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00:00It looks like it's now touching down, so we have an emergency situation.
00:04This tornado is now on the ground.
00:06It looks like it's a now-salvageable tornado.
00:07If you see anybody outside, tell them to get inside right now.
00:08Now it's doing major damage in Tuscaloosa.
00:09We were watching this come into a metropolitan area.
00:10Jesus, help them.
00:11It was horrendous.
00:12Oh, no.
00:13Wow.
00:14All I could think about was, is this thing coming for me?
00:15This thing is huge.
00:16It's huge.
00:17It's huge.
00:18It's huge.
00:19It's huge.
00:20It's huge.
00:21It's huge.
00:22It's huge.
00:23It's huge.
00:24It's huge.
00:25It's huge.
00:26It's huge.
00:27It's huge.
00:28It's huge.
00:29It's huge.
00:30It's huge.
00:31It was utterly terrifying.
00:32Come in the campus buildings.
00:34You could feel the power of this monster.
00:37Go the back, I'm not kidding!
00:39It was right on top of us.
00:42That's the tornado right there.
00:45It looked like it had a mind, that it had personality.
00:48It was the scariest moment of my life.
00:50Oh, my God, oh, my God!
00:51Oh, my God.
00:52It is a monster.
00:53Wait, wait, wait, wait.
00:54What's happening?
00:55Oh, my God.
00:56Oh, my God.
00:57Oh, shit.
00:58Oh, my God.
00:59We had severe weather that morning between 3.30 and 9 o'clock and during that time five
01:20people were killed and a quarter million people had no power.
01:26National Weather Service notified me that Tuscaloosa had a 40% plus chance of being
01:31hit by a tornado.
01:33It's important that we take heed of this and hopefully Tuscaloosa won't come out unscathed
01:37but it doesn't hurt for us to be prepared and ready for what lies ahead in the next
01:40few hours.
01:41At that point I decided to go ahead and activate the city's incident command system which is
01:46basically our emergency protocols.
01:53I love working in the emergency department because you have the opportunity to take care
01:57of people.
01:58It was a typical day in the emergency department, typical patients that we get every day.
02:03One of the paramedics mentioned that bad weather was coming in.
02:06One of the nurses and I walked outside and it was a beautiful day, the sun was shining.
02:13The problem we were facing was the fact that the sun popped out and then you had a lot
02:17of people saying well everything's going to be okay.
02:19This is the kind of stuff where we really, really ask you to pay attention.
02:23The fact that the sun is out is the worst possible thing because that makes the air
02:27more buoyant and unstable.
02:29The temperatures continue to warm, the instability increases and again a lot of the severe weather
02:34parameters are just off the charts today.
02:37Looking at the data, we have a checklist of about 64 parameters that you need for a tornado.
02:42We had about 60 of the 64 that were just screaming almost in extreme range.
02:46Many of these storms could erupt and go severe in a heartbeat.
02:49All of a sudden the atmosphere just started changing, the wind picked up, got dark.
02:56We knew we had something big coming.
03:07That particular day we weren't doing anything special.
03:09We'd actually had a couple of days of thunderstorms and a very good friend of mine, Josh, had
03:14been shooting.
03:19He was just playing around with a new video camera that had gotten out too long ago and
03:22was just trying to catch lightning.
03:26We had seen some of the stuff on the news about potential tornadoes, but that's kind
03:30of something that we get almost every single day during the summer.
03:35So it wasn't really something that we really fretted too much about.
03:42I went to go out to the front yard and I looked towards the front of my house where
03:47I saw my friend and he was like, look right over there.
03:50Holy s***.
03:54You could just see movement and velocity.
03:57We knew that there was something going on around us that wasn't normal.
04:06We want you to be in a safe place right now.
04:08All of these storms are extremely dangerous today.
04:11I think some of the real heroes were our people in the field.
04:14If we just showed radar for a lot of people, it looks like a bucket of spill paint.
04:18But you show a live stream, I will tell you people will do something.
04:21Let's look at the live stream.
04:23We've got John Brown and Mike Wilhelm, two of our better sky watchers.
04:28I work for the state of Alabama, Department of Human Resources.
