All language subtitles for In.the.Eye.of.the.Storm.S01E06.Texas.Tornado.720p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-NTb_Subtitles01.ENG

I'm a reporter in Texas.

A big part of my job
is covering sports,
specifically football.

I got an assignment covering
the Tigers in Jacksboro.

That day, March 21st,
there were just storms
all over the state of Texas.

We are under a level 3 risk
for severe weather today.

We may have warnings today.

Those are the warnings
for tornadoes.

By noon,
these begin to expand.

They're not severe at noon,
but into
the early afternoon hours,

a couple of these could
end up exhibiting
rotational characteristics.

My name is Starla Sanders,
and I'm the Jacksboro
High School principal.

I take a lot of pride
in that role,

and I know
the importance of it.

This particular Monday,
March 21st,

was our first day back
from spring break.

We were excited.

I was so excited to
go to school that day
to see all the kids

and we were going through
our normal routine.

It wasn't until
about three o'clock

on Monday,
that things kind of changed.

This is
a tornado on the ground.

So this is
a serious situation.

Jacksboro, get to
your safe spot right now!

It starts moving northeast.

It was an EF3,

and to put that
into perspective,

that's winds of
140 miles per hour plus

and for a small town
like Jacksboro,

that could mean
utter destruction.

I received
a text message saying

that the tornado
is on our path,

and then at that point
my gut starts to hurt.

Right across the road from us
at the high school

is the elementary school.

I have two boys
and they attend
Jacksboro Elementary.

I'm Michael Qualls,
former elementary principal
at Jacksboro Elementary.

We had about
a 40-minute warning
for when the storm hit.

We begin loading
all of our students
into the cars in the car lot.

I'm outside
loading kids in the car

and all of a sudden,
the atmosphere changed.

You could hear like a...
like a rolling thunder.

I remember looking at one
of my staff members,

and I said, I think we need
to stop loading cars

and we need to start
getting everybody
here into the safe hallways.

After we've loaded
as many people
as we can out in cars,

I ran into the building,
down to the end
of the hallway.

All of a sudden,
the air goes

and completely
pulls back to me,

like, it sucks
the breath out of me.

I feel this big,
huge explosion.

It pushes me down the hallway.

There's no way
that everybody
is going to be okay.

We went outside

and I saw the elementary roof
coming off the top.

That's when I began to panic.

Because I had two babies
at the elementary.

I had to move debris
to get back
to where the kids were

in the safe hallway
that was close to the gym.

And I asked,
"Is everyone fine?"

And they said, "Yes."

There was probably
about 400 people
in the elementary school

that survived this storm.

My news director calls me
and says, "Hey,

there's been a massive
tornado in Jacksboro.

We need you there
as soon as possible
to do live shots."

It was just a moment
that I will never forget

and just really eerie
in a sense of just

watching all those people
take a really hard look

at what was left
of their community.

It's just a miracle and, uh...

I was one of
the first responders here

and, uh, this campus
did a great job.

It's amazing that no one
was injured that day.

The most important thing is
is that we were all okay.

Every kid, not just my family,

all the kids
at the elementary,

all the kids
at the high school.

I mean, we're talking
minutes of them getting
out of the gym,

getting into the hallway,
getting secure
before that tornado hit.

God really did
put his hand on us

and watched over us
that day for sure.

The tornado in Jacksboro,
we didn't even realize
was just the beginning.

Two hours after
the Jacksboro tornado,

190 miles south,
an EF2 tornado is forming.

My name is Deja.

I'm a waitress at
Twin Peaks Restaurant
in Round Rock, Texas.

There had been warnings
pretty much all day.

Never actually think
that it's going
to hit you or happen to you.

Khadejah is
one of my best friends.

Um, we met at Twin Peaks.

We all get like a...
a ring on our phone.

Tornado warning.

My mom, she's currently
watching the news,

and so she's seeing
live footage

of it hitting this place,
this place, this place.

So she calls me
and she's like,

"Deja, you better go to
the bathroom right now."

Oh, Whittlesey North,
Whittlesey North,
Whittlesey North.

Okay.
We've got
a confirmed tornado.

Let me see.

Round Rock.
- Switch it.

Round Rock.
Move out of the way.

Look to the right. Right.
Tornado on
the ground right now.

Moving over I-35.
And 45.

