Disaster puts S.L. in spotlight

Wednesday's downtown devastation landed Utah's capital city in the national media spotlight.

The rare tornado touchdown in Salt Lake City led national news broadcasts, and Gov. Mike Leavitt, Salt Lake City Mayor Deedee Corradini and eyewitnesses appeared on evening cable TV programs: "The News With Brian Williams" on CNBC and CNN's "Larry King Live," respectively. Leavitt also gave Thursday morning interviews to ABC's "Good Morning America"; Corradini to NBC's "Today Show.""I suspect there could not have been a more direct hit than Mother Nature (made) on this one," Leavitt said on the CNBC program, which also featured the arrest of the alleged gunman in Tuesday's Jewish center shooting outside Los Angeles.

Leavitt was at a lunch meeting when he received a call from his staff, who observed the category F2 twister (on a scale of F0 to F5) yank out and rip up century-old trees outside the Capitol. Five blocks away and unable to drive through debris to his office, the governor walked up State Street in the tornado's aftermath.

"People were coming from their homes as if coming from a war bunker," Leavitt told "Good Morning America."

Corradini also was at a lunch meeting when the twister carved its downtown path, killing a Las Vegas man and injuring at least 81 people with debris from homes, vehicles, the Delta Center, Wyndham Hotel and Outdoor Retailers Summer Market. The outdoor show will commence Friday, one day late, Corradini said.

"We were so lucky. It could have been so much worse. . . . We're picking ourselves up and everyone's been terrific," Corradini said on "Today." "There is no question none of us expected a tornado. We don't get tornadoes here, so it took us by surprise."

She and the governor -- both who feared for the safety of their children working in the area when disaster hit -- expressed amazement there were not more casualties.

"It can only be accounted as a great blessing," Leavitt said on "Good Morning America."

Leavitt also expressed his condolences on KSL 1160's "Let Me Speak to the Governor" and said his prayers are with victims and their families.

"We've had quite an experience today as a community. We all regret and mourn the loss of life that occurred and the injuries," he said Wednesday on a radio program. The tornado dominated the discussion, as it did on other local talk radio programs, with many praising emergency response teams' swiftness.

"We have 20 days to clean up after two minutes of Mother Nature," Leavitt said. "We have seen her force."