04:31I've stayed in touch with weather and studied it a lot for probably about 25 years.
04:38Oh yeah, look at that thing.
04:39I see a little finger.
04:40Whoa, thunder plane.
04:42I work with sky watchers for ABC 3340 and we were quite confident that there was a storm
04:48that was making aim on Tuscaloosa.
04:51It's rotating for sure.
04:53That is lowering.
04:55I see a few little fingers there.
04:57And that particular day, every storm was isolated and it was maintaining strength and it was rotating.
05:05It's starting to come into view.
05:07It's coming down to a point.
05:09It's right there in front of us.
05:11Right in front.
05:13We were looking at a storm and John says, Mike, a lot of people are going to die today
05:18and they just don't know it yet.
05:21I am a student at the University of Alabama studying journalism.
05:26For about six years, I've been working at a local TV station in Tuscaloosa.
05:31It was while I was in one of my classes that we started getting word that the weather was
05:37going to be a little rougher than we thought and so my professor asked if the station needed
05:42to be closed.
05:44The weather was going to be a little rougher than we thought and so my professor asked
05:49if the station needed me.
05:51And at that point, I was able to go to the station and that's when things really started
05:56to progress.
05:59West Alabama is bracing for more stormy weather.
06:03And the same system has already been blamed for several deaths and destroying many businesses
06:08and homes all across the south.
06:11I'm the news director and anchor at WVUATV.
06:14Being the news person, people are asking you, Lynn, is this going to be as bad as people
06:18say it is?
06:20And you really don't have any answers.
06:21It's really not in your hands.
06:24At the same time, you're having to think about your own personal safety.
06:27This potentially could hit the building where we are right now.
06:30So again, get on the lowest floor of your home, put as many walls between you and the
06:33outside as possible.
06:35We had converged in the studio to watch the tower camera and we saw the tornado come down,
06:40take shape, and it became fairly large.
06:43Don't take a chance with this thing.
06:44This is obviously a very dangerous situation, what we're looking at.
06:47But then in just a few moments, we saw it lift back up and it goes back up into the clouds.
06:54And yeah, it looks like it's lifting.
06:56You could feel that collective sigh of relief.
06:59It appears that it's not on the ground at this second.
07:02And I said, it's going to get angry and come back down even worse.
07:07And in just a couple minutes, it did exactly that.
07:11It looks like it's now touching down just to the west of Tuscaloosa.
07:15Yeah, we're seeing power flashes.
07:17So we have an emergency situation.
07:18This tornado is now on the ground.
07:20It looks like it's a now-silent tornado.
07:22We're watching live.
07:23This is coming right towards Tuscaloosa.
07:28Calling a tornado emergency for Tuscaloosa and Northport.
07:32And again, this is a very serious situation.
07:36So if you are watching us...
07:38I've lived in Tuscaloosa pretty much my entire life.
07:41I was out of school working for my dad at the time.
07:46This is a fire.
07:47Looks like a fire.
07:48Yep.
07:51It probably is a fire. It's a lightning.
07:54I had one of my friends, Nate Hewitt, with me.
07:57Oh, my God. Look at that fire.
08:00That is raging.
08:01Yeah.
08:02The storm was pretty bad,
08:03and so we had actually left work a little bit early.
08:08I wish these trees would go away.
08:10Personally, driving, I couldn't see the storm that well.
08:13However, after the trees move,
08:15it becomes apparent that the storm is coming directly at us.
08:21Holy...
08:23There it freaking is.
08:25That thing is massive.
08:28We need to go faster.
08:30It's coming right at us.
08:33Keep straight. Keep straight.
08:36Never in my life will I see this again.
08:38Oh, my God.
08:40From where we were sitting on the interstate,
08:42having no idea where the storm's actually going,
08:44I didn't really realize the severity of the situation.
08:47You can see debris in the air.
08:50That thing is half a mile wide.
08:52Once I actually looked over,
08:54I didn't realize that we were nearly as close as we were
08:57when it was right on top of us.
08:59We need to go that way.
09:01Go that way.
09:02It's fine.
09:03Go the f*** back. I'm not kidding.
