Original subtitles

Holy [bleep]!

We're looking for a 15-month-old.

Hey baby!

Both of them are okay.

Praise God, Lord Jesus! I love you!

Thank you, Jesus!

I'm so scared! Everything is on fire.

Woah! Holy

Oh, no... Dear God!

Lord!

Please!

Please!

Heads down! Heads down! Heads down!

I've been reporting on natural disasters

and tornadoes for almost a decade now.

These three weeks in spring of 2023 were unprecedented,

and it just felt like no community was safe.

I've never seen anything like this.

Let's go to the diner.

I am Tracey Harden.

I am the owner of Chuck's Dairy Bar

here in Rolling Fork, Mississippi.

We opened up just before daylight.

We got to lunch

and we had been seeing reports of bad weather.

But you don't really think it's gonna happen to you.

We've got a newly issued tornado warning.

This is crossing the Mississippi River,

so if you're in this area, take shelter.

The first storm warnings pop up around 7:40,

taking in right at the Mississippi Delta.

All of the warning signs are there for this storm system

to potential spawn destructive tornadoes.

We work with the spotter network system.

So, we are there to spot the storms

and help with the advanced warning process.

I had actually traveled from Nebraska the night before

with Freddy, my son, in the car with me.

We were anticipating that something might happen.

- It's coming fast, so. - It is, it is.

60 miles an hour.

We're good, we're good.

Just get to the other side of this town.

The tornado was just making a beeline straight

for Rolling Fork.

Man, I hope this town's gonna be all right.

Keep going, get to it. Gotta get to this other side.

And it's coming right up to town here.

As soon as we get around this town.

As soon as we get around this town, we're going to stop.

All right?

At 7:57, the National Weather Service

confirmed that a large and dangerous tornado

was moving at a high rate of speed,

seven miles southwest of town.

Oh my goodness.

Listen to the roar!

That's a violent tornado!

- I can hear that. - Oh, boy!

Okay, we are just south of Rolling Fork.

We've got a large wedge tornado

approaching town right now. That's the town.

It's in the direct path of the tornado.

I stood at the car and I

put the phone up

and I was looking in the skies

and that's when I saw it.

We're talking about a mammoth of a storm.

An EF-4 tornado, packing winds up to 195 miles per hour.

When the lightning illuminated the skies

and I could see this massive storm coming our way

I was just thinking of the worst, you know.

Thinking of something smashing through my window,

smashing or even picking up my vehicle.

You know, getting thrown across town.

I was praying out loud, you know,

"God, get me through this".

You know, 'cause this, you know, this is bad.

I got two texts,

one was from my daughter and one was from my sister.

The messages just said,

"Tornado on the ground in Rolling Fork,

get to a safe place."

And my husband opened the door to the cooler

but before he could close the door to the cooler,

he said I see the sky

the whole roof was gone from the building.

And then we feel the cooler start to

sway.

Right as it started going into Rolling Fork,

I saw something and I thought that's really peculiar.

It looked like something.

A well lit object was rotating orbiting around this tornado.

There's something with lights flying

around that tornado.

Yeah, what is that?

It really looks like there's two lights,

sort of like what headlights would look like.

If these are in fact headlights then that means

the tornado picked up this vehicle somewhere in town

it's lofted it hundreds of feet in the air

and it's, you know, it's swirling around.

It's pretty gut-wrenching to think that

somebody maybe had to endure that

because there is truly no way

to survive something like that.

Oh, wow.

Can you see it? Oh yeah there it is.

The realization that, that this town was destroyed

by this tornado

really was shocking.

Oh, man. Oh, we got bad damage here.

Messed up.

Roof off the house on the left.

All right, we're gonna have to go search and rescue now.

This is bad.

Oh my gosh.

Not good, not good, not good.

We see this house where

the top floor of the house was ripped off.

What am I about to find?

Oh, thank you, God.

Thank you, Jesus.

Okay, what is your name?

My name is Evelyn Macon.

Evelyn. I'm John McKinney.

Anybody else in the house with you?

No, just, just was me.

- Just you? Okay. - Mm-hm.

But you're okay.

It was trying to pull me through that window there!

It was a very, very, very strong tornado

hit this place, so.

I'm very sorry.

My husband gonna be so, so hurt.

You'll rebuild. You will rebuild, so.

We're gonna go to

we're gonna get you a good place to go.

We're gonna take care of you, okay?

Alright.

We got people trapped down there, like,

underneath the rubble. Right now.

Alright, jump in.

