1
00:00:06,297 --> 00:00:08,299
[buzz of voices]
2
00:00:10,051 --> 00:00:11,720
- [school bell rings]
- [door opens]
3
00:00:11,803 --> 00:00:14,222
[man 1] We were the class of 2011
at Joplin High,
4
00:00:15,432 --> 00:00:18,226
and we all were gettin' ready
for our graduation.
5
00:00:18,309 --> 00:00:19,352
[dramatic music playing]
6
00:00:19,436 --> 00:00:22,731
{\an8}[reporter 1] A tornado outbreak
rages across the country.
7
00:00:22,814 --> 00:00:26,026
{\an8}Tuscaloosa, Alabama,
destroyed by a violent twister.
8
00:00:27,610 --> 00:00:30,947
{\an8}[reporter 2] In a world
with no shortage of natural disasters,
9
00:00:31,031 --> 00:00:34,534
signs are now pointing
toward the apocalypse.
10
00:00:35,618 --> 00:00:38,455
{\an8}[man 2] Most people I went to school with
thought the world was gonna end.
11
00:00:38,538 --> 00:00:41,541
{\an8}[reporter 3] The second deadliest
tornado outbreak in US history.
12
00:00:42,167 --> 00:00:44,002
{\an8}More than 300 twisters.
13
00:00:44,085 --> 00:00:47,047
{\an8}[man 2] So we called ourselves
the Class of the Apocalypse.
14
00:00:47,130 --> 00:00:51,801
[reporter 2] Camping says mathematical
clues in the Bible add up to May 21st.
15
00:00:51,885 --> 00:00:53,928
[man 3] Most people thought
that was kinda ridiculous.
16
00:00:54,012 --> 00:00:56,097
{\an8}"Buy this paper
if it's the last thing you do."
17
00:00:56,181 --> 00:00:58,975
{\an8}- If it's the last thing you do.
- Everybody talking about this.
18
00:00:59,059 --> 00:01:01,478
{\an8}[man 3] We figured we would
all get together on that night.
19
00:01:01,561 --> 00:01:08,401
- [presenter 1] Three minutes to liftoff.
- [crowd] Five, four, three, two, one.
20
00:01:08,485 --> 00:01:09,903
[beeping]
21
00:01:09,986 --> 00:01:11,446
[woman] We're still alive!
22
00:01:11,529 --> 00:01:12,655
[cheering]
23
00:01:14,657 --> 00:01:18,495
[man 3] A little ominous to think
that we were all just celebrating life
24
00:01:18,578 --> 00:01:22,957
24 hours prior
to the… worst thing that could happen.
25
00:01:23,041 --> 00:01:24,167
[man3] That's a tornado.
26
00:01:24,250 --> 00:01:26,127
[woman 1] Where do we go?
It's right around us.
27
00:01:26,211 --> 00:01:29,172
- [man 3] Oh my God! Oh my God!
- [woman 1] Oh my God!
28
00:01:29,798 --> 00:01:31,841
[man 3] Come on! Get in, get in!
29
00:01:50,693 --> 00:01:54,072
[TV presenter 1] Predictions of
the end of the world have come and gone.
30
00:01:54,155 --> 00:01:57,242
[TV presenter 2] The apocalypse
failed to occur on May 21st.
31
00:01:58,660 --> 00:02:03,039
Camping clarified
that a spiritual judgment day began on…
32
00:02:03,123 --> 00:02:05,125
[Mac] That day started off pretty rough.
33
00:02:05,708 --> 00:02:08,253
I woke up with one
of the worst hangovers of my life.
34
00:02:08,837 --> 00:02:12,549
We had a huge party. We…
we called it the "Staying Alive" party.
35
00:02:12,632 --> 00:02:14,926
[rock music plays]
36
00:02:15,510 --> 00:02:19,097
The world was gonna end.
It was gonna cease to exist.
37
00:02:19,180 --> 00:02:23,643
And we figured
we'd just drink until the next day.
38
00:02:23,726 --> 00:02:25,436
Mac was hungover.
39
00:02:25,520 --> 00:02:30,733
I wanted greasy pizza,
but he wasn't havin' any of that. [laughs]
40
00:02:30,817 --> 00:02:32,527
[playing electric guitar]
41
00:02:32,610 --> 00:02:34,362
[Kaylee] Was it in tune?
42
00:02:34,445 --> 00:02:35,697
- Huh?
- [Kaylee] Was it in tune?
43
00:02:35,780 --> 00:02:37,115
- Not quite.
- [Kaylee] Okay.
44
00:02:37,198 --> 00:02:38,616
I was dating Mac.
45
00:02:39,784 --> 00:02:41,327
We bonded over music.
46
00:02:41,828 --> 00:02:46,708
But Mac was stoked out on weather,
which I thought was really cute.
47
00:02:46,791 --> 00:02:48,209
I was like, "All right."
48
00:02:48,710 --> 00:02:51,880
[TV presenter 3] Janice Huff is upstairs
with more on the storms. Good morning.
49
00:02:51,963 --> 00:02:55,550
Right now, not a whole lot going on.
But the ingredients are there.
50
00:02:55,633 --> 00:02:59,387
The perfect ingredients, unfortunately,
this time of the year for tornadoes.
51
00:03:01,931 --> 00:03:03,391
[Mac] I stepped outside.
52
00:03:03,474 --> 00:03:07,979
And when I looked up,
there was blue sky in all directions.
53
00:03:08,479 --> 00:03:11,816
There was just one storm
coming out of the west all by itself.
54
00:03:11,900 --> 00:03:13,234
[whimpers]
55
00:03:13,318 --> 00:03:15,987
[Mac] There was a huge cumulonimbus cloud.
56
00:03:16,613 --> 00:03:20,366
But the top was just so tall
and so high up in the atmosphere
57
00:03:20,450 --> 00:03:23,369
that you couldn't see the very tip of it.
58
00:03:25,872 --> 00:03:29,250
That was a dead giveaway
that that was an intense thunderstorm.
59
00:03:31,252 --> 00:03:33,880
I guess, technically,
I was an amateur storm chaser,
60
00:03:33,963 --> 00:03:36,299
'cause I've chased so many storms.
61
00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:40,053
But I'd never seen anything like that.
62
00:03:41,804 --> 00:03:43,848
It just blew my mind. It blew my mind.
63
00:03:43,932 --> 00:03:45,433
Mac pulled up the radar.
64
00:03:45,516 --> 00:03:48,269
I remember him pointing at it and saying,
65
00:03:48,353 --> 00:03:51,689
"If anything's gonna spit out a tornado,
it's gonna be a cell like this."
66
00:03:52,315 --> 00:03:55,985
I asked Kaylee and her brother… I said,
"Hey, you guys wanna go check this out?"
67
00:03:56,069 --> 00:03:59,155
It was just a done deal at that point.
I think it was unspoken.
68
00:03:59,239 --> 00:04:00,323
"Yeah, let's do this."
69
00:04:00,406 --> 00:04:01,991
[car doors slamming]
70
00:04:02,075 --> 00:04:04,077
- [engine starts]
- [rhythmic beeping]
71
00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:06,162
[suspenseful music playing]
72
00:04:11,834 --> 00:04:13,211
[PA chimes]
73
00:04:16,631 --> 00:04:19,634
[man] May 22nd, 2011,
my mom and I were flying
74
00:04:19,717 --> 00:04:22,929
from San Diego, California,
to Joplin, Missouri.
75
00:04:24,305 --> 00:04:26,432
I definitely was different
than other kids.
76
00:04:26,516 --> 00:04:31,271
A lot of kids were out there playing
football, or soccer, or watching cartoons.
77
00:04:31,354 --> 00:04:34,065
All I wanted to do
was watch the Weather Channel
78
00:04:34,148 --> 00:04:35,650
or report the weather myself.
79
00:04:35,733 --> 00:04:38,736
Chad Crilley reporting live here
at Big Bear, California,
80
00:04:38,820 --> 00:04:40,488
where we're dealing with heavy snow.
81
00:04:40,571 --> 00:04:41,489
- Whoa!
- [woman laughing]
82
00:04:41,572 --> 00:04:45,285
Severe weather is continuing
to pound southern California.
83
00:04:45,368 --> 00:04:47,537
- [woman] You feel like a superstar?
- [both laugh]
84
00:04:47,620 --> 00:04:52,500
At nine years old, I became the kidcaster.
And then I became the teencaster.
85
00:04:52,583 --> 00:04:54,335
Good morning, everyone.
Take a peek at this.
86
00:04:54,419 --> 00:04:55,837
We're starting out this morning…
87
00:04:55,920 --> 00:04:59,424
[Chad] I probably knew more about weather
than most people gave me credit for.
88
00:04:59,507 --> 00:05:01,926
I particularly
took an interest in tornadoes.
89
00:05:02,010 --> 00:05:03,761
[horn blaring]
90
00:05:03,845 --> 00:05:06,431
- You've gotta get further ahead of it.
- I know what I'm doing.
91
00:05:07,181 --> 00:05:08,933
[Chad] The first time
that I watched Twister,
92
00:05:09,017 --> 00:05:11,269
it totally tapped into my curiosity
93
00:05:11,352 --> 00:05:15,481
about what has to happen for something
as violent as a big tornado to occur.
94
00:05:17,525 --> 00:05:20,778
But also what that must be like
to experience in person.
95
00:05:20,862 --> 00:05:23,156
Temperatures are gonna be
goin' into the upper 60s today.
96
00:05:23,239 --> 00:05:24,991
Like I said, just a really nice day.
97
00:05:25,074 --> 00:05:27,410
[Chad] I was getting a little bored
of San Diego weather.
98
00:05:27,493 --> 00:05:30,705
My dream was always to report the weather
where there was weather.
99
00:05:34,542 --> 00:05:38,296
I wanted to go to an area in the Midwest
known as Tornado Alley
100
00:05:38,379 --> 00:05:43,885
that is more susceptible to tornadoes
than anywhere else in the world
101
00:05:43,968 --> 00:05:45,553
because of the environment there.
102
00:05:46,637 --> 00:05:49,182
Warm and cold air meet up together
103
00:05:49,265 --> 00:05:53,770
and cause incredibly strong rotations,
which produce tornadoes.
104
00:05:54,395 --> 00:05:56,022
Without telling my mom,
105
00:05:56,105 --> 00:05:59,108
I emailed a number of TV meteorologists
across the Midwest.
106
00:05:59,692 --> 00:06:00,902
I got one email back.
107
00:06:00,985 --> 00:06:02,695
[theme music playing]
108
00:06:03,780 --> 00:06:07,658
{\an8}Well, it's turned out to be
a very gloomy evening across the area
109
00:06:07,742 --> 00:06:10,703
as we have been seeing thunderstorms
through central Texas.
110
00:06:10,787 --> 00:06:14,832
[Chad] And that was from meteorologist
Doug Heady at KOAM in Joplin.
111
00:06:14,916 --> 00:06:17,668
It's going to get pretty nasty
after midnight.
112
00:06:17,752 --> 00:06:21,881
Chad said that he wanted to come to
Tornado Alley and do some job shadowing.
113
00:06:21,964 --> 00:06:23,466
He even sent me some videos.
114
00:06:23,549 --> 00:06:28,388
[Chad] After months of planning,
the KPPRLA Weather Center…
115
00:06:28,471 --> 00:06:30,807
[Heady] He had a studio in his garage.
116
00:06:30,890 --> 00:06:33,309
Meteorologist Chad Crilley here
joining you…
117
00:06:33,393 --> 00:06:36,813
I could tell Chad was serious.
But because he was 13,
118
00:06:36,896 --> 00:06:40,066
I obviously had to say,
"Hey, Chad, I gotta talk to your mom."
119
00:06:40,149 --> 00:06:42,902
I was a little perplexed.
I thought, "Okay, who is this guy?"
120
00:06:42,985 --> 00:06:44,862
"And where is Joplin?"
121
00:06:44,946 --> 00:06:47,490
Chad kind of said he wanted to go alone.
122
00:06:47,573 --> 00:06:50,660
And I said, "That's not happening.
I'm going with you."
123
00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:53,704
[Doug] Historically, our biggest tornadoes
always occur in May.
124
00:06:53,788 --> 00:06:58,292
I was like, "May 22nd, May 23rd, May 24th,
we're gonna have severe weather."
125
00:06:58,376 --> 00:07:00,128
So they booked their flight tickets.
126
00:07:02,713 --> 00:07:06,300
Chad had the window seat,
and he looked over at me,
127
00:07:06,384 --> 00:07:10,805
and he said, "Mom,
the weather's really weird right now."
128
00:07:10,888 --> 00:07:12,890
[tense music playing]
129
00:07:14,267 --> 00:07:18,146
We began our descent into Joplin.
It started to get pretty bumpy.
130
00:07:18,855 --> 00:07:22,358
[PA] Ladies and gentlemen, we are flying
through a turbulent area. The captain…
131
00:07:22,442 --> 00:07:25,236
[Chad's mom] Chad told me
the hotel had a place to take shelter.
132
00:07:25,319 --> 00:07:28,531
When he told me this, I thought,
"What the heck are you talking about?"
133
00:07:28,614 --> 00:07:30,366
"Take shelter? Where are we going?"
134
00:07:34,245 --> 00:07:35,913
[church bell ringing]
135
00:07:35,997 --> 00:07:38,624
[man] That Sunday,
the weather was beautiful.