09:20You can see debris in the air.
09:25Never in my life will I see this again.
09:28Oh, my God.
09:30We need to go that way.
09:31We're fine.
09:32Go the f*** back. I'm not kidding.
09:38Nate felt like we were too close,
09:40and that's when we probably went about half a mile in reverse
09:45down the wrong way on the interstate
09:47to get us far enough away from the storm.
09:53It's crossing the interstate right where we were.
09:59Oh, my God.
10:07It became apparent as to exactly how much damage was being done.
10:13You can see huge debris.
10:15You can actually see what appears to be full-length 2x4s.
10:19I mean, just everything and anything had been sucked up
10:22and was spiraling around a half-mile circle.
10:26Oh, my God.
10:28The thing is destroying everything.
10:30It's going to have to be extinguished.
10:39In Green County and the other reports we've had,
10:42this thing is clearly a large, violent tornado that is down on the ground.
10:47I tried to indicate that this is a genuine, genuine emergency.
10:51This is not a false alarm.
10:53This is an extremely violent situation.
10:55Notice the power flashes.
10:57It's very hard to stay composed on the air
10:59because you know that if many people don't do anything in the path of that,
11:04there's a good chance they're going to lose their life.
11:06I want everybody in the city limits of Tuscaloosa to stay sheltered.
11:09I have a wife and two children, but you cannot be fatigued,
11:12you cannot be distracted, you cannot be emotional.
11:15Nobody should be on campus walking, nobody should be driving.
11:20Oh, no.
11:23Oh, no.
11:27This was different on a lot of levels.
11:29You don't normally see a very clearly defined funnel
11:33like you did with that tornado.
11:36It had multiple vortices,
11:38meaning there was a lot of small funnel-like shapes
11:41that circulated around the outside of the tornado itself.
11:45Debris everywhere.
11:47Now it's doing major damage in Tuscaloosa.
11:50As we were standing there,
11:52we were watching this come into a metropolitan area.
11:56No, it's going to destroy a big chunk of Tuscaloosa.
12:00Jesus, help him.
12:03Help him be in safety. Please.
12:06It was just obvious it was a horrendous situation.
12:13Oh, no.
12:20Nuts. Look at that thing.
12:26I am an on-air personality program director for a radio station.
12:31All of a sudden, they started blaring the sirens.
12:35Oh, my God.
12:40The tornado was right in front of the radio station.
12:44Holy crap.
12:46Holy crap.
12:51You look out at this cloud of black dust
12:55that just goes all the way up to the heavens.
12:59This thing is huge!
13:03It was breathtaking.
13:12This is a very large tornado coming directly our way.
13:15This is the University of Alabama campus.
13:17If you see anybody outside, tell them to get inside right now.
13:20The majority of people who were gathered in that studio,
13:22Tuscaloosa is home for them.
13:24This is coming right towards our television station.
13:27You could feel the power of the fear just radiating from people.
13:32You want to get everybody out of the hallway
13:34and into our studio if that is a possibility
13:37because this is definitely a life-threatening situation.
13:40We just all huddled underneath our news desk,
13:43and it was people that were working at the station
13:46as well as people that were just grabbed from outside in the hallway
13:49and told to come in.
13:52It was really utterly terrifying.
14:04I see the clouds moving like mad over there.
14:08We both begin to see kind of a torrential movement of clouds,
14:13but it was so close to the ground,
14:15I mean, it looked like it was right behind another house.
14:18What is that flying in the air?
14:20There's debris flying in the air, dude.
14:22It's right over there.
14:26Dude, that's getting loud.
14:28The rumbling of the ground and the pressure change
14:31and the sound growing louder and louder and louder
14:35came towards us.
14:37We were scared to the point of going inside.
14:39Oh, my God. Here, give me that.
14:41Oh, dude, do you see all the debris up there flying?
14:43Yeah.
14:45Oh, dude, that looks wild.
14:49Oh, it's right there.
14:51That's the tornado right there.
14:53Oh, my God.
15:05Might want to go down to the basement.
15:07Yeah, let's get downstairs.