Let's go find the cop and tell him, okay?

Jump in the back. - What's going on?

Why did I have to be here to do this?

I come all the way from Florida.

I'm trying to avoid hurricanes and I get hit with a tornado.

We'll get some service when we get out of town.

Okay, so you're safe now. - Oh, thank you, God.

Keep hollering so we know where you're at!

Holler!

Somebody here?

Watch the power lines!

Everybody alright?

- Guys, this area is... - Oh, my goodness.

Yeah, this is bad back here.

- Yeah, this is bad. - You all right?

No, we got a little baby,

bleeding real bad from a head injury.

Hold on, we got a police car right here.

Jeez.

I know there's at least two bodies there.

Yeah, this is where we was right here, Reed.

You see, there's... - Chris!

Chris!

Chris? Thank God! - Hey, buddy!

Oh. Thank God.

I hear a [bleep] explosion.

I was on the, there's a road right down there

that I was on and it threw my car about 100ft

and it landed back on its wheels.

All of the windows are gone.

So, I got dispatched to Highway 61,

which is where Chuck's Dairy Bar was.

I could hear the screams for help.

I could hear the people screaming they needed help.

All I can see is nothing,

except through the camera lens I can see.

Emergency crews are gonna show up.

You gotta get this thing off of us!

Okay, well what we're gonna do...

Is this the restaurant, ma'am?

Yes.

How many people are in there?

- Four! - Four? Okay.

When we were pulled out,

we were standing outside.

The whole building was gone. Hum

Nothing was left standing except the cooler we were in.

We see, we saw them bringing bodies in

on the back of trucks.

These go over here, these go over here.

And then you just hear screams.

- What do we do? - We need to call.

Can't get through!

Guys we need ambulances up here, we got an injury.

These people literally had little to

no warning, and I think that surprise element

is likely what contributed to the large loss of life,

but also the injuries as well.

- Major... - Chad?

Yeah?

We gotta transport these guys to the hospital.

There's a phone in here?

I've got mine. But I've got no service.

- Are you okay? - Just, just...

I'm gonna bring you to the hospital.

Take, take nice slow breaths.

Nice slow breaths.

We're transporting two patients that was

in Rolling Forks to the hospital,

they have serious injuries, and where's, where's

the closest hospital that we can go to?

Now to the deadly tornado outbreak

that sliced through the south.

In Rolling Fork, Mississippi, a monster EF-4 tornado,

ripping the city to shreds.

Eyewitness news reporter Morgan Norwood

is on the ground. - Yeah, Sharlene,

I'll tell you this, it's, kinda, personal for me.

You know, my family hails from just three towns over,

just east of this area. So, seeing this,

it is a little bit of an emotional journey.

I remember driving through Rolling Fork

as a child, and seeing it after the tornadoes

have moved through was absolutely horrendous.

I've never seen anything like that.

I first saw Tracy when we were doing live shots

right outside of her restaurant.

She was literally standing on the concrete slab

where her restaurant once stood.

You could just sense the grief on her.

Tracy Harden tells me she's herded her husband

and seven others inside a cooler

as the twister sliced through the restaurant.

Our building doesn't have a roof on it anymore.

So, that's the moment we knew it was bad.

This was unlike anything that I have ever

experienced before because just when you thought

you had gotten through the first cycle...

...a week later, the National Weather Service

is monitoring yet another potentially devastating

severe weather outbreak,

and this time it has eyes on the heartland.

And for perspective and scale,

that just gives you an idea of just

how huge this super cell is.

And let's get you this Live Fox Weather Alert

as the sirens could potentially be going off

with our new tornado warning, including Little Rock here

now in the bullseye of this tornado warning.

When we woke up, it was a normal Friday

and everything was beautiful. Sky was blue.

And just going for a ride to the dentist office.

And we watched this one, this one YouTube channel,

Arkansas Weather Watchers,

and they were predicting, you know, some strong storms.

I honestly didn't pay attention enough to notice

that we were heading right into it.

We were standing there in the dentist office

and I was videotaping

'cause that's what I usually do, you know.

It's strange weather, let's get it on camera.

Yeah, they're saying it on the radio.

It's a tornado.

Babe.

Babe!

Get in here!

Come on.

There's debris flying and everything.

Come on, babe.

Holy crap!

Are you getting the video?

Uh-huh.

This is crazy.

I was listening to it the whole way up here.

I mean we are literally like, in the...

Yeah.

I don't know if you need to be by the window.

Oh, I'm getting this.

Woah,

oh my God!

