CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript

Interview

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I assume you're in Kentucky some place?

SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: Yes. I'm just south of Frankfort, between Frankfort and Lawrenceburg. And it looks like we've got a cell with potential tornadoes almost right on top of us. So we decided the better part of valor was to get off the road. We had some hail coming down. So we're pulled over now at a gas station, hoping that this is a...

BLITZER: Well, when -- in the gas station, senator. Are you in a secure part there?

Are you just looking out?

Because we want you to be safe...

PAUL: Not yet.

BLITZER: Is there...

PAUL: We're sort of waiting...

BLITZER: -- is there a basement there...

PAUL: -- waiting and watching. And, you know, I'm not sure how secure it's going to be here. But we -- there are -- there are some cinderblock rooms that we'll probably get into if the tornado hits.

BLITZER: Frankfort is a huge city. It's an important city in -- in Kentucky.

Is the tornado warning and watch heading directly toward Frankfort right now?

Is that the information you have?

PAUL: Yes. We're just south of Frankfort, but we're right in that pink zone. We're watching it on the news. And that hot pink zone, I believe we're right in that, or very, very close to that. We're between Frankfort and Lawrenceburg, very near the Western Kentucky Parkway. So I think we're pretty close to all that pink zone.

But it's moving pretty fast. They say it's moving 60 miles an hour. So we're hoping within the next few minutes, it will be past.

BLITZER: Well, describe what's -- paint a picture for us, if you're near a window. And I don't want you to go anyplace where it's dangerous, Senator, but if you can, just paint a little picture for us what it looks like outside.

PAUL: Well, you know, it's just sort of an eerie sky, very dark in places, very light in places. And this morning, it was 80 degrees, which is incredibly warm in Bowling Green. So it was over 80 degrees. But it's getting ready to drop to 40 degrees. And it's that temper dif -- temperature differential, I think, that spawns these storms.

BLITZER: Stand by for a second, because Chad Myers, our meteorologist, has a question for you, Senator, if you can be with us for another moment or two -- Chad, go ahead.

PAUL: Sure.

MYERS: Senator, I -- I don't know if you have a radar in front of you, so I'm going to describe your situation. Frankfort, Kentucky, right here to our viewers, and Lawrenceburg right here. The Senator right along the -- the freeway, the highway, right there. The tornado vortex signature is down around Alton right now. So lightly to your southwest, moving to the east.

And here is the problem. These storms, for all the people out there, have been moving 50 to 60 miles per hour. You don't have much time to take cover.

Millville, probably, right in the way of this TVS, or the tornado vortex signature on the Doppler radar. There's the red and the green together. That is a bad sign. That's means that's where the rotation is on the ground. This storm has been on the ground for a while. And I need you, obviously, Senator, and all of the -- all the people here from Frankfort down to Lawrenceburg, to take cover now.

BLITZER: So, Chad, give -- give the Senator and the folks he's with right now some expert advice.

What does he need to do?

MYERS: Well, the first thing to do is if you can see outside, you're in a bad place. You don't want to be anyway near a window. That window will shatter and then it will blow in on you and cut you. So even if your -- if your only house that has a secure four walls is a small closet in the middle of your home by the kitchen, that's where you want to be.

Now, when you go and you look up in your house, you don't want a bunch of canned goods on the top shelf, because those will fall down if the house does start to shake. So you have to think about this. You don't want to have a bowling ball. If you're in the -- in the bathroom closet, anything else could be heavy. Make sure that comes down so that you stay on the inside.

Put as many walls between you and the outside as possible. That means if a two by four would shoot through your outside wall, it wouldn't get to you because you're through the other wall. You're on the inside wall of a small little closet, always the safest place to be. And, of course, Wolf, the best place of all would be to be below ground, which would be a cellar, a tornado cellar, a root cellar or just anywhere down below, downstairs.

And if you could get under the stairwell, typically those stairs are the safest place, the strongest place of a house.

BLITZER: All right, Senator, did you copy all that information from Chad?

PAUL: We -- we did. And we're going to be looking for an enclosed room very shortly if the storm gets closer. We have about five or 10 folks here in the store. I don't think we're going to have the opportunity of having a basement. But there are a few enclosed rooms that we're probably going to get to. And It looks it's pretty close to us. But we're still hoping, you know, for the best, that it will disperse and move either above or below us on the map.

BLITZER: Yes. We just want you to get away from that window, because that window could shatter.

So I assume you're inside that gas station, right?

PAUL: Yes, we're inside. And we're still looking at the storm all around us, but still sort of in an eerie sort of twilight at this point, with the storm not quite on us, but all, sort of around us.

BLITZER: We're talking with Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky.

Senator, have you ever gone anything -- through like this in your years in Kentucky or elsewhere?

PAUL: You know, we get tornadoes periodically here. And I also grew up along the Gulf Coast. So I'm familiar with hurricanes, as well, which sometimes spawn tornadoes.

But, yes, Kentucky gets their share of them. And, you know, we've had them hit Bowling Green before. Maybe not quite as much as Oklahoma and Arkansas get, but Kentucky gets her share.

BLITZER: We know if your dad is watching and your mom is watching, you want to make sure that they -- they're reassured that you're OK. They might be watching right now, Senator.

Do you want to say anything to Congressman Ron Paul or your mom?

PAUL: No, tell him I'm on the road like he is. And I'm just glad I'm not in an airplane. I'm always a little more comfortable with two feet on the ground, so. But, yes, I'm hoping that everybody is safe in Kentucky today. And there have been some tornadoes throughout. And we haven't heard yet, but we've got our staff out there, you know, prepared to help people, if we can in any way.

BLITZER: Yes. Well, I'm sure that the federal government is going to try to come in and help out all of you guys in Kentucky and Tennessee and Indiana, Illinois. These storms are not just in the Frankfort, Kentucky area. Unfortunately, they're all over the place.

Please be careful, Senator Paul, and your folks that are with you.

And say in close touch with us, OK?

PAUL: Will do.

Thank you.

BLITZER: And thanks very much.

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