35 meets 45 toll.

This is live from Round Rock.

On our Whittlesey camera.

We have a confirmed tornado
on the ground.

Take down the banner, please.

Moving across I-35.

We go to the front patio
and we see the tornado
forming across the way.

Blink of an eye,
the tornado was right,
coming right at us.

All I hear is screaming.

We're all standing
at the windows
watching this tornado

get closer and closer
to the restaurant.

Everything happened so fast.

I opened my eyes
and I just see things
like, flying around.

And like... like people being
dragged up and down,

I thought I was gonna die
for real.

Tornado on
the ground right now.

Moving over I-35.

Oh, my God!

It was so fast.

I hear glass everywhere.

The glass hit me in the back.

Once I got up,

I could just hear this lady
screaming, like, screaming.

So after it hit us, it went
directly to the Walmart.

It still looks like a tornado
on the ground to me

at I-35 and 45 flyovers
in Round Rock.

Can we pan a little right?

I know we've got a pole there,

but I don't wanna
miss anything

as this thing moves
a little bit north

eastward from that location.

There's flying debris
on the 45 flyover
in Round Rock.

This is why we need to
take these tornado warnings
seriously.

As soon as we go
to the parking lot,

we see Walmart is all
messed up on the other side

and all of our cars
are totaled.

Adrenaline was rushing
and it's a mess.

...[bleep] right here.

The tornado starts heading
towards a residential area.

You have an entire community
of people

just trying to figure out
what's going on

and how they're
going to take cover?

My name is Michael Talamantez

and I live in
Round Rock, Texas.

It was a weird day,
weather wise,

and they were saying
there was a tornado warning.

Plan A for tornadoes.

Go to the bathroom,
get in the bathtub.

I went outside
and it was about 12 feet away.

I tried to shut the door.

I don't know why I was
trying to shut the door,
so it's so hard.

But I thought maybe
if I shut the door,
keep the big bad monster away.

I don't know
what happened to me,

but I recall
thinking to myself,
"Okay, I'm gonna die now."

Nah.

My daughter's room
really was, uh, decimated.

The wall came in, caved in,
the window caved in.

Uh, giant limestone blocks
that weigh 75, 80, 100 pounds

thrown across her bedroom.

I'm really glad
that my daughter
wasn't in her bed.

Had she been in her bed
or her bedroom,

we would have
a different outcome.

A lot of good memories
at that house.

Raising two
beautiful daughters,

first steps, you know,
and all that was gone.

Everything just gone.

At 6:35 p.m.,

the tornado finally lifts
after being on the ground
for 41 minutes,

and thankfully,
there were no deaths.

But 16 people were injured.

The tornadoes in Jacksboro...

The tornadoes in Round Rock.

Those all happened
on a single day.

But March 21st in Texas,

that's just the beginning
for what would be

a period of intense frequency
of tornadoes.

It would be a week's long
tornado outbreak.

My name is Jay Prater,
and I'm
the managing meteorologist

at KAKE Television
in Wichita, Kansas.

This part of the country
does experience its share

of significant
and violent tornadoes.

It was business as usual.

My wife is cooking dinner.

My kids are playing
amongst themselves.

We could see the beginnings
of the tornado
starting to form.

You know,
it kind of looks like
a little spaghetti noodle.

Kind of snaking down
towards the ground,
if you will.

But at this point,
it was nowhere
near the ground.

As I'm on the air
I'm looking at the radar, um,

it's looking eerily similar
to the worst storm
in Andover's history.

You can't live in Andover
without being

very acutely aware
of the 1991 tornado.

On April 29th, 2022,

uh, I'm on the air watching this
tornado develop rapidly,

and it's looking scary.

Uh, on the ground,

I've got
several storm chasers

trying to get a visual
on this tornado.

Around 8:15 p.m.,
one of the storm chasers
sends up a drone.

We have a confirmed tornado
that is about to roll through

a very populated part
of Andover.

This is when people
are gonna get hurt or killed.

We have
a significant tornado.

And it's approaching
an elementary school.

And it's growing in intensity.

It's starting
to get very scary.

All of this is occurring
on the east side
of Andover Road,

so I'm... I'm only focusing on
"Where is it?

And where is it going?"

We have
a life threatening event
in progress right now.

Your heart sinks.