Oh my God!

You're trying to just figure out what's going on.

You know, are you gonna live? Are you gonna die?

Are y'all okay?

No, I don't think I'm hurt.

- Are you all okay? - Yes.

I'm okay. Can you hear me?

It just went over us.

I literally felt my body lift up off the ground

and slam back down.

It was my husband's arms.

I could hear him screaming,

"Baby, I got you. I got you."

My husband grabbed a hold of me

and started pulling with everything he had

until I guess it slowed down enough

that he could get me inside safely.

No no, I don't think I'm hurt.

I really thought if I could hold that door shut

that we'd be okay.

But I couldn't keep it shut.

It's hard to watch yourself being pulled out

of the building by a tornado

and the only thing holding onto you is your husband.

It's hard to watch that stuff.

The only thing I could think about was my kids

and them being without me.

I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him.

Yeah.

He's a strong man.

A very good man.

And he saved my life.

And I'll love him forever.

Almost the exact same time,

a warning goes off about 500 miles

north of Little Rock.

We are in new and very rare territory

this afternoon as we track two areas

for strong and dangerous tornadoes.

It's been years since the Storm Prediction Center

has issued this high risk threat.

There's so much to love about watching

these things. I have to go see it.

I have to experience the beauty, the power.

Already you can see the structure

on this storm, holy shoot.

This is a beast!

You just have that knot in your stomach, man.

When tornadoes are coming towards towns

or towards your home or whatever, no one is safe.

Like, no one is completely safe.

The circulation is going right towards this town.

Oh, Lord Jesus, God, please.

Spare this town, God.

In the name of Jesus.

And check this out. This is near Hedrick, Iowa.

Check out this monster.

If you live in a mobile home,

that's not a safe space to take shelter.

Make your way to the nearest storm shelter.

Get your children, get your pets.

If you're at work, get as many co-workers as you can see

and get to the same exact place.

Wow! Tornado on the ground!

Gotta be very careful as we come up on this thing.

All right, there it is right there!

Oh my gosh!

No way!

It took my brain a couple seconds to realize

there's a truck in the middle of the, of the road.

Oh, my gosh!

Is he okay?

Oh, my gosh!

You okay?

It hit my parent's house.

My worst fear in this moment would have been

walking in that house, not seeing his parents alive.

Oh my God!

Lord, in the name of Jesus, I pray.

In the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus.

Okay, come on, get out, let's go.

It hit my parent's house!

Okay. You're okay.

Okay, here, let's, let's not panic, okay?

You're okay, you're okay, ready?

Here we go, I got the door for you.

Awesome, you're doing great.

Alright.

Was that your parent's house, you said?

Yeah, it hit my parent's house.

I don't really have...

Get in.

- Here we are. - Right there.

Oh [bleep].

Oh my gosh!

Lord, please, in the name of Jesus,

I pray that they will be okay and they will be alright.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

We went up right into the house,

with them in my vehicle, to check to see if their,

if their parents were dead or not.

- Lord, I pray. - Oh my God!

Lord, in the name of Jesus, I pray.

In the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus.

All right, get out. Come on, let's go.

When I pulled up to that house

you don't know what you're gonna see.

Do you want to stay here

and be on the phone with the police?

We've been hit, we've been hit by a tornado.

Are you okay?

Here, you can get in my car. Let's take our time though.

Take our time.

What happened?

It's okay. We got you, okay?

The, the walls is gone.

You know, you might need to get a new door.

Be careful, be careful, yep.

Yeah, we're gonna...

Yeah, all right . Okay.

How about we could, how about I just...

It was really hard to see them struggling.

The elderly woman was crying

and she just was so disorientated.

No one should have to go through something like that.

Oh, thank you, God.

I'm just glad you guys are okay.

It did come from that way...

Hi buddy.

We really appreciate this.

Oh, absolutely.

You gotta get up. They don't like the rain.

I don't even want to film.

Okay.

This has been the most intimate experience with

someone who has been hit by a tornado that I've ever had.

Yeah, it makes you think

about

everything.

Life.

I think, like, is it worth me stopping?

But there's so much to storms that I just love,

so I, I kept chasing.

Four days later, 115 miles away,

something else is brewing.

There are multiple super cells,

but they all combine at one point

to make this massive storm system.

That blue little dot thing up there, that's us,

and we have to go through all of, ah,

but I think we'll be fine.

Maybe.

By my best guess, all the hail

is still really far west in this thing.

Right.

It's not extending into the forward flank now.

