Original subtitles

[reporter] We have a catastrophic tornado.

Lives are being changed right now.

Send some prayers.

[Ofc. Tyler speaking]

[Lt. Derek speaking]

[shattering, banging]

[witnesses speaking]

[screaming]

My name is Kyanna Lou Parsons.

I currently reside in Mayfield, Kentucky.

I work at the candle factory as a QA supervisor.

I'm on my way to work driving. A friend calls me.

He says to me, "You shouldn't go to work."

And I'm like, "What are you talking about?"

And he says, "No, you ain't hear about the weather?"

I'm telling him, I'm like, "I'm going to work.

"It's Christmas time.

"I have to make this money. I got these kids.

They want Christmas presents."

Walking in the building, and it smells so good.

And I remember we were working on Eucalyptus Mint.

It's still something that is very much ingrained in my mind.

Man, it is warm, though.

It's hard to believe Christmas Eve is two weeks away,

and we are still in the 70s. I'm Chris Bruin.

I'm a meteorologist for the Weather Channel.

Oftentimes, we think about severe weather in the U.S.,

and it's in the springtime when it gets warmer outside,

that's when we typically see our severe storms.

This outbreak is unusual in the fact it hit in December.

As we head into the late-night hours, I just have this feeling

that something terrible is about to happen.

[thunder rumbling]

[Chris] I just wrapped up my last live shot,

and I go to the hotel room. -[sirens wailing]

[Chris] The sirens are going off outside the hotel room.

I take my phone out and start to document.

Nocturnal tornadoes go from 0 to 200 or 300 miles per hour

in seconds. -[thunder cracks]

The abruptness of it is why they are so destructive.

[Ofc. Tyler speaking]

I'm on air and we hear word of a tornado that has touched down

in northeastern Arkansas. -There it is.

Boom, there you go!

This is the tornado right there.

That is a tornado.

[Chris] A little after 9 PM, the tornado emergency was

issued for Mayfield, Kentucky.

And when we talk about a tornado emergency,

that's as bad as it gets.

That means a large and violent tornado is on the ground

moving towards a city center like Mayfield.

It's dark. It's hard to even see.

You don't know what's coming.

[thunder cracking]

[emergency siren blaring]

[Chris and companion speaking]

[Chris] I'm following the tornado's progress live on radar

as it's developed towards Mayfield.

I knew it wasn't gonna end well.

My name is Derek Vaughan.

I'm a lieutenant with the Mayfield Police Department

in Kentucky.

I've seen reports of a very large, significant tornado,

and it's coming in a direct line towards Mayfield,

and it's moving incredibly fast. It's intimidating.

I start parking vehicles on the Northeast corner of

the Police Department building.

The structure will maybe shield our cars from getting damaged.

I can see something in the sky

every time a flash of lightning goes off.

I can see a large, dark object.

It just gets bigger. There's a large tornado coming.

-[thunder rumbling] -[wind howling]

[Lt. Derek] Our police department has a large basement underneath it

that is storm-rated. That's going to be our shelter.

[doors trembling]

[Lt. Derek] We all make it down into the basement.

We've got 30 people at least, maybe more, in the basement.

I feel the wind, which is so thick and heavy that

it's being like underwater.

And I don't know what's happening around me.

[loud pop]

The only thing in my mind

is just fear at this point.

[thunder rumbles]

[shattering, banging]

[Lt. Derek] I can hear what sounds like a bomb going off.

This may be it. This may be the day that I die.

[clanging, rumbling]

We have a catastrophic tornado that is in Mayfield right now.

Lives are being changed right now.

Send some prayers for folks that are dealing

with this right now.

I'm in this big, huge warehouse.

There's about 50, 60 of us at work.

-We could hear the thunder. -[crackling]

Then all of a sudden, my ears started to pop.

And I'm realizing that it's more serious.

Next thing I know, I feel like I'm lifted, and I sway right,

left, right, and then boom.

The whole building falls on us.

[indistinct cries]

This is it for me.

[thunder rumbling faintly]

My name is Joseph Siedel.

I was formerly a deputy jailer for the Graves County Jail

in Mayfield, Kentucky.

When we saw the tornado coming up towards Graves County,

we knew we were in trouble.

I was incredibly concerned for all 93 inmate lives that

we have in there, along with my coworkers.

My heart kind of went into my stomach.

I have to make sure that everybody is safe.

[loud banging, crashing]

[Joseph] The tornado is about to come to the jail,

and these inmates are trouble.

[debris crashing]

[loud banging, crashing]

[Joseph] All of a sudden, the ceiling had collapsed.

[sirens wailing faintly]

[Joseph] This is unreal.

The jail's been struck

with 93 inmates inside.