136
00:07:38,708 --> 00:07:40,918
I remember getting out of church,
washing my car,
137
00:07:41,002 --> 00:07:43,087
and being, like, "It's so nice outside."
138
00:07:44,130 --> 00:07:45,089
Joplin…
139
00:07:45,715 --> 00:07:47,550
Ah! [laughs]
140
00:07:48,050 --> 00:07:49,510
Joplin is an interesting place.
141
00:07:50,803 --> 00:07:55,183
Joplin's like the buckle
of the Bible Belt, not just the belt.
142
00:07:55,266 --> 00:07:59,604
{\an8}There's as many churches on each corner
as there are, like, McDonald's.
143
00:07:59,687 --> 00:08:01,647
[upbeat music playing]
144
00:08:01,731 --> 00:08:04,609
[Cecil] In 2011,
I was a junior in high school.
145
00:08:04,692 --> 00:08:06,861
I would sit with the Christian kids.
146
00:08:06,944 --> 00:08:08,905
I had to hide being gay somehow.
Like, look at me.
147
00:08:08,988 --> 00:08:11,699
Okay, so this is what happened
to Holly's face.
148
00:08:12,992 --> 00:08:14,577
Doesn't she look great?
149
00:08:15,077 --> 00:08:18,206
- No. This lipstick, really?
- [laughing]
150
00:08:18,289 --> 00:08:23,628
I had, like, JC Chasez hair or whatever
from, like, NSYNC period. Work!
151
00:08:24,962 --> 00:08:27,173
I love Jesus, and I love God,
152
00:08:27,256 --> 00:08:30,092
but I didn't know if his people loved me.
153
00:08:30,968 --> 00:08:32,303
At school, I was bullied.
154
00:08:32,386 --> 00:08:35,640
Like, girls would write "queer"
on pieces of paper and flick it at me.
155
00:08:35,723 --> 00:08:37,517
Kids were so mean.
156
00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:41,062
I always thought, like,
when was God gonna come take me away?
157
00:08:41,145 --> 00:08:42,647
'Cause I hated it here.
158
00:08:45,024 --> 00:08:49,612
[announcer] This is the KZRG Newswatch
with Chad Elliott and Josh Marsh.
159
00:08:49,695 --> 00:08:51,614
[man 1] Joplin High School
graduation will be held
160
00:08:51,697 --> 00:08:53,866
at Missouri Southern State University
in the afternoon.
161
00:08:53,950 --> 00:08:56,118
For the graduates, it's a big day.
162
00:08:56,202 --> 00:08:57,161
The graduation…
163
00:08:57,245 --> 00:08:59,580
[Keegan] I was getting ready
to graduate school.
164
00:09:00,706 --> 00:09:02,792
Everyone was gonna be spreading out
165
00:09:02,875 --> 00:09:05,169
and going on to the next phase of life,
166
00:09:05,253 --> 00:09:06,837
and so I was excited.
167
00:09:06,921 --> 00:09:08,923
[poignant music playing]
168
00:09:10,758 --> 00:09:13,302
[Keegan] At Joplin High,
we had all the different cliques.
169
00:09:13,386 --> 00:09:16,138
I would put myself in the jock category.
170
00:09:17,473 --> 00:09:20,518
[student] More than 2,100 students
filled the halls of Joplin High School.
171
00:09:20,601 --> 00:09:22,770
With this many students,
it's hard to believe
172
00:09:22,853 --> 00:09:25,398
any student could
reach the top of the popularity ladder,
173
00:09:25,481 --> 00:09:28,359
but the social differences
could not be more distinct.
174
00:09:28,442 --> 00:09:31,821
This is the story of the most popular
students at Joplin High.
175
00:09:32,738 --> 00:09:34,448
Hi, guys, I'm Will Norton for JET-14.
176
00:09:35,074 --> 00:09:37,994
[Keegan] So Will, who's a really
good friend, had a YouTube channel.
177
00:09:38,077 --> 00:09:40,913
Willdabeast, a bunch of numbers.
I don't know. I didn't visit it.
178
00:09:40,997 --> 00:09:43,332
I wasn't a fan.
I was a… a friend of his, right?
179
00:09:43,416 --> 00:09:45,626
But Will got me into one video.
180
00:09:45,710 --> 00:09:48,087
[Will] We have Keegan, the womanizer jock.
181
00:09:48,170 --> 00:09:50,214
Oh, that's… I don't know.
182
00:09:50,298 --> 00:09:52,216
[Keegan] Will made me the womanizer jock,
183
00:09:52,300 --> 00:09:55,469
and I guess that's what
others viewed me as, uh, back then,
184
00:09:55,553 --> 00:09:57,013
and I… I may have been.
185
00:09:57,680 --> 00:10:01,225
I'm in high school. I don't feel I need
to be settled down and be with one person.
186
00:10:01,309 --> 00:10:04,061
[announcer] Wide receiver
at 6'1", 200 pounds, senior,
187
00:10:04,145 --> 00:10:08,232
number 85, Keegan Henry!
188
00:10:08,316 --> 00:10:10,026
[cheering]
189
00:10:10,109 --> 00:10:13,487
Being the captain of the football team,
girls would definitely take notice.
190
00:10:14,238 --> 00:10:16,198
[cheerleaders chanting]
191
00:10:16,282 --> 00:10:17,783
[crowd cheering]
192
00:10:17,867 --> 00:10:18,993
[Keegan] I loved playing.
193
00:10:19,994 --> 00:10:21,078
Friday night lights.
194
00:10:21,162 --> 00:10:24,332
Wear your town on your chest.
There's somethin' to be said about that.
195
00:10:30,755 --> 00:10:34,050
I didn't wanna go to graduation.
I thought it was kind of over-the-top.
196
00:10:34,133 --> 00:10:36,969
One of my sisters was giving me shit
that my shirt was all wrinkled.
197
00:10:37,053 --> 00:10:40,723
I'm like, "I don't need to iron
the damn thing. Just let's get going."
198
00:10:40,806 --> 00:10:42,808
[wind rustling]
199
00:10:45,686 --> 00:10:48,397
[Mac] The storms always come in
from the west for the most part,
200
00:10:48,481 --> 00:10:51,817
so we drove out
to the opener areas towards Kansas.
201
00:10:53,444 --> 00:10:55,446
Plenty of thunderstorms
don't drop tornadoes,
202
00:10:55,529 --> 00:10:58,491
but when the conditions are perfect,
that's when it happens.
203
00:10:59,367 --> 00:11:02,995
The more intense a thunderstorm gets,
the more it starts rotating.
204
00:11:03,496 --> 00:11:05,289
We call that a mesocyclone.
205
00:11:05,373 --> 00:11:08,376
Once it gets to a certain point,
it drops a tornado.
206
00:11:11,128 --> 00:11:14,340
It is like magic. It's just breathtaking.
207
00:11:14,423 --> 00:11:16,467
[presenter] The greatest number
of tornadoes occur
208
00:11:16,550 --> 00:11:19,470
in the flatland areas
east of the Rocky Mountains.
209
00:11:19,553 --> 00:11:23,724
[Kaylee] Growing up in Tornado Alley,
tornadoes are business as usual.
210
00:11:24,225 --> 00:11:27,728
- You would hear tornado sirens every year.
- [siren blaring]
211
00:11:27,812 --> 00:11:30,398
But nobody would really
think twice about 'em.
212
00:11:31,023 --> 00:11:34,276
Usually, it would just
bounce some cows around out in a field.
213
00:11:37,238 --> 00:11:38,989
[snorting and neighing]
214
00:11:40,700 --> 00:11:43,452
[Mac] Kaylee and her brother Eric
went on multiple rides with me
215
00:11:43,536 --> 00:11:45,371
to go check storms out.
216
00:11:45,454 --> 00:11:48,374
We would just listen to music and drive.
217
00:11:49,041 --> 00:11:51,252
[heavy metal music playing
over car speakers]
218
00:11:53,713 --> 00:11:56,799
[Kaylee] Mac is the total opposite of me
in a lot of ways.
219
00:11:56,882 --> 00:11:59,927
I was fascinated by askin' him,
"What are you thinkin'?"
220
00:12:00,010 --> 00:12:04,515
And, like, the answer,
in all honesty, was, "Nothin'."
221
00:12:04,598 --> 00:12:09,019
I'm like, "How could that be?
How can you be thinkin' about nothin'?"
222
00:12:11,981 --> 00:12:15,776
I would have no less than a dozen
train of thoughts all the time,
223
00:12:15,860 --> 00:12:18,070
but I figured out how to turn that off.
224
00:12:18,154 --> 00:12:19,613
[volume increasing]
225
00:12:21,365 --> 00:12:22,366
[Kaylee] Heavy metal.
226
00:12:22,450 --> 00:12:24,577
It's in your face,
227
00:12:24,660 --> 00:12:27,496
and that, I think,
takes away from bein' in my head.
228
00:12:27,580 --> 00:12:29,749
[applause and cheering]
229
00:12:29,832 --> 00:12:31,500
[Kaylee] I had just got
my bachelor's degree
230
00:12:31,584 --> 00:12:34,128
in mathematics, computational mathematics,
231
00:12:34,211 --> 00:12:38,799
information technology,
and computer information science.
232
00:12:38,883 --> 00:12:40,509
[poignant music playing]
233
00:12:40,593 --> 00:12:44,096
{\an8}But I had challenges
when I was younger making friends.
234
00:12:44,180 --> 00:12:47,016
I guess I was always
light in the confidence department.
235
00:12:49,643 --> 00:12:55,232
I tried to keep myself around people
that make me feel comfortable and secure.
236
00:12:56,025 --> 00:12:57,943
My brother Eric and I…
237
00:12:58,027 --> 00:13:00,196
Put it simply, he's my homey. [laughs]
238
00:13:00,279 --> 00:13:02,031
And Mac chilled me out.
239
00:13:06,952 --> 00:13:08,913
When we were near Kansas,
240
00:13:08,996 --> 00:13:11,165
we stopped at the state line
at this gas station
241
00:13:12,166 --> 00:13:14,168
and watched the storm.
242
00:13:14,251 --> 00:13:16,253
[wind gusting, heavy rainfall]
243
00:13:17,254 --> 00:13:20,007
[Mac] We were a couple of miles
away from Joplin.
244
00:13:22,092 --> 00:13:23,969
And we were pullin' out our cameras
245
00:13:24,053 --> 00:13:28,516
to just record anything
that could possibly happen.
246
00:13:29,975 --> 00:13:34,355
I was an adrenaline junkie, I suppose.
I was always out to catch a thrill.
247
00:13:36,398 --> 00:13:39,235
I didn't know enough to be goin' out
and doin' what I was doin'.
248
00:13:39,318 --> 00:13:41,445
It was irresponsible, a little bit, of me.
249
00:13:41,529 --> 00:13:44,031
But I… I think it was just exciting.
250
00:13:44,114 --> 00:13:45,991
It was an adventure every time.
251
00:13:50,830 --> 00:13:52,915
["Land of Hope and Glory" playing on PA]
252
00:13:53,749 --> 00:13:55,751
[applause and cheering]
253
00:14:04,385 --> 00:14:07,429
[Keegan] Joplin High School,
since there's so many graduates,
254
00:14:07,513 --> 00:14:10,474
they couldn't host them
at Joplin High School.
255
00:14:10,558 --> 00:14:13,561
So we had our graduation
at Missouri Southern State University
256
00:14:13,644 --> 00:14:14,937
just outside of town.
257
00:14:19,859 --> 00:14:22,486
Ladies and gentlemen,
join me in recognizing
258
00:14:22,570 --> 00:14:24,864
the Joplin High School class of 2011.
259
00:14:25,489 --> 00:14:27,283
[cheering]
260
00:14:31,161 --> 00:14:33,956
It's important, and we ask
that you turn off cell phones,
261
00:14:34,039 --> 00:14:36,917
so everyone can enjoy
the ceremony equally.
262
00:14:37,585 --> 00:14:40,087
At this time,
I would like to introduce our members…
263
00:14:40,170 --> 00:14:43,173
{\an8}[Keegan] I'm texting Will,
joking about the speakers,
264
00:14:43,257 --> 00:14:45,676
{\an8}and just talking about
anything but the graduation.
265
00:14:46,260 --> 00:14:49,305
Thank you, class of 2011.
266
00:14:49,388 --> 00:14:51,390
[Keegan] "Hurry this up.
When do we get outta here?"
267
00:14:51,473 --> 00:14:53,517
'Cause we were bored out of our mind.
268
00:14:54,018 --> 00:14:56,729
I've been spending a lot of time
thinking about the future,
269
00:14:56,812 --> 00:14:58,022
and what lies ahead.
270
00:14:59,064 --> 00:15:02,568
Up until now, I could predict
where I would be in ten years.
271
00:15:02,651 --> 00:15:07,239
Here in Joplin, Missouri, going to school,
and waiting for something big to happen.
272
00:15:07,323 --> 00:15:08,657
[wind gusting]
273
00:15:08,741 --> 00:15:10,451
Today is that something big.
274
00:15:10,534 --> 00:15:12,077
[feedback squeals]
275
00:15:12,161 --> 00:15:14,204
- Thank you.
- [cheering]
276
00:15:15,539 --> 00:15:17,416
[feedback ringing]
277
00:15:19,627 --> 00:15:22,504
- [jingle playing]
- [radio host] FM 102.9, AM 1310.
278
00:15:22,588 --> 00:15:24,173
News Talk, KZRG.