Just four days after the March 31st chase,

I was back out chasing again, but this time

with a group of good chasing friends.

I was in high spirits.

We were cracking jokes.

None of us had any idea what was about to happen.

Okay.

Tap your...

Slow down. Slow down.

Okay.

There's the meso right in front of us!

Woo-hoo!

Keep going, bro!

As we were

trying to get in position,

it became more and more apparent that we would have

to get out in front of it.

We had to drive right through the center of the storm.

There's a gravel road up here, too.

We can take a straight over to one, 100.

- Gravel? - Yeah.

Are you sure about that, Tanner?

I, kind of, want to stay south, bro.

Oh, I see.

We have to follow it.

Turning right or what?

- Turning left. - Yeah.

Here we go!

- Oh, my God! - Let’s go! Let’s go!

As we came out of the valley,

we got our first good glimpse of the whole storm.

Give me the left, right here.

This is the gravel road right here.

Go down this road, go, go, straight, straight, straight!

Nice and easy, though.

It appeared like we would pop out

and we would have a clear view of the tornado

but there's always that risk.

That's a tornado,

the tornado is on the ground right there.

- Where are we? - We are here!

How did we get in this situation?

Our escape route's north right now.

It's okay. It's okay.

I thought

that maybe

we would be okay

and we would actually make it out okay.

And

I was dead wrong.

These winds don't make it seem

like it's okay right now. - I get it. I get it.

Oh my gosh, oh!

I, I get it. I get it.

Oh my gosh, oh!

Lord Jesus, please protect us

in the name of Jesus.

- Oh! - Oh, fudge.

Window up, window up, window up guys!

Guy

I don't know where that tornado is right now,

I don't like this.

Tornado is right next to us, right here!

- Oh, no. - No, it's okay.

Oh, no.

Do we need to get down in the ditch?

Tanner, do we need to get into the ditch?

- Dude, I think we do. - No, no, calm down.

- Holy shoot! - I don't like that.

I don't, Tanner, roll up your window.

Tanner, roll up your window right now!

- Tanner, please. - I'm looking.

We are freaking in the tornado.

This is literally what, oh God, this is terrible.

Thank you Jesus for protecting us in Your name.

And I think that you're going to protect us right now.

In the name of Jesus.

Please dear Lord. Please dear Lord.

We are in it. - Please, Lord.

- Please, Lord! - Please, Lord.

Please Lord protect us!

- It's okay. - Dear God!

Please Lord. Dear Lord,

Please Lord!

Please! Please!

Heads down! Heads down, heads down.

Please!

Stop, stop!

Please! Please!

Please !

Dear Lord!

Jesus!

Please let it be done.

Please!

Please be done!

Please!

Please, God!

Oh, please!

Oh, my God.

Please let it be done.

Oh, thank you, Jesus.

- I, hey. - I'm so sorry, guys.

What's most important is that we're alive.

Yeah.

I, dude, dude, this is, oh my God.

This is literally the worst thing.

This is the worst thing, man, but hey, we're okay.

Are you okay? Are you okay?

Are you okay? - Yeah.

Dude, we're gonna, it's gonna take a long time

to recover from this.

Tanner, watch the power lines.

- Oh my gosh, dude. - I can't...

That was the scariest,

I, I don't want to storm chase again.

I'm done storm chasing.

It’s ok.

I'm so sorry, God.

Bro, it's not your fault okay?

I wanted to go north too.

What do I say to people who think

I shouldn't have been there and I'm in the wrong?

I would say

that maybe you're right.

I don't know.

There's a lot of weight on my shoulders

because talking about this, it's like,

and yeah, and I think mistakes were made

and things

could have been done a little bit better.

At the end of the day, I did the best that I knew how

when it came to that situation.

I know that

I'm extremely grateful

that we're alive.

So, two weeks later,

things are starting to reach a tipping point again.

Another storm system is forming, massive.

This time, outside of Cole, Oklahoma.

If you are in this red shaded area,

that includes Kansas City, Wichita,

as well as Oklahoma City,

it is possible that we could see some storms fire up

that could produce not only some damaging winds,

but also some isolated tornadoes.

My name is Jim Gardner,

I'm the helicopter pilot reporter for KWTV Channel 9,

in Oklahoma City.

We cover all breaking news.

The big thing in Oklahoma is storm chasing.

We're not doing this for fun.

We're doing this to save lives.

Right now I'm sitting right over the top of Washington.

No more than maybe a mile and a half from me.

It is massive.

It's so important that we're accurate

with our reporting when you know that

there's people that's in front of this thing.