[sirens continue wailing faintly]

[Joseph] It's overwhelming.

I see extensive damage to the ceilings, to the hallways.

There's debris on the floor. There's concrete on the floor.

The facility is incredibly unstable.

Our main priority was the safety of my coworkers,

the safety of the inmates, hoping that everybody's OK.

I have to wait a few agonizing minutes before I can safely

make sure that the storm has passed.

We start making our way back up, and we realize the door is

now jammed shut,

and we're not able to get it open.

[Lt. Derek] The wind coming down the hallway has created

this suction on the door.

We had to, you know, break our way out.

[indistinct chatter]

[bleep]

[chatter continues]

[Lt. Derek] And as we get out and we emerge from the basement,

we see just completely destroyed.

I'm just shocked. I'm in disbelief.

[Lt. Derek groans] Ah.

[Lt. Derek] The first thing I can think of is, I have

to check on my family.

I was able to get in touch with my wife.

She assured me her and the kids were fine,

and that they were safe, and that I could focus on doing

what I needed to do.

[man] Hey, this car is back here piled up against...

[wind howling loudly]

[Lt. Derek speaking]

[Lt. Derek] People coming in inside the police station

to take immediate shelter.

I can see that there's a lot of very frightened people looking

to us for help. -[man] Come on!

[Lt. Derek speaking]

[indistinct radio chatter]

[indistinct chatter]

[Lt. Derek] I'm making sure everyone is OK, making sure they're safe.

Once I've determined everyone is OK, I'm beginning to go

through the checklist in my head of people to notify.

This is the most destructive tornado that I've ever

experienced in my life.

I'm getting a report now that the jail by the courthouse

is also damaged.

They need immediate assistance to maintain control of

the inmate population there, to ensure that no inmates

escape out into the chaos.

I can't let my guys down. I travel to the jail myself.

[sirens wailing]

[Lt. Derek speaking]

[Lt. Derek] The jail is compromised.

They need assistance maintaining that and evacuating

them to get them to safety, and to make sure

that they do not escape.

As I get there, I can see that the greater structure is...

completely devastated,

barely standing in places.

I'm in disbelief.

[indistinct radio chatter]

[Ofc. Tyler] The tornado has completely destroyed the jail

that housed around 100 inmates that night.

It's a very nerve-wracking to get that call.

You just prepare for anything.

It was catastrophic.

They had holes that they could see in the building.

The walls were cracked.

[indistinct]...the church.

[indistinct chatter continues]

[Ofc. Tyler] We knew the jail wasn't safe.

We had to get the inmates somewhere else.

[Lt. Derek] The last thing I want is for dangerous inmates

to get out into the community.

My level of anxiety is certainly going up

at this point.

This large tornado is still on the ground.

[Joseph speaking]

[Joseph] It's an extremely complex situation.

I was incredibly concerned.

We need to check on the inmates and make sure that they're all

out of their cells and they're safe.

We house anybody from misdemeanors to felons,

but they are all humans and they all need taken care of.

We'll go, I'll need to see --

[overlapping chatter]

You know, the inmates starting to get everybody's attention

saying, "Hey, you know, there's something going on.

There's some type of medical emergency."

The inmates are on the floor in the hallway.

A fellow coworker, he begins CPR.

He did not look good.

I noticed that he has a pulse.

And then we figured out a way to get him to the hospital.

-[inmate] OK. -[Joseph speaking]

Step just a little down. There's a stick right there.

So I took custody of him,

we got in my car, and I took him to the hospital.

[Joseph speaking]

[Lt. Derek] We've loaded the inmates into buses to ensure

they get to another secure facility.

[indistinct radio chatter]

I'm getting further reports from my various officers

who have now dispatched all over town,

trying to assess what's damaged.

[Jean] A confirmed tornado, a violent tornado,

a potentially deadly tornado, and it is moving at around

60 miles per hour in the northeasterly direction to

the northeast of Mayfield.

[indistinct radio chatter]

[Lt. Derek] One of the reports comes in.

[Kyanna and others speaking]

[Lt. Derek] The candle factory has taken a direct hit from the tornado.

Tremendous fear really sets in.

[woman screaming]

[reporter] This is a very urgent situation right now in

Mayfield, Kentucky at this candle factory.

We know right now, on the ground,

rescue efforts are underway.

Bodies and people are being pulled.

When the building came down, it came down on me.

-[indistinct cries] -[Kyanna] I'm stuck.

[Lt. Derek] The candle factory has taken a direct hit from

the tornado and is completely leveled...

with possibly over 100 employees trapped inside.

All I can think about is I gotta try to do whatever I can to

get these people out.