15:09As I turn around away from the door,
15:12I see my tree disappear, and I said,
15:14all right, it's time for us to go downstairs
15:16and get to a safe place.
15:18I grabbed all the couch cushions off the couch
15:20and threw them down there and then just kind of
15:22me and laid on top of my friend.
15:40Oh, it's right there.
15:42That's the tornado right there.
15:53I grabbed all the couch cushions
15:55and then just kind of laid on top of those couch cushions
15:58and put them behind me and laid on top of my friend.
16:23Oh, my God.
16:28Oh, dude.
16:30Everything is gone.
16:32A tree landed here.
16:34There's a hole in the roof.
16:36There are holes in the roof.
16:38Above my room and our old computer room,
16:40the entire roof was ripped off.
16:42There was nothing left.
16:46Oh, my God, we're on a tree.
16:48Oh, my God, we're on a tree.
16:50Oh, my God, we're on a tree.
16:52Dude, our porch is gone.
16:54Oh, my God.
16:56It was probably about five trees
16:58laying on top of the walkway to the house,
17:00and in that situation,
17:02it was when I was positive that we were in danger.
17:04We're gonna have to get out of here.
17:06This house could collapse.
17:11This thing looks like it might be over 1 1⁄2 mile wide,
17:14maybe up to 3⁄4 of a mile wide.
17:16Now, Isaiah Harper,
17:18you're seeing a tornado right now.
17:20Tell us what you got.
17:22It was monstrous.
17:24It was just huge.
17:26And it looked like, from sitting still at one point,
17:28that it had a mind,
17:30that it had personality.
17:34I'm watching people die.
17:36And at the same time,
17:38my wife was on the east end of Tuscaloosa,
17:40and my kid's at home,
17:42and I'm wondering,
17:44which way is this thing gonna go?
17:46Either I'm about to die
17:48or my family is about to die,
17:50so it was the most scariest moment of my life.
17:52I mean, I saw my life
17:54sort of flash between my eyes.
18:02Holy crap, guys.
18:04Oh, my gosh.
18:06Wow!
18:08Oh, my God.
18:18While I was filming the whole thing,
18:20all I could think about was,
18:22is this thing coming for me?
18:28Oh, my God.
18:30It looked like it was kind of making a turn
18:32for our direction.
18:34Get inside.
18:36It went dark.
18:38Oh, my gosh.
18:40And all we were left with
18:42was a giant
18:44black cloud that was
18:46staring at us.
18:48Oh, my God.
18:54The last time we had one this big
18:56was probably March 21st, 1932,
18:58even before my time.
19:00It destroyed so much of Tuscaloosa.
19:02We were huddled in this room, and we were surrounded
19:04by this little television.
19:06This is where I've grown up.
19:08This is where I have raised a family.
19:10And now we were watching
19:12on live television
19:14the tornado rip through the heart of the city.
19:16And that was the first
19:18moment for me where
19:20you get that weak-in-the-knees moment.
19:22It was traumatic.
19:26The quietness in the room
19:28was amazing.
19:30And then the TV went blank.
19:32The tornado at that point was about halfway
19:34through our city.
19:36All right, this is a life-threatening
19:38situation. We have a very large
19:40tornado coming right into the center
19:42part of Tuscaloosa. This includes our television
19:44station. In that moment, you really don't know
19:46exactly what you're going to do.
19:48At some point, I started to pray.
19:50This thing's coming right towards the University of Alabama campus.
19:52We're going to stay on air as long as we possibly
19:54can. We're getting power glitches.
19:56A very large tornado on the ground
19:58right now.
20:00Then, boom.
20:02Just completely gone.
20:04Everything went black.
20:06So, I grabbed
20:08my camera, and I just started running
20:10up flights of stairs in the building.
20:12And as soon as I got out of the stairwell,
20:14there it was.
20:20And all you can do is just
20:22look.
20:26It's such an overpowering
20:28feeling to be eyeball-to-
20:30eyeball with
20:32a killer like that.
20:40I'm seeing a rotation.
20:42I'm seeing debris.
20:46It's coming over the campus buildings.
20:58I'm seeing a rotation.
21:00I'm seeing debris.