279
00:15:24,256 --> 00:15:26,800
A tornado watch is in effect
until 9:00 this evening.
280
00:15:26,884 --> 00:15:30,471
We do have an elevated risk
for tornadoes and dangerous thunderstorms.
281
00:15:30,554 --> 00:15:34,099
That afternoon, I was going to work.
I worked at a frozen yogurt shop,
282
00:15:34,183 --> 00:15:35,434
CherryBerry.
283
00:15:36,143 --> 00:15:38,020
[dramatic music playing]
284
00:15:40,272 --> 00:15:41,607
[Cecil] Work was just slammed,
285
00:15:41,690 --> 00:15:44,026
and I remember thinking to myself,
286
00:15:44,109 --> 00:15:47,279
"What better time to get frozen yogurt?
We're in a tornado watch."
287
00:15:48,155 --> 00:15:50,950
Back then, people didn't
really care about a storm
288
00:15:51,033 --> 00:15:52,952
until it was, like, a tornado warning.
289
00:15:53,035 --> 00:15:57,456
But whenever the weather would be bad,
I would think it's the end of the world.
290
00:15:57,539 --> 00:16:01,085
I know that sounds crazy,
but at the time, it was everywhere.
291
00:16:01,168 --> 00:16:04,171
It was on movies, like 2012.
292
00:16:04,254 --> 00:16:06,799
It's the Rapture.
The virtuous have gone to heaven…
293
00:16:06,882 --> 00:16:09,635
[Cecil] Even in The Simpsons,
they joked about the Rapture.
294
00:16:09,718 --> 00:16:12,304
And in church,
we were learning that it was coming.
295
00:16:12,388 --> 00:16:15,683
The thing that I was most, like,
concerned about was being left behind.
296
00:16:15,766 --> 00:16:17,518
[woman on TV] A lot
of watch boxes out there.
297
00:16:17,601 --> 00:16:19,269
Tornado watches in the red,
298
00:16:19,353 --> 00:16:21,939
the yellow showing where we have
severe thunderstorm watches.
299
00:16:22,022 --> 00:16:23,857
[Cecil] At this time, it was like 4:20.
300
00:16:23,941 --> 00:16:25,401
[forecaster] …we are still concerned…
301
00:16:25,484 --> 00:16:27,152
[Cecil] And I could hear a creaking.
302
00:16:29,697 --> 00:16:31,949
That was one of the first things
where I thought,
303
00:16:32,032 --> 00:16:35,869
"Oh. People talking about a tornado watch,
it might be actually pretty serious."
304
00:16:38,747 --> 00:16:40,207
[hinges creaking]
305
00:16:40,290 --> 00:16:41,875
[horn honking]
306
00:16:43,377 --> 00:16:45,838
[Chad] After we landed
and we were driving to our hotel,
307
00:16:45,921 --> 00:16:48,924
I texted Doug and let him know
that we had made it safely.
308
00:16:49,425 --> 00:16:52,177
But to my surprise,
he did not respond back.
309
00:16:52,261 --> 00:16:53,971
I thought that was a little peculiar
310
00:16:54,054 --> 00:16:57,891
because Doug always
responded back very quickly.
311
00:16:59,226 --> 00:17:01,061
We found a place to eat dinner.
312
00:17:01,645 --> 00:17:04,898
And as we were walking in,
the wind was so light,
313
00:17:05,399 --> 00:17:07,776
and you couldn't hear any birds chirping.
314
00:17:09,319 --> 00:17:14,616
There was a sense in the air
that something big was happening.
315
00:17:15,367 --> 00:17:17,036
[shop bell rings]
316
00:17:18,746 --> 00:17:20,247
[clicking]
317
00:17:21,582 --> 00:17:23,751
- [rock music starts]
- [Chad] We sat down for dinner.
318
00:17:23,834 --> 00:17:25,335
The restaurant was pretty busy.
319
00:17:25,836 --> 00:17:27,421
There was a baseball game on.
320
00:17:27,504 --> 00:17:29,339
[commentator] Swinging on three and 0,
321
00:17:29,423 --> 00:17:31,884
and he drives it
into the right field corner.
322
00:17:31,967 --> 00:17:36,346
I looked over at Chad,
and he was glued to his phone.
323
00:17:36,430 --> 00:17:37,890
I was looking at my radar app.
324
00:17:38,849 --> 00:17:43,312
I saw a supercell thunderstorm
moving into southwest Missouri.
325
00:17:44,104 --> 00:17:46,690
I was excited, because I knew
we were gonna get some bad weather,
326
00:17:46,774 --> 00:17:49,610
which is exactly
what I came to the Midwest for.
327
00:17:50,486 --> 00:17:53,322
[man 1 on radio] …Joplin,
the northwest Joplin country, forming…
328
00:17:53,405 --> 00:17:55,741
[Mac] Oh my God,
look at those clouds moving.
329
00:17:55,824 --> 00:18:00,746
…there of a rotating long cloud
that they are seeing on County Road.
330
00:18:00,829 --> 00:18:01,830
This being reported…
331
00:18:01,914 --> 00:18:04,500
- [Kaylee] Is that gonna drop?
- [Mac] Huh?
332
00:18:04,583 --> 00:18:06,460
[Kaylee] Is that lookin'
like it's droppin'?
333
00:18:06,543 --> 00:18:08,337
[Eric] Yeah, it looks
like it's trying to drop.
334
00:18:08,420 --> 00:18:10,464
[radio] …area is also on the table, maybe…
335
00:18:10,547 --> 00:18:12,049
There is a lot more drop, dude.
336
00:18:12,883 --> 00:18:14,343
[Kaylee] It's rotating, too.
337
00:18:15,344 --> 00:18:16,595
[Eric] It's comin' down.
338
00:18:16,678 --> 00:18:19,098
[man 2 on radio] At the latest update,
as the watch…
339
00:18:19,181 --> 00:18:20,474
- [Kaylee] Guys…
- …dangerous storm…
340
00:18:20,557 --> 00:18:21,600
[Eric] It's trying to drop.
341
00:18:21,683 --> 00:18:24,228
- [Kaylee] It's tryin' to.
- [radio] …adverse event, but director…
342
00:18:24,311 --> 00:18:25,312
[Kaylee] It was…
343
00:18:25,395 --> 00:18:28,232
[inhales, exhales]
344
00:18:28,315 --> 00:18:29,858
…unlike anything I had ever seen.
345
00:18:29,942 --> 00:18:34,530
We had… we had done this a few times,
and something just changed.
346
00:18:34,613 --> 00:18:36,115
[radio] …around the Columbus area.
347
00:18:36,198 --> 00:18:38,117
This is our third
fresh report of a long cloud.
348
00:18:38,200 --> 00:18:39,243
It could be rotating.
349
00:18:39,326 --> 00:18:41,161
- Here in Jasper…
- [Kaylee] Guys.
350
00:18:41,245 --> 00:18:42,871
It certainly fluctuates…
351
00:18:42,955 --> 00:18:46,750
[Kaylee] My blood ran cold.
Hair stood up all over my body.
352
00:18:46,834 --> 00:18:49,336
Somethin' felt wrong.
353
00:18:49,419 --> 00:18:50,629
So I asked the boys…
354
00:18:50,712 --> 00:18:53,006
- [on video] "Do you wanna go?"
- [radio] …outside Riverton…
355
00:18:53,090 --> 00:18:54,133
[Kaylee] Wanna go?
356
00:18:54,216 --> 00:18:55,467
- [horn honks]
- …east, outside…
357
00:18:55,551 --> 00:18:56,385
[Kaylee] Wanna go?
358
00:18:57,386 --> 00:19:01,390
The edge of the storm was so black.
Everything about it was just telling me,
359
00:19:01,473 --> 00:19:05,144
"Wow, this is
a really, really strong thunderstorm."
360
00:19:05,227 --> 00:19:07,229
- [man 3 on radio] I'm here.
- [man 2] What's the sit…
361
00:19:07,312 --> 00:19:09,731
[Kaylee] We are exactly northeast
of where that will drop.
362
00:19:09,815 --> 00:19:11,024
- Wait…
- [thunder crashes]
363
00:19:11,108 --> 00:19:12,317
[rain falling]
364
00:19:12,401 --> 00:19:14,862
[Kaylee] Then the radio popped in.
365
00:19:14,945 --> 00:19:15,821
[Kaylee] Listen.
366
00:19:15,904 --> 00:19:18,115
[man 3] …weather services recording
a tornado warning.
367
00:19:18,198 --> 00:19:21,869
A radar indicated tornado is headed
towards the northern end of Joplin…
368
00:19:21,952 --> 00:19:25,038
[Kaylee] We are exactly northeast
of this thing. We've gotta go.
369
00:19:25,998 --> 00:19:27,666
It's a tornado on the radar.
370
00:19:28,500 --> 00:19:31,795
- Let's go!
- [radio] …people are calling in, saying…
371
00:19:31,879 --> 00:19:34,381
- [Kaylee] It's right there.
- [Mac] Oh my God, there it is.
372
00:19:34,464 --> 00:19:35,924
It is. It's round the corner.
373
00:19:37,342 --> 00:19:42,639
I buckled in and set my phone in the dash
so it was looking directly up.
374
00:19:42,723 --> 00:19:45,434
[man 4 on radio] …plenty of time,
it's more southwesterly…
375
00:19:47,227 --> 00:19:48,312
[Kaylee] Where do I go?
376
00:19:48,395 --> 00:19:50,606
[man 5 on radio]
Golf ball sized hail reported.
377
00:19:50,689 --> 00:19:51,899
[Kaylee] Holy shit.
378
00:19:51,982 --> 00:19:53,942
I figured if we could get south of it,
379
00:19:54,026 --> 00:19:56,528
that we could
still have a good vantage point.
380
00:19:56,612 --> 00:19:58,864
We'd be away from
where all that hail was coming down.
381
00:19:58,947 --> 00:19:59,907
[wind gusting]
382
00:19:59,990 --> 00:20:02,409
[Kaylee] We need to get to a place
where we're safe, guys.
383
00:20:02,492 --> 00:20:03,368
[Mac] Yeah, we do.
384
00:20:03,452 --> 00:20:07,164
This wind is sucking in right now.
It's inflow into the fucking storm.
385
00:20:07,247 --> 00:20:09,791
[Eric] Slow down. There's gonna be
a ramp here on this train track.
386
00:20:09,875 --> 00:20:10,918
[thud]
387
00:20:11,001 --> 00:20:14,421
[Eric] It's either gonna drop there,
a mile away, or on top of us.
388
00:20:15,047 --> 00:20:17,716
This could actually
drop a tornado right now.
389
00:20:18,550 --> 00:20:20,969
[Eric] Just stop right here
on this fucking hill, yeah.
390
00:20:21,053 --> 00:20:23,138
[Mac] Look at that right there.
All that stuff.
391
00:20:23,222 --> 00:20:24,723
- [Kaylee] Oh my God.
- [Mac] Yeah, yeah.
392
00:20:24,806 --> 00:20:27,059
- [radio] …to get out…
- [hail thudding]
393
00:20:27,142 --> 00:20:29,853
[Kaylee] I'm stayin' in the car
so we can book it.
394
00:20:30,562 --> 00:20:32,189
[dog barking]
395
00:20:32,272 --> 00:20:34,274
[alarm siren wailing]
396
00:20:38,237 --> 00:20:40,906
These loud sirens started going off.
397
00:20:40,989 --> 00:20:43,784
Sirens that I've never heard
in my entire life.
398
00:20:43,867 --> 00:20:45,035
[wind gusting]
399
00:20:45,118 --> 00:20:46,912
[siren wailing]
400
00:20:46,995 --> 00:20:50,332
The sirens meant a tornado warning
had been issued for where we were.
401
00:20:50,415 --> 00:20:53,085
He said, "I'll be right back.
I'm gonna go outside and check it out."
402
00:20:53,669 --> 00:20:56,713
And I turned to
the customers next to me and I said,
403
00:20:57,464 --> 00:20:59,049
"We just arrived from San Diego."
404
00:20:59,132 --> 00:21:01,593
"Are these sirens anything
that we need to worry about?"
405
00:21:02,678 --> 00:21:07,516
And they reassured me that they go off
all the time and not to worry.
406
00:21:08,350 --> 00:21:11,353
Hearing that from the locals of Joplin,
407
00:21:11,436 --> 00:21:15,148
I thought, "Okay, I'll keep eating dinner.
Everything should be fine."
408
00:21:16,233 --> 00:21:18,235
[siren continues]
409
00:21:22,030 --> 00:21:25,284
[Chad] I immediately noticed
how dark the sky was.
410
00:21:25,367 --> 00:21:28,203
It also had a very green tint to it.
411
00:21:28,287 --> 00:21:29,663
Good evening to you.
412
00:21:30,247 --> 00:21:32,249
Uh, tornado sirens continuing to go off.
413
00:21:32,332 --> 00:21:34,626
You can probably hear it
in the background here.
414
00:21:34,710 --> 00:21:36,712
[high-pitched siren blaring]
415
00:21:37,713 --> 00:21:38,797
There they go.
416
00:21:40,299 --> 00:21:44,011
Definitely time to take shelter
if you're within the Joplin regional area.
417
00:21:44,094 --> 00:21:45,846
Definitely time to take shelter.
418
00:21:47,514 --> 00:21:50,475
[Chad] What I saw next terrified me.
419
00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:55,689
Find the most violent tornado
that you possibly could,
420
00:21:55,772 --> 00:21:57,816
and put it into a radar image.