[indistinct radio chatter]

[Ofc. Tyler] You just see a ball of rubble,

and you just climb in it and you start looking around,

you know, looking for any signs of life, listening for screams

of help -- people are trapped.

It's a race against time.

-[woman #1] I don't know. -[woman #2 speaking]

[Kyanna] We're all laying, we're all on the ground.

About 50, 60 of us, I am...

scared.

I still held onto my phone.

The silence, the noise, hearing those screams,

all those things are just making me more anxious

and more scared.

I get on Facebook live to keep myself calm.

[siren wailing]

[Lt. Derek and woman speaking]

[Lt. Derek] I'm on scene speaking to several individuals

who either work there or know people that work there.

They're just in tears.

I've never seen anything to this scale of destruction.

[indistinct chatter]

There's just this tremendous...

sense of fear for the people that are trapped inside

that structure.

It's still raining at this point.

Water is probably raining down all these people trapped.

They're probably freezing, suffering.

[Kyanna] I started thinking, I'm not gon' make it.

Now I'm starting to worry about my children.

I have five children.

I am thinking that I may not see them again.

[Kyanna and others speaking]

[siren chirps]

[Kyanna] When finally they did come to rescue us,

I was the very last person to get out.

And now I'm standing on rubble.

You would not believe that anyone survived.

[sirens wailing faintly]

-[rain hissing] -[thunder clapping]

This tornado is going unseen, barreling and destroying

everything across its path.

And you have to be in your safe place.

This tornado is just dangerous and deadly.

I'm Courtney Stewart.

I'm a mom of nine, and I'm from Bremen, Kentucky.

We've always had storms, always.

But we've never been in any sort of tornado.

[thunder cracking]

I just could feel it in my bones

that something wasn't right.

I was watching TV.

They said the storms were gonna be really bad.

My husband goes outside to check.

His face, when he came in, was obvious

that something was wrong.

The tornado's coming.

I mean, you could just hear it, almost like a train,

just really loud.

I'm trying to grab all the kids I can get in my hand

and go get in the car.

We knew if we stayed that we wouldn't have made it.

[Courtney] I know!

[Courtney and husband continue]

[Courtney screaming]

[screaming continues]

[Courtney] The stuff that was hitting the car almost felt like

it was being shot at.

[muffled screaming and clattering]

Everything happened so fast, it just didn't seem real.

You know, we survived in that car, but it was the worst night

ever of my entire life.

There's been more tornado warnings that have popped up,

and so we're gonna zoom out to just show you how large

this system is.

This is really tracking, you know, about

two lines of storms. -Yeah.

Seventy eight tornado warnings so far already this evening.

[Chris] There's another threat coming.

I'm watching this tornado-warned storm on radar,

and I'm very concerned because it seems to be

intensifying in Arkansas.

[reporter] This is from Jonesboro, Arkansas, and so this is,

I believe, a video that's confirming, yes,

you can see that tornado.

Jean, I couldn't even see the tornado until

the lightning flashed.

[thunder cracking]

[Jordan speaking]

My name is Jordan Hall,

and I'm a full-time storm chaser.

[Scott speaking]

I'm with my buddy, Scott.

It's way more dangerous chasing at nighttime, because you can

only see this tornado when the lightning illuminates.

I knew it was a very strong tornado.

[Jordan speaking]

The initial feeling in my gut is fear.

This is what it's all about.

So I just pointed my camera

to the southwest and started rolling.

[sirens wailing]

We get on the highway, and our plan is to let

this tornado cross the road as close as possible,

but safely in front of us.

All it takes is 30 seconds to be off on radar

to really get yourself hurt.

We realized this tornado's actually coming directly at us.

[Jordan and Scott speaking]

[sirens wailing]

We're right in the path of this tornado, and we're flying

backwards, trying to get out of the way.

[Jordan and Scott speaking]

I see it's going towards the small town of

Monette, Arkansas. People are in danger.

As we got into town, that's when we come

across the damage.

It was like a war zone.

The former firefighter in me is like,

"We gotta do search and rescue."

I began hearing the screams for help.

[woman and Jordan speaking]

[Jordan] It's an elderly home.

[residents and Jordan speaking]

[Jordan] I made my way back out into the parking lot

where residents had been rescued.

That's somebody's mom. That's somebody's grandpa.

And it gets really hard to hide your emotions.

It's heartbreaking.

And that's when I started thinking about my own family

and ended up crying a little bit.

I had never experienced anything like that.

[reporter] As we continue to update this, we'll see that debris tracker

right over Barnsley, Kentucky.

And so, when you have these towns, that means it can

pick up even more debris as it moves through

and create even more damage.

[Chris] There was still an active tornado.

People are going to die if they don't take

the threat seriously.

My name is Trent Arnold.