21:06It's such an overpowering
21:08feeling to be eyeball-to-
21:10eyeball with a
21:12killer like that.
21:16It's such an overpowering
21:18feeling to be eyeball-to-
21:20eyeball with a
21:22killer like that.
21:24It's such an overpowering
21:26feeling to be eyeball-to-
21:28eyeball with a
21:30killer like that.
21:34It's coming over the
21:36campus buildings.
21:40You could feel
21:42the power of this monster.
21:50And when it came
21:52dangerously close,
21:54it came
21:56dangerously close.
22:00Are you kidding me?
22:02Nobody should be out there.
22:04You had two really important
22:06facilities close to the
22:08tornado path. One was
22:10DCH Regional Medical Center.
22:12That would be the ultimate
22:14disaster if a tornado took
22:16out that hospital.
22:24We had to take cover because
22:26the news had reported that there
22:28had been a tornado spotted on 15th
22:30Street coming straight for the hospital.
22:32We have this child
22:34who's intubated, so we quickly
22:36decided that the other nurse would
22:38lie over her head and that I would
22:40lie over her body on the stretcher
22:42and hang on.
22:44At this point, we're unaware
22:46of how big this tornado was.
22:50And then all of a sudden, there was
22:52a huge black cloud
22:54just swirling, and
22:56I screamed, oh my gosh, there it is.
23:04It came so quickly
23:06and it was just so huge
23:08and it was so close.
23:10It was almost like you could reach out and just touch it.
23:18It was there, and then it was gone.
23:20And the sky was
23:22clear again.
23:24It looks like the tornado is
23:26beyond the range of the Tuscaloosa
23:28Sky Camp, so it's moving away
23:30from the city, but again, I would say for about the
23:32next maybe 15 minutes, I would stay
23:34sheltered until we can come out and assess the damage.
23:38Look at that.
23:40Oh my God.
23:42Look at that right underneath.
23:44Look at this. Look over there.
23:46Probably the biggest obstacle
23:48was all the debris.
23:50There were whole trees down the road
23:52and two-by-fours and signs.
23:56At that point, I think everything
23:58kind of became surreal.
24:00I can't even recognize this place,
24:02and I'm driven over down this way.
24:04We can't get there.
24:06The area we pulled up to,
24:08it was about a block and a half
24:10away from where I work
24:12and had been for about a week.
24:14And it looked like an absolute
24:16war zone.
24:18There was nothing left
24:20except for a few
24:22power poles that were broken off.
24:24Houses were
24:26completely laid out over
24:2830 or 40 feet, but there was nothing
24:30truly left of them.
24:32Get in. Get in.
24:34Come on.
24:36Oh my God.
24:38Are you okay? Hey, are people okay?
24:40I don't know.
24:42I don't know.
24:44I can't.
24:46Can I use your phone?
24:48My phone.
24:50Oh my God.
24:52It just went right through.
24:54That was one.
24:56I can't call nobody.
24:58Oh my God.
25:00I'm leaving.
25:02I'm leaving.
25:04I'm screaming help.
25:06I hear people screaming.
25:08When she said that
25:10I hear people screaming for help.
25:12I think that's when we got out
25:14and we started trying to help.
25:16There's tons of people out there.
25:18I know.
25:20I can't do this.
25:22Oh my God.
25:36As we were in the vehicle,
25:38I was getting updates about
25:40two communication towers being destroyed.
25:42About 80% of the city's
25:44heavy equipment was destroyed.
25:469-1-1 being gone.
25:48And a fire station
25:50being destroyed.
25:54You would have
25:56entire houses that were
25:58blown off the foundation.
26:00You could see trees stripped of their bark.
26:02Most of the trees in many cases
26:04were just completely uprooted
26:06and tossed somewhere else.
26:08Cars tossed around
26:10like toys crumpled up into
26:12balls like a piece of paper.
26:14A lot of people
26:16described it like a bomb went off
26:18only over a long swath.
26:24Trees are blocking roads.
26:26There's no information.
26:28Cell services dismantled.
26:30To see what
26:32that beast did to this city
26:34was unbelievable.
26:38I saw people just emerging.