That whole thing is spinning.

I mean, it's a massive tornado.

I'm going to pitch it back to you.

I'm going to roll out of here just a little bit

and get a little bit of distance here.

We'll get right back to you.

When I looked up, I saw that I was way too close.

Woah!

Man. Okay, that

what the hell? Where did that come from?

Good Lord.

Okay, we blew out the front window.

I took a hail ball right in my knee, man.

We are beat the hell up! I have no windshield!

The helicopter is beat up!

We're trying to make it to Paul's Valley and land!

The wind started hitting 70 miles an hour.

I looked back over my shoulder and there was the storm.

I'm fighting as hard as I can to get away from the storm.

You gotta fight all the way to the end.

You have to maintain control, or you will die.

All right.

You all right back there?

We made it to Paul's Valley, and let me tell you,

it's a great feeling when you finally turn in

and you know in your mind that you're going to be able

to get this thing on the ground

and everybody's gonna walk away.

We got all the windows back there?

We got some damage somewhere on this thing, I don't know.

Yeah

I took it right in my kneecap, man.

This is one of the things that happens.

It's another day at the job.

Put a new windshield in it

and we'll be right back out on the next storm.

Two hours later, another warning pops up.

This time, for Shawnee, Oklahoma.

I work automotive at Walmart in Oklahoma City.

We were closing down for the night

and as I'm leaving the store,

our tornado warnings on our phones had went off twice.

We all swiped them away

'cause no one was expecting the tornado to hit Shawnee.

I was walking down the west side of the road

and the hail started getting bigger.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Basically serious.

I was just like oh, crap.

So, immediately my mind's thinking

what to do, what to do.

I have no where to actually safely take cover.

You know what I mean? I'm literally out in the open.

And I took cover under literally, it was, like,

maybe a 1ft, you know, overhang of, you know,

the agent, insurance agency, Farmer's Insurance,

on West Federal.

Please Lord Jesus, please help me.

I pulled out my phone to record,

and right before I hit record

all the power just, [tuts] the whole grid just shut down.

Then I went and held onto the glass door,

tried to put my arm through it,

couldn't get my arm through it.

I put my phone in my pocket

and it was still recording.

Don't let me go, Lord!

No!

So, it's 9:45

and residents in Shawnee, Oklahoma, are given a warning

told to take cover immediately.

The tornado cuts straight through the northwest

part of town.

I put my phone in my pocket

and it was still recording.

Please.

I love my kids.

I love my kids. Don't let me go!

Don't let me go!

I love my babies.

Oh, God, please.

No! Lord, help me.

Oh my God.

Oh my God.

Oh no.

No, no!

Please!

No! Jesus Lord, please help me!

Oh my God!

I stopped trying to pull myself to it.

I just let it do its things and held onto the door

as best I could.

Please!

God, please!

It was literally, it was fight mode.

It was do anything I can to be there for my kids, literally.

I'm, like, I am not, I am not,

I am not being taken.

To be honest, I don't, I didn't,

I don't really think that I thought,

I didn't think I was gonna make it.

I literally got hit by a [bleep] tornado.

I held onto that.

I held onto this door right here.

It brings me back to that night.

Well, it makes me appreciate everything I've got.

This month of tornadoes

was something that I've never experienced before.

I had covered just as many tornadoes in one month

as I would in a year.

Can you tell us who lived here?

My mom and dad.

And I was told that they passed away

in each other's arms.

This is where the police department

used to be.

Right here used to be the Post Office.

That's gone.

Alls I could do was try to offer some condolences.

Ended up

giving all the cash away that I had in my wallet.

Just everyone I saw, I just said, "Here,

take a $20".

Just, which is nothing, you know.

These people lost everything.

Family, friends, their community.

I feel I've started over many times in my life.

And so I just look at it as this one's no different.

Just start over, just get it back.

One day at a time, keep moving forward.

Good morning, everyone.

Just to, kind of, give an update on what's been going on

since the tornado.

We have been blessed to be gifted a cook trailer,

which you'll see directly behind me.

We have been serving breakfast and lunch every day.

There's nowhere to sit.

We're still able to take care of food needs.

We're so strong

and we always get through whatever our battle is.

We'll pull through it and get our town back.

Right now, I'm standing on the slab

that's going to be the new Chuck's Dairy Bar.

We're looking to hopefully be back to business

by the beginning of the new year.

So proud of my town.

So proud of the people. Hum

It's not the end.

It's a new beginning.

And we are so grateful for it.