421
00:21:59,651 --> 00:22:03,113
Seeing the monster tornado
that was coming into town,
422
00:22:04,531 --> 00:22:07,534
I thought that we were gonna be dead.
423
00:22:08,118 --> 00:22:12,039
Chad came running in,
and he grabbed my arm.
424
00:22:12,122 --> 00:22:14,541
And he said, "Mom, we need to go now.
We have to go now."
425
00:22:14,624 --> 00:22:18,795
I said, "No, we're okay. These people say
this happens a lot. Don't worry, Chad."
426
00:22:18,879 --> 00:22:22,841
I was so frustrated, and I wanted to just
get up and scream at the top of my lungs
427
00:22:22,924 --> 00:22:27,346
and say, "We're gonna die
if we don't go take shelter."
428
00:22:27,929 --> 00:22:31,099
I was 13 years old,
had a high-pitched voice,
429
00:22:31,183 --> 00:22:34,478
and I was trying to tell my mom
and these adults what to do.
430
00:22:34,561 --> 00:22:36,480
[commentator] And the Cardinals lead six--
431
00:22:37,064 --> 00:22:38,815
[announcer] We interrupt
regular programming
432
00:22:38,899 --> 00:22:40,859
to bring you this weather alert.
433
00:22:40,942 --> 00:22:41,860
[beeping]
434
00:22:41,943 --> 00:22:44,613
Good evening, everyone.
Meteorologist Doug Heady here…
435
00:22:44,696 --> 00:22:49,409
[Chad's mom] The TVs in the restaurant
switched to the local weather station,
436
00:22:49,493 --> 00:22:52,204
and Doug Heady, KOAM, was on.
437
00:22:53,205 --> 00:22:56,500
[Heady] This is now
a confirmed tornado on the ground.
438
00:22:57,167 --> 00:22:59,961
[Chad] Hearing Doug say
that it was on the ground
439
00:23:00,045 --> 00:23:02,089
solidified what I was seeing,
440
00:23:02,172 --> 00:23:04,800
but also made it real.
441
00:23:04,883 --> 00:23:06,927
That's when I knew it was bad.
442
00:23:07,010 --> 00:23:09,554
And at that point, we got up and we ran.
443
00:23:09,638 --> 00:23:12,474
[Doug] You need to take shelter,
as this is a dangerous situation
444
00:23:12,557 --> 00:23:14,101
with one on the ground.
445
00:23:15,602 --> 00:23:18,730
[Heady] I'm on air,
and the tornado developed so fast.
446
00:23:19,231 --> 00:23:23,527
On the radar, I could tell
it was a massive, destructive tornado,
447
00:23:23,610 --> 00:23:27,989
and it was movin' due east,
so it was gonna head right into the city.
448
00:23:28,073 --> 00:23:30,575
- [Doug] Let's pull up our tower cam.
- [whirring]
449
00:23:30,659 --> 00:23:33,662
- [thunder crashes]
- [Heady] It's a very ominous-looking sky.
450
00:23:34,454 --> 00:23:38,166
[Doug] But looking at the tower cam,
I couldn't make out a tornado.
451
00:23:38,917 --> 00:23:42,712
I was panning it around,
trying to figure out where it was.
452
00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:49,636
I could just see
this very dark gray, blackish wall.
453
00:23:50,220 --> 00:23:51,930
[Heady] We are looking due west,
454
00:23:52,013 --> 00:23:55,434
and you can see, uh…
that could be it right there,
455
00:23:55,517 --> 00:23:58,019
within that band of rain.
456
00:23:59,062 --> 00:24:03,275
It took me a few seconds to figure out,
"Oh, this is a rain-wrapped tornado."
457
00:24:03,900 --> 00:24:06,820
It's rain-wrapped,
so you're not gonna see it coming.
458
00:24:07,904 --> 00:24:12,159
Very powerful tornadoes have
the potential to wrap in so much moisture
459
00:24:12,242 --> 00:24:13,994
that they do become rain-wrapped.
460
00:24:14,077 --> 00:24:17,038
So I knew most people wouldn't know
461
00:24:17,122 --> 00:24:21,710
there's a monster tornado
right behind that wall.
462
00:24:21,793 --> 00:24:23,670
[wind gusting]
463
00:24:23,753 --> 00:24:25,714
[Mac] We stopped at a gravel lot,
464
00:24:25,797 --> 00:24:27,757
and we were filming
and watching that spot.
465
00:24:27,841 --> 00:24:31,678
[Mac] That is about
to seriously spawn a fucking tornado.
466
00:24:32,512 --> 00:24:34,764
That… is the spot.
467
00:24:36,558 --> 00:24:38,393
Look at that rotation over there.
468
00:24:38,477 --> 00:24:39,936
[crash]
469
00:24:40,020 --> 00:24:41,188
[Eric] You see that?
470
00:24:41,855 --> 00:24:45,442
[Mac] Dude.
Oh my God! Look at those clouds moving.
471
00:24:45,525 --> 00:24:47,527
[wind intensifying]
472
00:24:48,653 --> 00:24:49,988
[Kaylee] It's gettin' dark.
473
00:24:51,823 --> 00:24:56,870
[Kaylee] The sky was darkening
like the sun had been put out.
474
00:24:57,412 --> 00:25:00,916
You know, it was unlike anything
I'd ever seen. Darkness during the day.
475
00:25:04,169 --> 00:25:06,671
It was like… eclipse.
476
00:25:07,464 --> 00:25:11,843
A massive storm
was literally blocking the sunlight.
477
00:25:14,638 --> 00:25:16,014
[thunder crashes]
478
00:25:16,097 --> 00:25:17,224
[Eric] Did you see that?
479
00:25:18,099 --> 00:25:20,435
[Kaylee] Yeah. Let's go. Let's go.
480
00:25:20,519 --> 00:25:22,562
- [Eric] Mac, get in!
- [engine starts]
481
00:25:23,271 --> 00:25:24,397
[Mac] Don't freak out.
482
00:25:25,273 --> 00:25:27,943
Don't freak out.
That's the worst thing to do.
483
00:25:28,735 --> 00:25:31,488
[Kaylee] We're about to lose sight
of what's goin' on.
484
00:25:31,571 --> 00:25:32,781
[Eric] We're gonna have to.
485
00:25:34,241 --> 00:25:36,576
[Kaylee] It went from chasin' the storm
486
00:25:36,660 --> 00:25:39,162
to it was chasing us.
487
00:25:39,788 --> 00:25:43,208
[Kaylee] Do you guys see what's right
over there? It's coming at us.
488
00:25:43,291 --> 00:25:46,294
[man on radio] Here's some things you can
do to keep you and your family safe.
489
00:25:46,378 --> 00:25:50,632
If you're in a car, leave it immediately.
Get inside substantial shelter.
490
00:25:52,717 --> 00:25:54,469
♪ It's time to get into some sin ♪
491
00:25:54,553 --> 00:25:56,805
♪ You've been listenin' to gibberish hits
In the interim ♪
492
00:25:56,888 --> 00:25:58,390
♪ Them are done, 'cause here me come ♪
493
00:25:58,473 --> 00:26:00,809
♪ To make you stand up, stand tough ♪
494
00:26:00,892 --> 00:26:02,978
♪ Hands up, damn ya… ♪
495
00:26:03,061 --> 00:26:07,232
I was 16,
and I was just cruisin' with my friends,
496
00:26:07,315 --> 00:26:10,110
Evan, Dylan, and his brother, Doug.
497
00:26:13,113 --> 00:26:16,616
- Evan was playing Tech N9ne on the radio.
- ♪ Strange music, my crew's thick… ♪
498
00:26:16,700 --> 00:26:18,159
- It was a scary vibe.
- ♪ Dudes click ♪
499
00:26:18,243 --> 00:26:20,453
♪ And guess who's with two chicks… ♪
500
00:26:20,537 --> 00:26:23,873
[Steven] My little brother's like,
"Hey, man, let's go pick up some stuff."
501
00:26:23,957 --> 00:26:26,751
We were just gonna hang out.
Everything was gonna be cool.
502
00:26:26,835 --> 00:26:28,753
♪ Vodka and Mountain Dew
Is the new shit… ♪
503
00:26:28,837 --> 00:26:32,465
We were taking back roads, 'cause we don't
ever really mess with the main roads.
504
00:26:32,549 --> 00:26:34,384
We know the back roads like,
obviously…
505
00:26:34,467 --> 00:26:36,136
[clicks tongue] …back of our hand.
506
00:26:36,219 --> 00:26:39,264
♪ Monitor my money
I monetarily astonish ya… ♪
507
00:26:39,347 --> 00:26:42,183
[Steven] In high school,
I was probably the lone wolf.
508
00:26:42,267 --> 00:26:46,187
I ended up getting kicked out of school
because I kept gettin' in trouble there.
509
00:26:46,271 --> 00:26:50,317
I had more important things, you know,
like bike riding and smokin' weed.
510
00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:54,112
- ♪ Yeah ♪
- ♪ Killer, killer, it's the gorilla ♪
511
00:26:54,195 --> 00:26:55,322
- ♪ Wow ♪
- ♪ And if they… ♪
512
00:26:55,405 --> 00:26:57,574
[Steven] BMXing, that was my life.
513
00:26:58,241 --> 00:27:02,579
All the money I hustled up by myself,
and I built the bike.
514
00:27:02,662 --> 00:27:04,914
I don't know if you've been
a teenager trying to get money.
515
00:27:04,998 --> 00:27:06,416
It's pretty hard. [laughs]
516
00:27:06,499 --> 00:27:09,794
- ♪ Chick if she get the whip for this… ♪
- [phone chimes]
517
00:27:09,878 --> 00:27:13,256
[Steven] My dad texted me and said,
"There's a tornado. Watch out."
518
00:27:13,882 --> 00:27:15,175
And I was like,
519
00:27:15,759 --> 00:27:20,639
"There's no sign of a tornado anywhere.
Uh, I'll see you later."
520
00:27:20,722 --> 00:27:23,099
And I don't know if I'm stupid or not,
521
00:27:23,183 --> 00:27:26,603
but I saw Wizard of Oz
and it didn't look dangerous.
522
00:27:27,187 --> 00:27:28,563
[barking]
523
00:27:29,147 --> 00:27:31,900
Two minutes later,
it gets dark within, like, seconds.
524
00:27:31,983 --> 00:27:33,985
[wind gusting]
525
00:27:36,613 --> 00:27:38,239
Then the sky got pitch black…
526
00:27:38,323 --> 00:27:40,325
[heavy rainfall]
527
00:27:41,117 --> 00:27:43,620
…to where you couldn't even see
in front of your hand.
528
00:27:44,537 --> 00:27:46,873
Just dark death.
529
00:27:49,292 --> 00:27:50,794
[thunder crashes]
530
00:27:50,877 --> 00:27:53,630
[Steven] It looked like some shit
I'd never seen before.
531
00:27:56,257 --> 00:27:59,135
It was… crazy.
532
00:27:59,219 --> 00:28:01,221
[wind roaring]
533
00:28:03,181 --> 00:28:05,225
{\an8}- [siren wailing]
- [reporter 1] Tornado sirens again.
534
00:28:05,308 --> 00:28:08,186
{\an8}[reporter 2] Tornado sirens once again
going off in Joplin.
535
00:28:08,687 --> 00:28:10,647
[Mac] There goes the tornado sirens.
536
00:28:10,730 --> 00:28:11,648
[siren blaring]
537
00:28:11,731 --> 00:28:13,817
[Mac] We really need
to get the fuck out of here!
538
00:28:14,484 --> 00:28:17,445
Get the fuck out of here. Oh my God.
539
00:28:17,529 --> 00:28:18,571
[Kaylee] Watch behind us.
540
00:28:19,739 --> 00:28:21,241
[Mac] Oh my God.
541
00:28:21,324 --> 00:28:22,951
[Mac and Kaylee] Oh my God!
542
00:28:23,034 --> 00:28:23,952
[Mac] Oh God.
543
00:28:24,035 --> 00:28:25,745
[Kaylee] It's right fuckin' behind us.
544
00:28:26,246 --> 00:28:28,832
I was looking in my tiny side-view mirror.
545
00:28:31,668 --> 00:28:34,838
And what I saw
was a dark, massive monster.
546
00:28:37,882 --> 00:28:40,844
There was a grumble,
like Mother Nature was hungry.
547
00:28:41,678 --> 00:28:44,180
{\an8}[reporter 3] The path of this storm
as it continues to move east.
548
00:28:44,264 --> 00:28:46,141
{\an8}MSSU, just to the north of Joplin,
549
00:28:46,224 --> 00:28:48,685
{\an8}the high school graduation
going on up there right now,
550
00:28:48,768 --> 00:28:50,979
{\an8}uh, that is pretty much
the path of this storm.
551
00:28:51,479 --> 00:28:53,481
[siren continues wailing]
552
00:28:57,527 --> 00:28:59,612
[cheering and applause]
553
00:28:59,696 --> 00:29:01,072
[teacher] Cheyenne Nooney.
554
00:29:02,866 --> 00:29:06,494
[Keegan] After graduation,
there's a big party that's thrown.
555
00:29:06,578 --> 00:29:07,954
[cheering]
556
00:29:08,872 --> 00:29:09,914
[girl] Get ready, guys.
557
00:29:10,498 --> 00:29:12,167
[Keegan] It's the goodbye send-off, right?
558
00:29:12,250 --> 00:29:14,252
Everyone's gonna come together
for the last time.