26:40People with cuts, bleeding,
26:42impaled objects.
26:44They looked to me almost like zombies.
26:50I kind of describe it as an
26:52unraveling nightmare because we
26:54saw the landscape totally change.
26:58It was unrecognizable.
27:00I was never really
27:02concerned about where I lived because I
27:04hadn't heard anything about Alberta
27:06or my apartment.
27:22There was a Shell gas station
27:24on the corner of
27:2613th and McFarland.
27:28And everything
27:30inside of that gas station
27:32had been gutted by
27:34the storm except
27:36for the counter.
27:38And I
27:40remember walking up to a lady.
27:42She was still holding on to the counter
27:44and she was crying. She says,
27:46I wrote this storm holding on
27:48to this counter.
27:50And I'm not letting
27:52this go until somebody tells me for sure
27:54that thing is gone.
27:56And I said, ma'am, the storm's moved on.
27:58And during that interview, she let go.
28:06I'm just hoping the neighbors are alright, man.
28:08I know they had all those kids over there.
28:14You're worried about
28:16some of the things that you have, but then that
28:18very quickly dissipates and you get to
28:20being where you need to go and check on
28:22everyone else around you.
28:24Come on. Come on.
28:26Hey, how are y'all?
28:28Yeah, we're good.
28:30Tuscaloosa's not a very big town,
28:32and we all kind of know each other a little bit around here,
28:34especially our neighbors. Y'all okay?
28:36Hey, I need to get over here. I need to go check on
28:38these folks. Josh, look out, power line.
28:40It's a sketchy situation
28:42when you're dealing with high electricity
28:44in a disaster area.
28:46They're down now, but they might come back up.
28:48That's what I'm saying. We've got to get over here.
28:50We have to go check on these people.
28:52Hey, are y'all okay?
28:54There's trees all up and down here,
28:56so I don't know. The neighbors to my left,
28:58they had a couple of trees
29:00leaned over on the side of their house,
29:02and, you know, I was worried.
29:04I have little babies. Yeah, there should be people
29:06on the way.
29:08Children were crying.
29:10It was a very stressful situation.
29:12You all right?
29:24I have little babies.
29:26Yeah, there should be people on the way.
29:36You all right?
29:38He fell down the stairs.
29:40It's okay, boy.
29:42The neighbors to my left,
29:44the daughter had fallen down the stairs.
29:46That was just absolutely
29:48devastating.
29:50It was a very stressful situation.
29:52That was just absolutely
29:54heartbreaking.
29:56Yeah, the storm's over here.
29:58How you guys doing?
30:00The storm's gone, so it's all right.
30:02Hey, you guys want to come up here?
30:10That's pretty exciting, huh?
30:12It was kind of a wild
30:14situation. You know, there was no power.
30:16Children were crying.
30:18You just try to do things as calm
30:20and take everything one step at a time.
30:32I remember the first one we got
30:34to was an elderly lady, and the
30:36exterior bathroom wall had
30:38fallen over and just basically
30:40encased her in the bathtub.
30:42We went and
30:44just pushed the wall up and
30:46helped her up, and then me and
30:48Nate saw a
30:50little girl standing on a pile of
30:52rubble that used to be her house, and she was just
30:54standing there crying for her mom and her sister.
30:56We heard the sister first, found her
30:58after a few minutes of digging, and we
31:00could hear the mom calling. We wound up
31:02having to tear a door off of some
31:04of the debris and used it
31:06as a backboard, carried the mom out
31:08to an ambulance that was there.
31:10The first three patients
31:12that came to the hospital came by
31:14ambulance, and we never saw them
31:16on the trauma hall because they perished
31:18before they actually got into the hospital.
31:22It was very difficult
31:24because they're children.
31:26Patients came so
31:28quickly, and they just
31:30continued to come. It's like
31:32there was no end.
31:34It was like, you know,
31:36there was no end.
31:38It's like there was no end.
31:40Before you knew it,
31:42the whole emergency department was
31:44completely filled.
31:46People sitting in the floors,
31:48on countertops,
31:50rooms that were made for one patient
31:52would have four and five patients.
