, thank you. Those same storms are now
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  Speaker 1: on the move. Let's get right to our good friend
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  Speaker 1: Al Roker and Al. The timing not great for the holiday.
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  Speaker 6: Travel, absolutely not, Tom. Right now, a line of about
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  Speaker 6: seven hundred miles from Nashville all the way down to
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  Speaker 6: Houston and in fact parts of Mississippi Louisiana. We've also
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  Speaker 6: got in Texas tornado watches up for later this evening,
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  Speaker 6: and we've got severe storms for nine million people with tornadoes,
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  Speaker 6: possible wind gust of sixty miles per hour or more.
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  Speaker 6: Travel tomorrow. Snow and wind up around the Great Lakes,
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  Speaker 6: rain in the Pacific northwest, where there'll be some airport delays,
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  Speaker 6: also DC to Atlanta. Otherwise, roads in the northwest of
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  Speaker 6: Problem I ninety five may see scattered showers. We move
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  Speaker 6: into Thanksgiving Day, we do have some snow around the
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  Speaker 6: Great Lakes, but it's gonna be very windy in the northeast.
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  Speaker 6: Airport delays will be a problem, but good travel for
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  Speaker 6: much of the country. Time over the river and through
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  Speaker 6: the woods to Grandma's for Thanksgiving, we hope.
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  Speaker 2: So all right, Ali, thank you for that.
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  Speaker 1: We're going to stay right here though, because the big
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  Speaker 1: question is how will that weather affect flights. Tom Costello
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  Speaker 1: is following that part of the story tonight.
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  Speaker 2: The holiday travel week off to a rough start.
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  Speaker 4: With the strategy hear is that get hurt early.
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  Speaker 2: With that Texas storm delaye forty five percent of DFW's
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  Speaker 2: flights thirty one percent at Houston Intercontinental at New York's
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  Speaker 2: JFK Terminal four, and it outage Sunday cost hours long
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  Speaker 2: delays into the nights before it was fixed. While today
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  Speaker 2: from the gate to the baggage hold to the cockpit,
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  Speaker 2: a full court press to stay on time. I thought
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  Speaker 2: I was going to miss my flat, but it's been smooth.
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  Speaker 2: Both the FAA and the airlines predict heavy volume.
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  Speaker 6: This is going to be the busiest Thanksgiving that we
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  Speaker 6: have on record.
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  Speaker 5: Thirty one million people fly by air and Walt Atlanta
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  Speaker 5: is the busiest single airport. Reagan has the busiest single
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  Speaker 5: runway in the country at Towers. Nationwide, controller staffing is
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  Speaker 5: back to pre shutdown levels, but most are still understaffed
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  Speaker 5: as some facilities, including Newark, struggle with antiquated radars and
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  Speaker 5: radios that will take years to replace.
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  Speaker 4: We've got a ground surface radar here that's got one
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  Speaker 4: operable channel on it right.
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  Speaker 2: Now, back in the concourse. It's a week after the
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  Speaker 2: government shutdown. Any residual impact, none at all. We're actually
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  Speaker 2: backed off full schedule. American Airline says this week is
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  Speaker 2: their super Bowl.
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  Speaker 1: We anticipate in November thirty it being the most busy
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  Speaker 1: travelty up until up until Monday the.
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  Speaker 2: First, as a very big Campbell family flies off for Thanksgiving.
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  Speaker 2: You're traveling with seven kids. How's it been so far?
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  Speaker 2: So far, so good?
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  Speaker 3: But ask me when we land.
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  Speaker 2: Tom that's there and that is the big question. Let's
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  Speaker 2: talk about the road now.
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  Speaker 1: We are also expecting heavy highway traffic to kick into
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  Speaker 1: highgear tomorrow.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so ninety percent of Americans who are traveling are driving.
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  Speaker 2: Seventy three million of US Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon and
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  Speaker 2: evening the heaviest travel times, and then of course Sunday
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  Speaker 2: on the rebound everybody coming home. We're paying three oh
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  Speaker 2: six a gallon nationally. That's pretty much where we were
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  Speaker 2: a year ago. Tom.
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  Speaker 1: We thank you for watching, and remember stay updated on
• 5:37
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