I started taking pictures

and realized that we had
something on our hands

that It was going to be
the most amazing spectacle

of Mother Nature that
I could have ever witnessed.

At the time,

It had some distance,
you know,

so I didn't think
it was going to hit us.

Looking back at it,
it was dumb.

I saw my wife and children
were okay,
but just looking around

and seeing what used to be
is no longer there,

It just...
You can't even process it.

You're just almost in denial.

Did this really just happen?

And is this real life?

You know, am I dreaming?

In the snap of a finger,

your home
is no longer your home.

Now it's starting to make
a turn from a northeast track

to a more northerly track.

And your thought is,
I really hope
everybody got the word,

heard the word, took action
and wound up being safe.

My name is Wesley Schnauber.

I live in Andover, Kansas.

Lived there all my life.

I was working as
front desk at the Y.M.C.A.

I'm looking out the the window
with my friends and...

and the top of the tornado's
coming down from the clouds.

I start to see debris
circling the tornado,

and that's when I realized
that it is bad.

That this is serious
and we need to
start taking action.

As we enter the locker room,
there's a father
and son next to us.

And they're just praying.

I'm not
a religious man myself,

but that... It kind of
struck something in me.

That's... I felt like
I could die here.

So we've got that circulation.

Yes, Deb, go ahead.

I walk out in the lobby

and the front of
the Y.M.C.A. is gone.

There's just about 10-12 cars

just thrown through
the front of the lobby.

And it's just this...

I mean, it looks like
an explosion went off.

It's truly

terrifying to
walk out there and see
that that this just hit us.

The tornado is intensifying
as it continues
its track to the north.

My daughter, who is
a sophomore in high school,

is having her recital
at an outdoor amphitheater

which is right in
the path of the tornado.

Okay, Time to call Kelsey,
the director of
my daughter's dance studio.

But it does look like
emergency management

is saying that there are
reports of structure damage

along the path.
Yeah,
it's still out there.

I get a report in that
at the amphitheater

was damaged
at Andover Central Park.

That's when I had
the rush of reality

that, thank God
my daughter was not there.

I very rarely
do that kind of thing.

But fortunately,
Kelsey took my advice.

You only hope
that all of your messaging,

everything you have done

has people taking action
and getting out of harm's way.

April 5th, I got off work,
and I talked
to a buddy of mine

and we agreed to meet
at a Black Creek Golf Club.

And the tornado warnings
went off on our phones.

I need to get inside
and try to find
somewhere to hide.

But the problem was,
all three of the doors
were locked.

It definitely stirred
something in me,

and it gives me chills
still today,

thinking about
that moment actually.

If the tornado
had any higher rating,

it would have, like,
it sucked us out of that...

That locker room.

I just sat there
in the driveway

with my headlights
of my truck shining

on what used to be
our family home.

And I just sat there
for a minute and...

It was...

You see...

You see what you work
so hard for

and, uh, you see
what you worked
so hard to build

and do for your family,
and it's just gone.

Tonight, we take a closer look
at the damage

yesterday's tornadoes
left on multiple communities.

Officials estimate
that nearly 60-80 homes

were damaged in the storm,
with debris stretching
over two miles.

You're both
in awe of nature,

but your gut churns
a little bit
because you understand

the destructive power
that is being unleashed.

We lived it, and to say
that we came out of that
unharmed is a true miracle.

God had truly done
something miraculous
in keeping us all safe.

I wouldn't have
wanted my boys
to go through a tornado

with anybody else because he
he's definitely amazing.

So, he just did a great job.
He's a hero.

He took care of those kids.

He made the right choices.

And, um, you know,
the elementary staff
and students

should be
forever grateful for him.

Don't ever doubt nature
because she doesn't play.

That day was very...
It was a pivotal moment
in my life

that I needed to
do something different.

I bounced back.
I'm completely bounced back.

I'm in school.

I'm working hard.
I'm still a mom.

I was reluctant to leave
after the tornado hit us.

Everybody told me, just,
you know, maybe it's
a good time to cut and run,

but I'm terribly stubborn.

And so I did not want
to cut and run.

Being so close to, I guess,
death in a way like it's...

just how...

precious it all is, I guess,

how it could be taken away

in a flash and...

I don't know. It's the best
way I could put it.

Precious. Life is precious.