I'm a former deputy with Hopkins County Sheriff's Office.

[sirens wailing faintly]

[Trent speaking]

[Trent] Deputy Troy Blue and I, we began searching

these residences and looking for anybody that may need help.

Our flashlight's the only light that we have,

and we're looking around.

There's no houses there anymore.

There's debris everywhere.

I thought to I tell myself, this is bad, like

there's gonna be some people hurt.

[man speaking through radio]

[Troy] We're hearing on the radio that we're looking for two infants.

It puts you in shock.

This is a disaster.

We hear somebody scream in the distance.

Trent and I take off to the sound.

[Trent] We kind of push up what feels like a wall.

We revealed a bathtub.

[over radio] White male.

[indistinct radio chatter]

[Troy] Hey, oh, my -- [indistinct].

Move easy. Hey!

Move easy.

[baby cries]

[Trent speaking]

Both of these children were right there in the front yard,

but covered in debris.

[man and Trent speaking]

[Troy] Hey -- [yells indistinctly]

As I picked this child up, hearing those cries,

it's a sense of relief.

[Trent] You have to have hope in that moment

that you may get to reunite this child with their family.

Minutes before this, she thought that

she had lost everything.

-[woman yelling] -[Trent speaking]

[woman] Oh God -- [continues indistinctly]

I was the guy in the truck up the hill.

[baby crying]

We were able to reunite these kids with the grandmother,

they made it through in nothing more than a bathtub,

some blankets, and a Bible.

It was nothing short of a miracle that both of

these children made it through this event unharmed.

The tornado is still ongoing through so much of western

and southern Kentucky.

Continues to track towards the northeast, towards the town

of Dawson Springs.

It's becoming increasingly violent.

My name is John Martin.

I live with my wife, Desiree, and my two kids,

Shayla and Jeremy.

I'm worried about this storm.

I'm watching this heading our way.

I don't want them to worry.

I don't like to tell them anything, you know,

bad's coming, unless I think, well, it's time.

They're gonna have to be prepared.

[reporter speaking]

[John speaking]

Suddenly, I hear the sirens go off.

[sirens wailing]

[John] My wife, she's in a wheelchair.

I tell Shayla to go ahead and get her mom, go ahead

and take her into the bathroom, because it seems to be

the safest place in the house.

Power goes out.

There's an emergency light we have in the bathroom,

and I switch that on.

I just hear this low rumbling noise.

[rumble]

It's hard... the next part.

Yeah, give me a minute.

[ominous music builds]

[Lt. Derek speaking]

Reports are coming in that this second tornado is coming

through and that we really only have minutes before it

gets here. We need to get some shelter.

[Lt. Derek speaking]

I've got minutes to make some very hard choices that could

result in people living or dying.

[glass shattering]

We're breaking into a bank and we're police officers that

keep people from breaking into banks.

[Lt. Derek] I'm one of the officers

still checking the meteorology reports

when I hear that the second tornado is now going

to miss us completely,

and I just kind of let out a breath of relief.

The walls are shaking, like we're in some

kind of an earthquake.

This is the tornado.

I knew it was coming.

[loud rumbling]

I just look up, and there's just

a complete blackness.

There's debris coming in...

mixed with insulation, and then suddenly,

it's just complete silence.

[Desiree speaking]

[John] I'd say that this was everything

that I didn't expect. We came out unscathed.

And I noticed half our house is gone.

I really couldn't believe it, hard to believe that we were

actually in that bathroom.

When you look at the damage.

How...

just simple wood and drywall kept us alive

when brick houses just disappeared.

I don't even really know how to explain that,

I'm just lucky.

This tornado outbreak produced 71 tornadoes within 24 hours,

not only wiping homes and communities off the map,

but taking lives as well.

[melancholic music playing]

There's so much damage. It's hard to...

Visuals don't even do it justice.

It really played out even worse than we feared.

[Chris speaking]

[Chris] It's so overwhelming,

and as far as the eye can see, it's just sheer devastation.

I've never seen anything like that.

Mayfield...

always will...

come back to me. It'll always be a staple

um, as to how damaging a tornado can be.

[melancholic music continues]

God must have something else planned for me

that he kept me here.

But my heart goes out to those families.

I was blessed that night.

Everything could've fallen down on me, but it didn't.

So I'm grateful.

Seeing the people that got impacted by the storm

and the families that had lost a loved one during the storm

really left a dent on how I view nighttime tornadoes.

[wind blowing]

[John] We came out unscathed.

Everybody was fine, even the dog was fine [chuckles].

All I could think about, really,

even to this day, I think of all the people...

that didn't make it. -[Courtney] Got your flower?

I found out a few days later that I was pregnant.

And so...

out of something bad, it was good [chuckles].