559
00:29:14,335 --> 00:29:16,588
[teacher] Amber Cantu.
560
00:29:16,671 --> 00:29:18,256
[cheering]
561
00:29:19,841 --> 00:29:21,968
[Keegan] I was gonna DJ, so I was excited,
562
00:29:22,635 --> 00:29:25,054
and I remember
Will was also excited about it.
563
00:29:25,138 --> 00:29:26,806
[teacher] William Norton.
564
00:29:26,890 --> 00:29:28,892
[loud cheering and applause]
565
00:29:30,852 --> 00:29:33,062
Nice thing about me is
I'm at the end of the alphabet.
566
00:29:33,146 --> 00:29:35,190
[teacher] Andrew Keegan Tinney.
567
00:29:35,273 --> 00:29:37,442
[loud cheering]
568
00:29:37,525 --> 00:29:40,737
So by the time I got back to my seat,
the end was near. [chuckles]
569
00:29:41,488 --> 00:29:43,490
- [ceremonial music playing]
- [cheering]
570
00:29:50,246 --> 00:29:53,875
[Keegan] I stayed to take pictures
with Will and some other classmates.
571
00:29:55,168 --> 00:29:56,711
My family all leave and head home.
572
00:29:56,795 --> 00:29:57,629
[siren wailing]
573
00:29:57,712 --> 00:30:00,882
[woman] We come out of graduation,
and there's a tornado.
574
00:30:03,593 --> 00:30:05,970
[Keegan] My dad calls me
and says sirens were goin' off,
575
00:30:06,054 --> 00:30:07,472
and that there were storms coming.
576
00:30:07,555 --> 00:30:09,098
"You need to get your ass home."
577
00:30:15,063 --> 00:30:17,690
His voice was just… He wanted me home.
578
00:30:18,733 --> 00:30:21,402
My dad is the chief
of the ambulance district here.
579
00:30:21,486 --> 00:30:25,490
So Dad taught all of us kids
to always be ready for whatever happens.
580
00:30:26,074 --> 00:30:29,869
And so my last semester of high school,
I got EMT training.
581
00:30:29,953 --> 00:30:32,455
If my dad was worried about this storm,
582
00:30:32,539 --> 00:30:36,668
I knew that I had to get in my truck
and I had to get home.
583
00:30:36,751 --> 00:30:39,379
- [horn blares]
- There was a long line to leave.
584
00:30:39,462 --> 00:30:42,131
I said, "Nah, screw this.
I'm not gonna wait."
585
00:30:42,215 --> 00:30:45,844
I cut through the grass, popped the curb,
got on the road, and headed home sooner.
586
00:30:45,927 --> 00:30:48,179
[presenter on radio] This is
a dangerous weather situation.
587
00:30:48,263 --> 00:30:52,183
Please get in your tornado shelters
right now. Get into your basement.
588
00:30:52,267 --> 00:30:53,893
[Keegan] It starts raining harder.
589
00:30:53,977 --> 00:30:58,439
It only gets progressively worse
driving towards my house.
590
00:30:58,523 --> 00:31:00,149
[radio] We have had confirmed sightings.
591
00:31:00,233 --> 00:31:03,570
Make sure your shelter
has blankets to cover yourself,
592
00:31:03,653 --> 00:31:06,155
a battery-powered radio, flashlights.
593
00:31:06,239 --> 00:31:08,992
Whether it's in a room of your home,
such as your bathroom.
594
00:31:09,075 --> 00:31:10,243
- Bathtub…
- [woman] Oh my gosh.
595
00:31:10,326 --> 00:31:12,871
Trained weather spotters
reported a multi-vortex tornado
596
00:31:12,954 --> 00:31:14,622
on the ground in western Joplin.
597
00:31:14,706 --> 00:31:17,542
The cell's moving east
at 20 miles an hour. Very slowly.
598
00:31:17,625 --> 00:31:18,459
[Keegan] Mom!
599
00:31:18,543 --> 00:31:19,961
Getting many reports of damage.
600
00:31:20,044 --> 00:31:20,879
[Keegan] Mom!
601
00:31:20,962 --> 00:31:22,171
You need to take shelter.
602
00:31:22,255 --> 00:31:24,132
…the dangers, we know where the storm is…
603
00:31:24,215 --> 00:31:28,177
[Cecil] I was working the cash register,
and my manager was like,
604
00:31:28,261 --> 00:31:32,015
"Hey, will you go outside and get those
tables and chairs before they blow away?"
605
00:31:33,850 --> 00:31:36,603
I started, like, hustling, basically,
with the furniture.
606
00:31:37,604 --> 00:31:40,064
The sky was all weird colors.
607
00:31:40,857 --> 00:31:43,151
I could feel this, like,
stillness in the air,
608
00:31:43,234 --> 00:31:45,236
which was a crazy feeling.
609
00:31:45,320 --> 00:31:49,115
And then I looked, like, behind
where the yogurt shop was, to the left,
610
00:31:49,198 --> 00:31:52,160
and then I could just see
this, like, wall.
611
00:31:52,243 --> 00:31:54,245
[wind gusting]
612
00:31:56,289 --> 00:31:59,709
[Cecil] I'll never forget the noise
it made. It was, like, so loud.
613
00:31:59,792 --> 00:32:01,669
[wind droning]
614
00:32:01,753 --> 00:32:04,130
Like a really scary growl noise.
615
00:32:04,839 --> 00:32:05,882
[sniffs]
616
00:32:05,965 --> 00:32:07,634
[rumbling, wind gusting]
617
00:32:11,888 --> 00:32:16,351
I rushed back inside, and I just started,
like, yelling at adults.
618
00:32:17,185 --> 00:32:20,605
Commanding people, pointing my finger,
telling people to go there.
619
00:32:21,105 --> 00:32:23,775
I felt like I was moving
with puppet strings.
620
00:32:24,275 --> 00:32:27,403
I was screaming,
"You listen to me or you will die."
621
00:32:28,279 --> 00:32:31,866
A couple tried to leave.
I was like, "No, stay here."
622
00:32:31,950 --> 00:32:34,577
They were, "If there is a tornado,
this place will crumble,
623
00:32:34,661 --> 00:32:37,914
and, like, my family's not gonna die
inside of a yogurt shop."
624
00:32:37,997 --> 00:32:39,499
And then the lights cut off.
625
00:32:41,542 --> 00:32:43,086
[Heady on TV] Streetlamps are out.
626
00:32:43,169 --> 00:32:45,171
[static crackling]
627
00:32:45,755 --> 00:32:47,548
[thunder crashing]
628
00:32:47,632 --> 00:32:50,176
[reporter on radio] We've had
many people reporting power outages.
629
00:32:50,259 --> 00:32:53,179
That's gonna be the situation
as this tornado rips through…
630
00:32:53,262 --> 00:32:56,265
- If you're in Joplin, you'll see this…
- [Cecil] Oh, sweet Jesus, keep me safe.
631
00:32:56,349 --> 00:32:57,850
[thunder crashes]
632
00:32:57,934 --> 00:33:00,103
- [Doug] Holy fuck.
- [Steven] Oh my God!
633
00:33:00,186 --> 00:33:02,105
- This is bad, really bad.
- [Doug] Jesus!
634
00:33:03,189 --> 00:33:04,899
[thunder crashes]
635
00:33:05,525 --> 00:33:09,612
The headlights is the only thing
illuminating the road.
636
00:33:10,530 --> 00:33:14,325
Trees were bending. First thing
that popped into my mind was dinosaurs.
637
00:33:14,409 --> 00:33:16,744
"Something big is walking
through the trees."
638
00:33:16,828 --> 00:33:20,915
Full-grown trees, like, big ones,
they were just flyin' across the street.
639
00:33:22,041 --> 00:33:25,253
One hit the car, and Evan drove
with it on top of the car.
640
00:33:25,336 --> 00:33:26,587
[wind whistling]
641
00:33:26,671 --> 00:33:28,172
[thunder crashing]
642
00:33:29,799 --> 00:33:33,886
The windshield was gone,
and rain was just goin' inside of us.
643
00:33:33,970 --> 00:33:35,805
Evan's like, "What do I do?"
644
00:33:35,888 --> 00:33:39,183
So Evan floored it,
thinkin' it's comin' behind us.
645
00:33:39,267 --> 00:33:43,187
And so we drove farther into a tornado.
646
00:33:46,357 --> 00:33:49,902
The tornado was, like, right there.
Like, pretty much about to touch us.
647
00:33:55,074 --> 00:33:57,785
[Heady] Our tower cam
was massively getting hit.
648
00:33:59,579 --> 00:34:02,582
Our tower cam was located
in central Joplin.
649
00:34:03,791 --> 00:34:08,087
I'm watching from the TV station
ten miles outside of the city.
650
00:34:09,213 --> 00:34:12,258
[Heady on TV] Again, that tornado
would be within the rains.
651
00:34:12,759 --> 00:34:14,886
Very hard to see now
at this point in time.
652
00:34:14,969 --> 00:34:18,264
[Heady] I'm hoping it just
fades out really quickly.
653
00:34:18,347 --> 00:34:21,184
But it just kept
getting stronger and stronger.
654
00:34:21,267 --> 00:34:23,770
I mean, from hitting the ground
to mile wide.
655
00:34:25,730 --> 00:34:28,983
It hit its peak strength
right in the heart of Joplin.
656
00:34:30,026 --> 00:34:32,945
[Heady on TV] You can see debris,
so the winds are very, very strong.
657
00:34:33,029 --> 00:34:34,655
I'll show you on the radar.
658
00:34:34,739 --> 00:34:38,409
When I saw the debris ball on the radar,
I knew it was pickin' up houses.
659
00:34:38,493 --> 00:34:40,078
I knew it was pickin' up trees.
660
00:34:40,161 --> 00:34:44,082
I knew… we were in pretty deep shit
at that point in time.
661
00:34:47,210 --> 00:34:49,754
It was suckin' in the power lines.
662
00:34:50,671 --> 00:34:52,173
It was catchin' up to us.
663
00:34:54,258 --> 00:34:57,762
We were running for our lives
from the tornado.
664
00:34:57,845 --> 00:34:59,680
- [Kaylee] Where are we goin'?
- [Mac] Don't know!
665
00:34:59,764 --> 00:35:02,100
[Eric] He's head… Fucking head this way.
666
00:35:03,559 --> 00:35:05,061
We're outrunnin' that shit!
667
00:35:05,853 --> 00:35:06,979
[Mac] Oh my God.
668
00:35:07,063 --> 00:35:09,941
I put the pedal to the floor.
669
00:35:10,024 --> 00:35:12,026
- [wind gusting intensely]
- [horn honking]
670
00:35:13,361 --> 00:35:14,862
[Kaylee] I'm gettin' blasted with wind.
671
00:35:14,946 --> 00:35:17,782
It's practically throwing the truck
off the road.
672
00:35:17,865 --> 00:35:22,453
It was consuming every ounce
of processing power I had…
673
00:35:24,539 --> 00:35:26,457
determining what is
the worst-case scenario
674
00:35:26,541 --> 00:35:29,836
and trying to preempt bad outcomes.
675
00:35:30,336 --> 00:35:34,549
My naive self thought I had
some semblance of control.
676
00:35:35,258 --> 00:35:38,386
[Mac on video] Look at the wind going.
Look at the rain sitting right there.
677
00:35:38,469 --> 00:35:40,721
[Eric] That rain's goin' that way.
678
00:35:40,805 --> 00:35:45,101
All the rain stopped falling,
and it just started moving to the side.
679
00:35:45,184 --> 00:35:47,353
We could see the…
the rotation of it in front of us.
680
00:35:47,436 --> 00:35:49,188
[Mac on video] Clouds are goin'
the other way.
681
00:35:49,272 --> 00:35:52,900
[Eric] Oh my God.
This is one big rotation right here.
682
00:35:52,984 --> 00:35:56,487
I'm seeing that, and I was like,
"Okay, we're about to fly."
683
00:35:56,571 --> 00:35:58,739
[Mac] Oh my fucking God. Look at that.
684
00:35:58,823 --> 00:36:01,450
We're in a car right now.
This is really bad.
685
00:36:01,534 --> 00:36:04,537
[Kaylee] Where do we go?
The rain… The wind is so bad.
686
00:36:04,620 --> 00:36:06,831
Where do we go? It's right around us.
687
00:36:06,914 --> 00:36:07,957
[Mac] Go to the fucking…
688
00:36:08,040 --> 00:36:11,127
Go to the Alp's! That's the closest thing.
We gotta get inside there.
689
00:36:11,210 --> 00:36:13,629
I saw Kaylee's cell phone on her dash.
690
00:36:13,713 --> 00:36:17,049
I just knew that that would be important.
I grabbed it and put it in my pocket.
691
00:36:17,133 --> 00:36:19,135
[Mac] Whoa, let's get the fuck in here!
692
00:36:19,802 --> 00:36:20,887
[Eric] Get the fuck inside!
693
00:36:20,970 --> 00:36:21,929
[Mac] Get in! Get in!
694
00:36:23,306 --> 00:36:24,140
Guys!
695
00:36:25,183 --> 00:36:27,143
Come on! Come on! Come on!
696
00:36:27,977 --> 00:36:28,853
Come on!
697
00:36:29,896 --> 00:36:32,398
- [glass clinking]
- [radio] …multi-vortex tornado reported.