31:54The hard
31:56part is you would have mommas and daddies
31:58coming in looking for their children,
32:00so you had to tell them, I don't know where your child
32:02is, and so you have these panicked
32:04parents begging you to tell them
32:06that their children are okay,
32:08and you can't.
32:20He's terrified, I'm sorry.
32:26We didn't have
32:28some of the basic utilities that we needed
32:30to get by. It makes an
32:32uncomfortable situation, and the only answer
32:34is to try to keep your calm.
32:50I spent about an hour or two
32:52getting them set up in an uncomfortable position
32:54and waiting for the ambulance to show up.
32:56Unfortunately, that
32:58little girl who had fallen down the stairs
33:00ended up developing some bad pneumonia
33:02from that night and passed away.
33:16I think it really hit me the next morning
33:18that the night video, you just don't know,
33:20but that first light of day chopper
33:22video was just
33:24horrifying.
33:26...intensified just as it came into
33:28Tuscaloosa. I didn't recognize
33:30anything. It could have been any place in
33:32the world. I wouldn't know what that was.
33:34Even though I've been doing this for 36
33:36years and I've worked through many tornado outbreaks,
33:38this was the big one for me. This is certainly
33:40one of the worst tornadoes that I've ever seen.
33:46There's just a
33:48van on the side of it.
33:52The fact that we woke up
33:54to sunny weather was just
33:56very odd because we had just been through such
33:58a monster of a storm.
34:00It's a fire station.
34:02We immediately
34:04started seeing damage and one of the first
34:06real places that we saw was a
34:08fire station.
34:10Oh, this used to be the church.
34:12I looked up and I saw just this
34:14gaping hole inside
34:16this church. And every
34:18day they had this sign that was
34:20inspirational. There was
34:22a chandelier that was still there.
34:24It was just this sad little church that used to be
34:26so grand and beautiful and it was just
34:28crumbling.
34:30That was a scene that I will never
34:32forget.
34:38You would hear someone screaming a name
34:40and just looking to see if they could
34:42find their loved one.
34:44There was one
34:46gentleman who just instantly
34:48fell to his knees and just started to pray.
34:50It turned out later
34:52that he was supposed to be inside
34:54that building. That building was a restaurant
34:56and it just so happened it was his day off.
35:00I did see some people who
35:02were pulled out that didn't make it
35:04and there were also some people
35:06that we felt like
35:08we could hear calling for help and we
35:10dig down and we can't find them.
35:14There was this young college boy
35:16who came in and he had
35:18some really significant chest trauma
35:20and head trauma.
35:22He reminded me of my son
35:24and I felt like I wanted to be the one
35:26to take care of him.
35:28All I could think of was
35:30here is this young man
35:32who did absolutely
35:34nothing wrong but he's
35:36going to die and I knew he was
35:38going to die and it just
35:40broke my heart.
35:48A number of college students
35:50from the University of Alabama live down there.
35:52I actually talked with one. She told me
35:54that she was in her bathroom
35:56when that tornado came through.
35:58She says only the bathroom was left
36:00standing in their house.
36:02As we were out there
36:04there was a woman who
36:06said the storm blew
36:08her newborn baby
36:10out of her arms.
36:12Somebody heard a cry in the rubble
36:14and she was determined
36:16that was her baby.
36:18We were all out there. We were digging
36:20and moving the bricks with her.
36:24But then our hearts dropped
36:26when we got to the source of the cry
36:28and it was some kid's
36:30doll that had a crying
36:32mechanism in it.
36:34I don't believe to this day
36:36they ever found that child.
36:38...
36:40...
36:42...
36:44...
36:46...
36:48...
36:50The energy level
36:52seems to be pretty low today.
36:54You can tell fatigue is starting
36:56to set in with some of these people
36:58who have lost everything.
37:00Now we're doing stories about people
37:02who are still missing and I did
37:04a story of little Michaela Edwards.
37:06She was a sweet,
37:08precious little four year old girl
37:10and she's with some of her family
37:12huddled trying to hold on to some
37:14plumbing to protect themselves
37:16from the storm. Edwards says
37:18the rest of his family survived
37:20by hovering in a bathtub.