698
00:36:32,481 --> 00:36:35,443
And that was about ten minutes ago,
so the storm's…
699
00:36:36,110 --> 00:36:38,112
- [wind gusting]
- [horns honking]
700
00:36:39,822 --> 00:36:42,575
[man on radio] …in its path of the storm
as it continues to move east.
701
00:36:42,658 --> 00:36:45,620
We ran into a quiet, calm store.
702
00:36:46,579 --> 00:36:48,456
[Mac] Guys, it's gettin'
really bad out here.
703
00:36:48,539 --> 00:36:49,999
Really, really, really, really bad.
704
00:36:50,082 --> 00:36:54,295
We might need to take cover, seriously!
We might need to take cover.
705
00:36:54,378 --> 00:36:57,506
Right off the bat,
people weren't taking us seriously.
706
00:36:57,590 --> 00:36:59,592
You guys have anywhere we can take cover?
707
00:36:59,675 --> 00:37:01,385
- [man] In here?
- [Mac] Please!
708
00:37:01,469 --> 00:37:04,388
[Kaylee] Guys, we've gotta get away
from all this glass!
709
00:37:04,472 --> 00:37:05,890
We knew what was comin'.
710
00:37:05,973 --> 00:37:09,727
This was the real thing headed towards us,
and it was a monster.
711
00:37:11,312 --> 00:37:13,439
And there were people just millin' about.
712
00:37:13,522 --> 00:37:15,274
[Kaylee] Do you have a back room
or something?
713
00:37:15,358 --> 00:37:17,360
- [Mac] This is…
- [man] In the… in the cooler.
714
00:37:17,443 --> 00:37:19,403
- [Kaylee] Let's go in.
- [Mac] Get in the cooler.
715
00:37:19,487 --> 00:37:22,531
- [Eric] Seriously, this is bad.
- [Mac] In the cooler. In the cooler.
716
00:37:22,615 --> 00:37:25,826
The cooler was just the spot
where we should definitely be.
717
00:37:26,953 --> 00:37:28,537
The door started flying open.
718
00:37:28,621 --> 00:37:29,789
[man shouting]
719
00:37:29,872 --> 00:37:31,666
Eric ran up to shut the door.
720
00:37:32,375 --> 00:37:34,460
[Mac] Eric, get the fuck over here.
721
00:37:34,543 --> 00:37:36,170
- [Kaylee] Oh my God
- We need to get in.
722
00:37:36,254 --> 00:37:37,255
[man] Get down!
723
00:37:37,338 --> 00:37:39,298
[Mac] Come on, up here.
Over here. Over here!
724
00:37:39,382 --> 00:37:40,967
- [man] Over here, over here!
- [Mac] Here!
725
00:37:41,550 --> 00:37:44,804
- Crowd together, everybody. Guys.
- [Kaylee] God, that's not good.
726
00:37:46,555 --> 00:37:50,393
We ended up huddling
where you fill up the pops.
727
00:37:50,476 --> 00:37:52,603
I knew that we were in a bad spot.
728
00:37:53,312 --> 00:37:56,565
Kaylee was as low
as she could go, squatted down.
729
00:37:57,608 --> 00:37:59,986
And I just kind of hugged her from behind.
730
00:38:00,069 --> 00:38:04,657
Eric was to my right,
and Mac was on my back.
731
00:38:04,740 --> 00:38:06,993
So I had my arm around Eric,
732
00:38:07,076 --> 00:38:09,287
and we kind of formed,
like, a human weight.
733
00:38:11,956 --> 00:38:14,583
You could hear the bottles
clanking up against each other.
734
00:38:15,084 --> 00:38:16,919
The building was vibrating.
735
00:38:17,712 --> 00:38:20,631
This is kind of gettin' scary.
736
00:38:21,132 --> 00:38:22,341
Really scary.
737
00:38:24,885 --> 00:38:26,220
[glass smashing]
738
00:38:27,555 --> 00:38:30,599
[Cecil] It was getting closer,
and it was rumbling louder and louder.
739
00:38:31,517 --> 00:38:35,730
I remember in my mind all the tornado
drills that I had to do in school.
740
00:38:35,813 --> 00:38:38,899
Put your head between your knees.
Put your hands behind your neck.
741
00:38:38,983 --> 00:38:41,986
And I remember thinking,
"I gotta get people safe."
742
00:38:45,406 --> 00:38:47,533
There was a family of about seven people.
743
00:38:48,034 --> 00:38:51,037
I said, "I need the family
to go in the bathroom."
744
00:38:51,871 --> 00:38:53,956
Because it didn't have external walls.
745
00:38:55,124 --> 00:38:56,917
But there was no room for me in there.
746
00:38:59,920 --> 00:39:01,672
I was like, "Where am I gonna go?"
747
00:39:02,173 --> 00:39:07,053
I remember there was a storage room,
but it had two outside walls,
748
00:39:07,136 --> 00:39:09,847
so it exposed us even more.
749
00:39:10,639 --> 00:39:13,142
There was two other teenagers
in that room with me.
750
00:39:13,225 --> 00:39:14,518
[clattering]
751
00:39:14,602 --> 00:39:17,146
Cement started crumbling
underneath my feet.
752
00:39:17,229 --> 00:39:19,023
- [rumbling]
- [Mac] Fuck.
753
00:39:19,106 --> 00:39:20,024
My ears are popping.
754
00:39:20,107 --> 00:39:21,567
- Fuck, fuck, fuck, dude.
- [Kaylee] No!
755
00:39:21,650 --> 00:39:24,487
You could feel
the pressure in your ears change.
756
00:39:24,570 --> 00:39:25,821
[high-pitched ringing]
757
00:39:25,905 --> 00:39:27,823
[rumbling]
758
00:39:27,907 --> 00:39:28,741
[Mac] Guys, guys!
759
00:39:28,824 --> 00:39:29,784
[Eric] It's on us!
760
00:39:29,867 --> 00:39:31,202
- [Mac] Guys.
- [Kaylee] Oh my God.
761
00:39:31,786 --> 00:39:32,661
Fuck.
762
00:39:32,745 --> 00:39:35,498
And then the largest pop.
763
00:39:38,584 --> 00:39:40,711
It sounded like… [blows twice]
764
00:39:40,795 --> 00:39:42,797
[intense crashing]
765
00:39:47,009 --> 00:39:48,761
And the next thing you know,
766
00:39:49,261 --> 00:39:50,346
everything away.
767
00:39:51,097 --> 00:39:53,099
- [intense whooshing]
- [glass shattering]
768
00:39:54,016 --> 00:39:55,643
[Kaylee screams] Mac!
769
00:39:55,726 --> 00:39:56,977
[intense rumbling]
770
00:40:01,774 --> 00:40:03,943
[crashing]
771
00:40:04,026 --> 00:40:06,237
[Cecil] The wall in front of us
cracked open.
772
00:40:07,405 --> 00:40:11,575
I could see, like, this wall of things
that just was flying in front of my eyes.
773
00:40:13,786 --> 00:40:15,746
I saw a tree go by.
774
00:40:15,830 --> 00:40:18,833
I saw the back end
of a trailer truck flying.
775
00:40:20,793 --> 00:40:25,005
A car pushed up against the side
of the building and held the wall up.
776
00:40:30,761 --> 00:40:35,015
[Kaylee] I saw every part of that building
come apart in slow motion.
777
00:40:43,816 --> 00:40:47,987
The things flying around,
and the walls coming down,
778
00:40:48,821 --> 00:40:50,781
the ceiling torn away.
779
00:40:56,454 --> 00:40:59,165
[Mac] I looked over,
and the walls were gone.
780
00:40:59,248 --> 00:41:01,542
I was just looking outside in the alley.
781
00:41:01,625 --> 00:41:03,711
All I just saw was a wall of wind.
782
00:41:03,794 --> 00:41:06,130
- [video sound breaking up]
- [Kaylee gasping]
783
00:41:07,715 --> 00:41:09,925
[Mac] Ow! It hurts so bad!
784
00:41:10,426 --> 00:41:11,469
Oh my God!
785
00:41:11,969 --> 00:41:13,137
Ow!
786
00:41:13,220 --> 00:41:15,139
- [Kaylee gasping]
- [video sound breaking up]
787
00:41:16,390 --> 00:41:21,353
It felt so violent. Like somebody
had a sandblaster on my back, just on.
788
00:41:21,437 --> 00:41:23,439
[wind gusting violently]
789
00:41:24,064 --> 00:41:26,775
[Mac] It was literally
just things flying in the sky.
790
00:41:28,235 --> 00:41:30,070
There was a big flash of white.
791
00:41:30,738 --> 00:41:33,365
One of the cinder blocks
from what the building was made out of
792
00:41:33,449 --> 00:41:34,700
hit me in the head.
793
00:41:37,536 --> 00:41:42,249
We were just gettin' pelted
by glass and grit.
794
00:41:42,333 --> 00:41:43,542
[debris falling]
795
00:41:43,626 --> 00:41:45,336
The sounds of things goin'… tsk!
796
00:41:45,419 --> 00:41:48,088
Like the sound a dart makes
when it hits a board.
797
00:41:49,715 --> 00:41:53,636
When's one of those projectiles
gonna impale me?
798
00:41:54,595 --> 00:41:59,058
Fly through my neck?
Or hit my brother or Mac?
799
00:42:01,018 --> 00:42:02,895
[intense crashing]
800
00:42:04,355 --> 00:42:07,566
[Steven] I thought I was gonna die
from the noise. It was just so loud.
801
00:42:07,650 --> 00:42:09,276
Just roarin'.
802
00:42:13,280 --> 00:42:17,284
[Doug] Riding through this tornado,
debris inside of the car is just flyin'.
803
00:42:17,368 --> 00:42:19,370
- [crashing]
- [shouting]
804
00:42:20,663 --> 00:42:22,623
We're getting hit by rocks.
805
00:42:23,541 --> 00:42:26,627
Glass shards hitting each other,
cutting us.
806
00:42:30,548 --> 00:42:33,300
It is pulling air out.
807
00:42:35,886 --> 00:42:38,013
I'm tellin' them,
"Get your seat belts on."
808
00:42:38,097 --> 00:42:41,850
Like, we're going into this.
There's a possibility we ain't coming out.
809
00:42:42,351 --> 00:42:46,188
[wind roaring, howling]
810
00:42:51,569 --> 00:42:54,363
[Cecil] We were so scared
that we were losing our lives.
811
00:42:54,905 --> 00:42:55,990
[calm music playing]
812
00:42:56,073 --> 00:42:58,325
We just screamed into the air,
813
00:42:58,409 --> 00:43:02,913
"God, you are all-powerful.
God, like, put your light around me."
814
00:43:03,497 --> 00:43:04,832
"Protect us with your light."
815
00:43:04,915 --> 00:43:06,417
[wind howling]
816
00:43:06,500 --> 00:43:08,502
[jumbled, broken up sounds]
817
00:43:11,171 --> 00:43:13,007
[intense, distorted rumbling]
818
00:43:13,090 --> 00:43:15,926
[Kaylee] It just kept building
and building and building.
819
00:43:17,261 --> 00:43:18,679
[rumbling growing louder]
820
00:43:22,766 --> 00:43:25,811
- And then all of a sudden, it stopped.
- [sounds fading]
821
00:43:27,146 --> 00:43:28,439
And I looked up,
822
00:43:29,106 --> 00:43:31,108
and I saw clear blue sky.
823
00:43:32,443 --> 00:43:33,611
We were in the eye.
824
00:43:35,112 --> 00:43:38,866
And I just could not believe my eyes.
825
00:43:38,949 --> 00:43:42,036
Like, "Oh my goodness, there is the sky."
826
00:43:45,623 --> 00:43:48,959
I saw vortexes in the middle of it.
827
00:43:50,461 --> 00:43:52,129
It was incredible.
828
00:43:52,212 --> 00:43:58,427
Tornadoes that have an eye are…
are just giant. They're monsters.
829
00:44:00,429 --> 00:44:04,391
[Kaylee] To be stuck
in this moment of calm,
830
00:44:06,143 --> 00:44:07,478
this little tunnel,
831
00:44:08,771 --> 00:44:11,857
totally surrounded by chaos.
832
00:44:15,277 --> 00:44:16,570
[sighs]
833
00:44:17,696 --> 00:44:19,698
That was the first time I had ever…
834
00:44:21,575 --> 00:44:23,243
been forced to reckon with,
835
00:44:23,327 --> 00:44:26,038
"I am not ever truly in control."
836
00:44:31,960 --> 00:44:35,214
[Mac] Don't move! Everybody stay down!
837
00:44:35,297 --> 00:44:37,341
[Kaylee] Stay down! Stay down!
838
00:44:38,175 --> 00:44:42,346
When things calmed down in the eye,
a lot of folks thought that it was over,
839
00:44:42,429 --> 00:44:46,058
but we knew
that there was a second half comin'.
840
00:44:49,728 --> 00:44:52,231
{\an8}[reporter 1 on TV] Continue to take cover.
841
00:44:52,314 --> 00:44:55,609
{\an8}We can see that tornado on the ground
from our tower cam.
842
00:44:55,693 --> 00:44:57,611
{\an8}We are continuing to track that.
843
00:44:57,695 --> 00:45:01,490
[reporter 2] This is a dangerous,
dangerous situation at this point in time.
844
00:45:02,074 --> 00:45:05,452
We're gonna continue
to track this storm at this point in time.
845
00:45:05,536 --> 00:45:07,413
[reporter 1] I don't think
it'll hit our station.
846
00:45:09,039 --> 00:45:10,249
[Eric] A tree fell down?
847
00:45:10,916 --> 00:45:11,834
Let's go in.
848
00:45:11,917 --> 00:45:13,460
[Kaylee] Everybody get down!
849
00:45:13,544 --> 00:45:14,628
[woman screams] It's coming!
850
00:45:14,712 --> 00:45:16,088
[Kaylee] It's coming.
851
00:45:16,171 --> 00:45:17,881
- God! God!
- [confused shouting]
852
00:45:17,965 --> 00:45:19,842
- [Mac] Get in.
- [shouting and sobbing]
853
00:45:19,925 --> 00:45:21,802
[wind picking up intensity]
854
00:45:22,302 --> 00:45:23,887
[woman] Jesus, heaven!
855
00:45:25,139 --> 00:45:26,640
[screaming]
856
00:45:28,183 --> 00:45:29,893
[eerie music playing]
857
00:45:44,783 --> 00:45:46,577
[music intensifies]
858
00:45:52,708 --> 00:45:56,003
{\an8}[reporter 2] Folks, if you can hear us,
if we are still--
859
00:45:56,086 --> 00:45:57,212
{\an8}[static buzzing]
860
00:45:57,296 --> 00:46:00,215
- [reporter 2] All right, we're off-air.
- [reporter 1] Yeah. We're off-air!
861
00:46:01,717 --> 00:46:04,219
[Heady] This is definitely
a very dangerous situation.
862
00:46:05,304 --> 00:46:06,638
The tower cam just went down,
863
00:46:06,722 --> 00:46:09,308
so it got too much debris
or it took a lightning strike.
864
00:46:09,391 --> 00:46:10,642
[tense music playing]
865
00:46:10,726 --> 00:46:13,645
[Heady] When the tower cam went down,
it was scary
866
00:46:13,729 --> 00:46:16,523
not to be able to tell people
what was goin' on.
867
00:46:21,820 --> 00:46:24,907
Are people safe?
Are people taking shelter?
868
00:46:24,990 --> 00:46:27,993
I was scrambling,
trying to figure out what was goin' on.
869
00:46:28,660 --> 00:46:29,953
[thunder crashes]
870
00:46:35,667 --> 00:46:37,252
[static crackling]
871
00:46:38,003 --> 00:46:41,131
I felt the car slide across the road
and then pick up.
872
00:46:45,803 --> 00:46:47,513
It was tumblin' sideways,
873
00:46:47,596 --> 00:46:50,098
and then it just got flung
and floated off.
874
00:46:58,232 --> 00:47:02,194
I looked at everybody, almost saying
goodbye in a way. That was, like, my look.
875
00:47:03,111 --> 00:47:04,780
It's like I knew I was gonna die.
876
00:47:05,280 --> 00:47:08,283
Dylan was grabbin' around me,
877
00:47:08,367 --> 00:47:09,993
and he was holdin' onto me.
878
00:47:12,621 --> 00:47:14,832
The tornado ripped me out of his arm,
879
00:47:16,250 --> 00:47:18,377
and I got sucked out of the car.
880
00:47:23,966 --> 00:47:26,426
I was flying inside the tornado,
881
00:47:27,302 --> 00:47:29,721
and was in the fetal position, screaming.
882
00:47:31,974 --> 00:47:36,186
Gravity's, like, not a thing in there.
It's just space, pretty much.
883
00:47:38,438 --> 00:47:41,233
My life flashed back through my mind.
884
00:47:43,610 --> 00:47:46,446
There were so many things
that happened in my life.
885
00:47:46,530 --> 00:47:50,367
Like, I remembered everything,
and I was like, "Oh my God."
886
00:47:50,450 --> 00:47:52,452
[dramatic music playing]
887
00:47:57,833 --> 00:47:59,668
I accepted my fate, and…
888
00:48:00,335 --> 00:48:02,546
and then I saw the light.
889
00:48:11,889 --> 00:48:14,933
[Cecil] As a teenager,
I thought, "This is the Rapture."
890
00:48:17,227 --> 00:48:19,938
"God's lifting his people up
and taking them away."
891
00:48:20,022 --> 00:48:21,940
"If this is gonna be the end of the world,
892
00:48:22,024 --> 00:48:24,943
I don't wanna stay around
for what's gonna happen."
893
00:48:25,569 --> 00:48:28,864
I, like, let go at one point
to be taken away.
894
00:48:28,947 --> 00:48:30,949
[dramatic vocalizing]
895
00:48:33,577 --> 00:48:36,204
[Cecil] I could feel
my body lift off the ground.
896
00:48:42,836 --> 00:48:46,882
[Kaylee] I can feel
my brother being lifted.
897
00:48:50,719 --> 00:48:53,055
There's no way
I'm goin' home without my brother.
898
00:48:53,138 --> 00:48:57,392
So I let go of the person next to me,
moved my arm up around his neck,
899
00:48:57,476 --> 00:48:59,227
and pulled him under me.
900
00:49:00,020 --> 00:49:02,940
But I then felt wind between Mac and I.
901
00:49:03,023 --> 00:49:06,568
So I knew Mac was being sucked up too.
902
00:49:12,908 --> 00:49:16,828
He was hangin' onto me
with everything he had and was airborne.
903
00:49:16,912 --> 00:49:18,330
[intense, distorted sounds on video]
904
00:49:18,413 --> 00:49:20,040
[Kaylee] Mac!
905
00:49:20,123 --> 00:49:21,458
Talk to me!
906
00:49:22,125 --> 00:49:24,002
Oh my God! What are you…
907
00:49:24,086 --> 00:49:25,879
- What are you…
- [Mac shouting]
908
00:49:25,963 --> 00:49:28,215
[jumbled, distorted voices]
909
00:49:31,301 --> 00:49:33,929
- I don't know how long I can hang on for.
- [sounds fade]
910
00:49:34,763 --> 00:49:37,474
[Kaylee] That was such
a sinking feeling, to realize
911
00:49:38,558 --> 00:49:42,354
one of us wasn't gonna walk away from it.
912
00:49:42,980 --> 00:49:45,857
I was 100% at peace at that moment.
913
00:49:49,277 --> 00:49:51,321
I was, I… I suppose, just ready.
914
00:49:52,823 --> 00:49:56,660
We said I love yous,
and we waited to die.
915
00:49:57,494 --> 00:49:59,162
[wind gusting]
916
00:50:06,712 --> 00:50:08,714
[intense, crashing wind]
917
00:50:10,007 --> 00:50:12,009
[static crackling]
918
00:50:15,721 --> 00:50:18,557
[man 1] I'm in a tornado!
I'm in a tornado!
919
00:50:19,599 --> 00:50:20,600
[thunder crashes]
920
00:50:20,684 --> 00:50:22,728
- [woman 1] Can anybody hear me?
- [woman 2] Go ahead.
921
00:50:22,811 --> 00:50:24,229
[woman 1] Officer down!
922
00:50:24,312 --> 00:50:26,314
[wind howling]
923
00:50:31,695 --> 00:50:33,572
[man 2 on radio]
Confirmed tornado on the ground.
924
00:50:33,655 --> 00:50:35,282
It's moving to the southeast.
925
00:50:35,365 --> 00:50:38,577
[woman 3] Battalion 1 has advised to hold
responses for at least five to ten minutes
926
00:50:38,660 --> 00:50:40,579
until it passes, as far as searching.
927
00:50:42,998 --> 00:50:44,416
[sounds fading]
928
00:50:44,499 --> 00:50:46,293
- [grunting]
- [rustling]
929
00:50:46,376 --> 00:50:47,711
[Kaylee, laughing] Oh my God!
930
00:50:48,211 --> 00:50:49,546
[Mac] Oh my God!
931
00:50:52,424 --> 00:50:54,217
- We're alive!
- [Kaylee] I'm…
932
00:50:54,301 --> 00:50:55,510
We're fucking alive!
933
00:50:55,594 --> 00:50:56,553
[both] We're alive!
934
00:50:56,636 --> 00:50:58,638
- [Mac] We're alive!
- [Kaylee] Woo-hoo!
935
00:51:00,974 --> 00:51:04,436
For a split second,
we were like, "Yes, we're alive!"
936
00:51:05,395 --> 00:51:08,398
And that just faded so fast.
937
00:51:09,858 --> 00:51:10,942
[Mac] What do we do?
938
00:51:11,443 --> 00:51:13,445
What the fuck do we do right now?
939
00:51:13,528 --> 00:51:15,697
[Kaylee] Well, we wait. We wait.
940
00:51:15,781 --> 00:51:17,616
[Mac] Let's run! I mean, no, no, no, no!
941
00:51:17,699 --> 00:51:19,367
[Kaylee] No, stay down! Stay down!
942
00:51:19,451 --> 00:51:21,161
[wind gusting]
943
00:51:21,244 --> 00:51:22,829
[sounds fade]
944
00:51:22,913 --> 00:51:24,414
[Mac] When we took a look around…
945
00:51:26,208 --> 00:51:27,417
everything was gone.
946
00:51:28,126 --> 00:51:29,795
It felt like the end of the world.
947
00:51:32,672 --> 00:51:36,510
[Cecil] I go outside
and see the town exploding.
948
00:51:36,593 --> 00:51:38,512
[thunder crashing]
949
00:51:38,595 --> 00:51:40,305
[eerie music playing]
950
00:51:42,057 --> 00:51:44,142
A mile and a half on both sides,
there was nothing.
951
00:51:49,523 --> 00:51:51,983
All the houses were destroyed.
All the trees were gone.
952
00:51:52,484 --> 00:51:54,694
And I remember just, like, screaming.
953
00:51:56,655 --> 00:51:58,740
I thought the Rapture had happened.
954
00:51:59,616 --> 00:52:02,953
And because I was gay,
I wasn't taken by God.
955
00:52:03,912 --> 00:52:05,914
[thunder rumbling]
956
00:52:05,997 --> 00:52:07,582
[poignant music playing]
957
00:52:08,208 --> 00:52:09,501
[sighs]
958
00:52:11,628 --> 00:52:13,630
[distant thunder echoing]
959
00:52:14,881 --> 00:52:17,259
[Cecil] I knew that
I needed to find my parents.
960
00:52:18,009 --> 00:52:20,929
But I didn't know
if my parents were still alive.
961
00:52:21,930 --> 00:52:23,181
[sighs]
962
00:52:23,265 --> 00:52:24,891
And then, I just…
963
00:52:26,977 --> 00:52:29,062
I just had to get myself, like, ready.
964
00:52:29,146 --> 00:52:30,981
- [phone speed-dials]
- [man 1] Respond emergency.
965
00:52:31,064 --> 00:52:32,399
[sirens wailing]
966
00:52:32,482 --> 00:52:35,652
[man 2] We're gonna need everybody.
There's people dead and trapped.
967
00:52:35,735 --> 00:52:36,945
Call everybody.
968
00:52:37,028 --> 00:52:39,030
[tense music playing]
969
00:52:42,492 --> 00:52:43,660
[woman 1] 2-70, status?
970
00:52:43,743 --> 00:52:47,497
[man 3] Main South is completely gone.
Total destruction here.
971
00:52:48,081 --> 00:52:51,668
[man 4] We've got whole buildings missin',
multiple subjects injured.
972
00:52:51,751 --> 00:52:54,713
[man 5] 10-4. We're trying to get help
as soon as possible.
973
00:52:56,089 --> 00:52:58,049
[thunder rumbling]
974
00:52:58,633 --> 00:53:00,760
[Chad] We took shelter
in the kitchen of the restaurant,
975
00:53:00,844 --> 00:53:02,846
waiting for the tornado to hit.
976
00:53:02,929 --> 00:53:05,473
But that impending doom never came.
977
00:53:07,767 --> 00:53:11,479
I was confused
as to why the restaurant wasn't hit.
978
00:53:12,439 --> 00:53:15,692
I thought maybe
I'd been dramatic and overreacted.
979
00:53:16,693 --> 00:53:19,738
My mom and I went back to our hotel,
which was across the street.
980
00:53:19,821 --> 00:53:23,491
Cell phones were down,
so we weren't able to get ahold of Doug.
981
00:53:24,201 --> 00:53:26,119
I turned on the radio.
982
00:53:26,203 --> 00:53:30,040
[reporter, breaking up] …stay in your…
Your worst nightmare has come to Joplin.
983
00:53:30,123 --> 00:53:32,542
[Chad] We're hearing about
everything that was going on
984
00:53:32,626 --> 00:53:34,419
a quarter of a mile away
from where we were.
985
00:53:34,502 --> 00:53:37,005
The tornado went through
the heart of Joplin.
986
00:53:37,088 --> 00:53:39,466
It started right there at the state line
987
00:53:39,549 --> 00:53:43,303
and ripped a good chunk of a path
through the city.
988
00:53:45,138 --> 00:53:49,059
We saw a car pull up to the hotel.
989
00:53:49,684 --> 00:53:52,020
And it didn't even look like a car.
990
00:53:52,103 --> 00:53:56,233
It looked like something that was out of
a horror movie, or had been through war.
991
00:53:56,316 --> 00:53:59,027
A gentleman got out of the car,
and he clearly wasn't okay.
992
00:53:59,110 --> 00:54:00,570
He was bleeding, and…
993
00:54:01,696 --> 00:54:04,157
You could tell he was in shock.
994
00:54:04,241 --> 00:54:07,118
He said, "Joplin is gone."