37:22And all of a sudden two of her family
37:24members are okay but they can't
37:26find little Michaela.
37:28Family and friends searched this area
37:30around the clock. We went to the
37:32VA hospital and where they
37:34were bringing bodies in from the tragedy
37:36that happened and she was there.
37:38She was there and she was gone.
37:40Having to report
37:42that after holding
37:44out some hope that she may be found
37:46alive, I was really sad.
37:48...
37:50...
37:52...
37:54...
37:56I wonder how far we're going to have to walk in order to
37:58get to an area where
38:00cars can actually travel.
38:02I don't know it in hell.
38:04...
38:06We had no
38:08idea of knowing how bad the damage was.
38:10We just knew that we had gotten hit in our area.
38:12...
38:14We ran out of supplies and we
38:16decided to go up to University Boulevard
38:18and there weren't houses anymore.
38:20...
38:22...
38:24Everything was gone.
38:26That was the biggest shock.
38:28We didn't get hit directly.
38:30...
38:32...
38:34...
38:36...
38:38...
38:40...
38:42...
38:44...
38:46As we had gotten closer and closer
38:48to my apartment, we saw
38:50a building standing there.
38:52...
38:54...
38:56...
38:58...
39:00...
39:02...
39:04...
39:06...
39:08...
39:10...
39:12...
39:14...
39:16...
39:18...
39:20...
39:22...
39:24...
39:26It was just from
39:28on top of the world to
39:30it's worse than I
39:32ever thought.
39:34...
39:36I don't know what to do.
39:38For a while I kind of bumbled around
39:40in the debris.
39:42Kitchen.
39:44Stuff was just everywhere.
39:46Clothes.
39:48It was just devastating.
39:50...
39:52I kept looking through the rubble.
39:54Oh my gosh, my grandma's pearls.
39:56Oh my God.
39:58And at one point we find my grandma's
40:00pearls that she had gotten me.
40:02Wow.
40:04Not all of it, but there's some.
40:06And so that was a moment that
40:08gave me a lot of hope, like
40:10I could move on from this
40:12because I was getting little pieces of my life back.
40:14...
40:16...
40:18The tornado was down
40:20for about 80 miles.
40:22Approximately at the widest point one mile.
40:24The maximum wind velocity
40:26was about 180 to 190 miles
40:28an hour. The death toll in my state
40:30that day was over 250.
40:32And that is absolutely inexcusable.
40:34I've got to take
40:36the energy I have and work
40:38on preventing this from happening again.
40:40...
40:42You can be a part of a process
40:44that can deliver information
40:46that's potentially life saving,
40:48but we had one of the highest death
40:50counts ever. So it was one
40:52of those days that I don't think I'll ever
40:54totally forget.
40:56I worked as hard as I could
40:58work. I still had
41:00patients die. You feel like
41:02I didn't do enough.
41:04I could have done something else.
41:06And that's tough.
41:08...
41:10...
41:12The President and First Lady offered
41:14hugs and handshakes
41:16to members of a community that has
41:18suffered the ultimate loss.
41:20I've got to say, I've never seen devastation like this.
41:22It is heartbreaking.
41:24I remember he would keep saying,
41:26Walt, I've never seen destruction like this.
41:28And I said, you know, Mr. President, you've never
41:30seen people fight back like this.
41:32Here in Tuscaloosa, it was the people
41:34that came to the rescue.
41:36And it made me so proud to say that Tuscaloosa
41:38is my home.
41:40I was blessed that no one in my family
41:42was harmed. I realized that
41:44life is so precious.
41:46It really changed my outlook on life.
41:48Since the tornado,
41:50I have become a firefighter.
41:52Being able to
41:54give back to my community
41:56in the weeks after the storm
41:58gave me
42:00a direction for what I wanted
42:02to do for my life.
42:04When all the comforts of normal
42:06life are stripped away, you will
42:08see a beauty in people like you've never seen
42:10before. You'll see that
42:12person who has almost nothing
42:14give everything they have
42:16to help someone else.
42:18And no matter how bleak
42:20the situation may be,
42:22there's always hope.