995
00:54:08,620 --> 00:54:11,039
[man on recording] The houses are gone.
The trees are gone.
996
00:54:11,122 --> 00:54:13,625
Cars are gone. Buildings are gone.
997
00:54:14,125 --> 00:54:19,798
That's when I knew that this was more
than I ever could have imagined.
998
00:54:21,591 --> 00:54:24,511
[man on radio] I would say
Joplin is gonna need lots of help.
999
00:54:25,011 --> 00:54:28,265
[Keegan] When I got into the driveway,
Dad was in the garage with his radio.
1000
00:54:28,348 --> 00:54:30,350
[radio] We've got people
screamin' and hollerin'.
1001
00:54:30,433 --> 00:54:32,435
We need it just as fast as you can.
1002
00:54:32,519 --> 00:54:35,188
There's hundreds of people
out there with injuries.
1003
00:54:35,272 --> 00:54:37,816
- [radio bleeps]
- [Keegan] Dad said, "Go get dressed."
1004
00:54:38,608 --> 00:54:41,820
So I'm runnin' inside,
I'm throwin' off my cap and gown,
1005
00:54:41,903 --> 00:54:45,240
and we all, within a matter of minutes,
we're changed and ready,
1006
00:54:45,323 --> 00:54:47,450
and we hop into my dad's work car.
1007
00:54:47,534 --> 00:54:48,702
[radio] …officer, we can send…
1008
00:54:48,785 --> 00:54:51,621
We head to where the storm
had just went through Joplin.
1009
00:54:51,705 --> 00:54:53,540
[sirens wailing]
1010
00:54:57,210 --> 00:54:59,462
[Mac, on recording] Kaylee!
Kaylee, where are you at?
1011
00:54:59,546 --> 00:55:00,505
[Kaylee] Hello?
1012
00:55:00,588 --> 00:55:02,132
[panting and shuffling sounds]
1013
00:55:02,215 --> 00:55:03,508
[Mac] Kaylee, I got you.
1014
00:55:04,509 --> 00:55:06,136
Kaylee, oh my fucking God.
1015
00:55:07,095 --> 00:55:08,555
This fuckin' sucks.
1016
00:55:09,222 --> 00:55:10,181
[thunder rumbling]
1017
00:55:10,265 --> 00:55:13,310
Lightning was striking the ground
all around us.
1018
00:55:13,393 --> 00:55:15,937
Close enough that your hairs
would stick up.
1019
00:55:19,357 --> 00:55:21,318
Just complete frenzy.
1020
00:55:23,069 --> 00:55:25,530
Fried nerves. Where do we go?
1021
00:55:26,698 --> 00:55:30,160
[Mac] Guys, where do we go?
Where's the house? Somebody!
1022
00:55:30,243 --> 00:55:32,245
[shouting and rustling on video]
1023
00:55:33,830 --> 00:55:35,415
[Mac] Oh my God, our families.
1024
00:55:35,915 --> 00:55:37,500
- Oh my God, our families.
- [Kaylee sobs]
1025
00:55:40,295 --> 00:55:44,549
[Mac] The path of the tornado
was straight towards my mom's house,
1026
00:55:44,632 --> 00:55:46,134
Kaylee and Eric's parents' house.
1027
00:55:46,760 --> 00:55:48,136
[Mac on video] Oh my God.
1028
00:55:48,928 --> 00:55:50,347
[distant thunder rumbling]
1029
00:55:50,430 --> 00:55:52,432
[rainfall]
1030
00:55:53,558 --> 00:55:55,185
We remembered that we drove there,
1031
00:55:55,268 --> 00:55:59,314
and that there was a truck
should be parked in Alp's parking lot.
1032
00:56:02,025 --> 00:56:04,694
We took off and looked for the truck.
1033
00:56:06,196 --> 00:56:07,864
- [Eric] Guys!
- [Mac] Eric!
1034
00:56:09,115 --> 00:56:10,700
Eric, Kaylee, come here!
1035
00:56:11,868 --> 00:56:14,871
Her truck was still there,
but it was demolished.
1036
00:56:14,954 --> 00:56:18,917
I had kept my purse and things on me,
so I still had the keys.
1037
00:56:19,000 --> 00:56:21,002
[engine coughing]
1038
00:56:23,213 --> 00:56:24,631
[engine starts]
1039
00:56:29,052 --> 00:56:31,179
[Kaylee] We were gonna go find home.
1040
00:56:35,308 --> 00:56:36,726
[car alarm blaring]
1041
00:56:39,396 --> 00:56:41,022
[Mac] We had four flat tires.
1042
00:56:41,606 --> 00:56:43,983
We were driving over telephone poles,
1043
00:56:44,776 --> 00:56:45,819
trees,
1044
00:56:46,319 --> 00:56:47,737
power lines,
1045
00:56:47,821 --> 00:56:49,489
anything we had to,
1046
00:56:49,572 --> 00:56:52,242
because we were trying
to get to our families.
1047
00:56:53,368 --> 00:56:54,244
[radio bleeps]
1048
00:56:54,327 --> 00:56:56,538
[man 1 on radio] I'm not sure
how we're gonna get through.
1049
00:56:56,621 --> 00:56:57,997
This is totally impassable.
1050
00:57:00,083 --> 00:57:03,086
[man 2] I have at least
two overturned semis on I-44.
1051
00:57:04,129 --> 00:57:07,549
Disregard. We got
multiple vehicles overturned.
1052
00:57:07,632 --> 00:57:09,634
[unsettling music playing]
1053
00:57:19,519 --> 00:57:22,063
[Doug] I wake up.
I'm inside of the car still.
1054
00:57:23,189 --> 00:57:26,943
I'm just like, "Is everybody else in here?
Is everybody alive?"
1055
00:57:27,026 --> 00:57:29,446
"Guys, you gotta talk to me.
Somebody answer me."
1056
00:57:30,029 --> 00:57:33,825
Um, next thing I know, my brother says,
"Yeah, I'm alive. I'm okay."
1057
00:57:33,908 --> 00:57:36,619
And then Evan is like,
"Yeah, man. I'm okay too."
1058
00:57:36,703 --> 00:57:39,873
But… I didn't hear anything from Steven.
1059
00:57:41,708 --> 00:57:44,627
I gotta get out of this car.
I gotta find him now.
1060
00:57:47,922 --> 00:57:51,551
I'm yelling, "Steven, I gotta find you.
Say my name."
1061
00:57:53,761 --> 00:57:54,721
"Steven!"
1062
00:57:55,889 --> 00:57:58,224
"Give me a sign. Tell me you're here. Yo!"
1063
00:57:59,893 --> 00:58:01,269
[radio chatter]
1064
00:58:01,352 --> 00:58:02,812
[thunder crashes]
1065
00:58:03,897 --> 00:58:05,607
[high-pitched ringing]
1066
00:58:06,691 --> 00:58:08,902
[Steven] My eyes were opening and closing,
1067
00:58:09,486 --> 00:58:11,404
like, in and out of consciousness.
1068
00:58:13,615 --> 00:58:18,369
I see Doug, Evan, and Dylan's face,
like, come running over.
1069
00:58:19,120 --> 00:58:21,706
Like, "Well, why the fuck are they walkin'
and I'm not?"
1070
00:58:21,789 --> 00:58:24,000
I was like, "That's not a good sign."
1071
00:58:25,418 --> 00:58:28,004
I tried movin'.
That's when I started feelin' the pain.
1072
00:58:28,087 --> 00:58:29,297
I started screamin'.
1073
00:58:29,797 --> 00:58:32,175
Man, I fuckin' hurt bad.
1074
00:58:32,926 --> 00:58:34,219
[Doug] It was insane.
1075
00:58:34,302 --> 00:58:36,804
He was just in pieces.
1076
00:58:36,888 --> 00:58:41,267
You got… Swear on everything, I could see
his heart beating through his chest.
1077
00:58:43,061 --> 00:58:46,314
We were going to get him help
and make sure he was gonna stay alive.
1078
00:58:47,774 --> 00:58:51,194
I start seeing lights
comin' up to the top of the hillside.
1079
00:58:51,694 --> 00:58:55,156
I'm standin' in front of the car
as it's comin' at me, not slowin' down,
1080
00:58:55,240 --> 00:58:57,116
not nothin', just drive right by me.
1081
00:58:59,452 --> 00:59:02,580
Then over the top of this hill
comes this Chevy,
1082
00:59:02,664 --> 00:59:07,377
and this car was already wrecked.
1083
00:59:07,460 --> 00:59:08,711
[brakes squeaking]
1084
00:59:11,589 --> 00:59:12,757
[chuckles]
1085
00:59:13,633 --> 00:59:15,718
They got out of the car immediately.
1086
00:59:15,802 --> 00:59:17,804
[rapid heartbeat]
1087
00:59:17,887 --> 00:59:19,639
[car door opens]
1088
00:59:19,722 --> 00:59:22,850
I was like, "I'm gonna go to sleep."
Dylan's smacking me in the face.
1089
00:59:24,269 --> 00:59:27,397
I was like, "I'm giving up.
I'm gonna die right here."
1090
00:59:27,480 --> 00:59:29,566
And then I blacked out.
1091
00:59:31,609 --> 00:59:32,986
[heartbeat fades]
1092
00:59:33,069 --> 00:59:35,613
[sirens wailing]
1093
00:59:36,531 --> 00:59:38,700
[woman on radio] Supervisor's
trying to get triage set up
1094
00:59:38,783 --> 00:59:40,118
at 20th and Range Line.
1095
00:59:42,287 --> 00:59:46,124
[Keegan] When we arrived at 20th
and Range Line, it looked like a war zone.
1096
00:59:48,209 --> 00:59:50,211
There were bodies in the road,
1097
00:59:50,295 --> 00:59:51,754
buildings gone,
1098
00:59:51,838 --> 00:59:53,673
cars flipped over.
1099
00:59:55,883 --> 00:59:58,136
Just complete devastation everywhere.
1100
00:59:58,970 --> 01:00:01,681
[man 1 on radio] Put a call-out
to all off-duty county deputies
1101
01:00:01,764 --> 01:00:03,433
to report in for duty.
1102
01:00:04,350 --> 01:00:06,060
[sirens blaring]
1103
01:00:08,938 --> 01:00:12,442
[man 2] Can you pick an area over there
and just kind of set up an area?
1104
01:00:12,525 --> 01:00:14,902
[Keegan] I went to EMT school
to help people,
1105
01:00:14,986 --> 01:00:18,698
and it was just throttle down and start,
you know, doing what we could to help.
1106
01:00:20,783 --> 01:00:23,911
I was 18 years old, but I was not scared.
1107
01:00:23,995 --> 01:00:26,497
I was not worried. I was there with Dad.
1108
01:00:26,998 --> 01:00:30,501
He said, "Hey, you take this area,
I'm gonna take this area,
1109
01:00:30,585 --> 01:00:32,128
then we're gonna report back."
1110
01:00:35,089 --> 01:00:38,426
Everywhere I looked and turned around,
I just saw more injuries.
1111
01:00:38,509 --> 01:00:39,927
[baby crying]
1112
01:00:40,970 --> 01:00:45,141
I remember someone comin' up to me
wearin' a… a gown from graduation,
1113
01:00:45,224 --> 01:00:48,686
and it was a girl, and she said,
"Keegan, where's my family?"
1114
01:00:48,770 --> 01:00:50,521
I had… To this day,
I don't know who it was.
1115
01:00:50,605 --> 01:00:52,857
I knew she knew me
because she knew my name,
1116
01:00:52,940 --> 01:00:55,443
and she was wearin' a gown,
a graduation gown.
1117
01:00:55,943 --> 01:00:59,238
But her face was all bloody and covered,
and I don't know who it was.
1118
01:01:04,911 --> 01:01:06,996
[Cecil] I had been out walking for hours.
1119
01:01:07,747 --> 01:01:10,416
I was so, like, shell-shocked.
1120
01:01:11,084 --> 01:01:13,336
The sky was the craziest colors.
1121
01:01:13,836 --> 01:01:16,255
It almost felt like an ethereal world.
1122
01:01:16,339 --> 01:01:18,341
[distant sirens blaring]
1123
01:01:19,008 --> 01:01:23,179
And then I see my mom,
and she was alive, and I was so happy.
1124
01:01:23,262 --> 01:01:24,889
[uplifting music playing]
1125
01:01:24,972 --> 01:01:28,434
[Cecil] It's not the end of the world.
My family wasn't raptured.
1126
01:01:28,518 --> 01:01:29,519
They're alive.
1127
01:01:30,061 --> 01:01:34,816
My mom and my dad told me
that our home was destroyed completely.
1128
01:01:35,525 --> 01:01:39,195
I remember her just, like, hugging me,
putting her arm around me.
1129
01:01:40,321 --> 01:01:41,864
Hearing my mom say, like,
1130
01:01:42,573 --> 01:01:46,703
"I was at Target when it happened,"
and, like, "I was buying hair dye."
1131
01:01:47,286 --> 01:01:49,205
Like, it was so stupid and silly,
1132
01:01:49,288 --> 01:01:51,874
but I was like,
"Thank God you dye your hair, Mom."
1133
01:01:51,958 --> 01:01:55,878
"I'm so happy you weren't at home,
and I'm so happy you're safe."
1134
01:02:05,096 --> 01:02:07,557
[Kaylee] The second
we got away from Main Street,
1135
01:02:08,224 --> 01:02:09,600
we got lost.
1136
01:02:10,518 --> 01:02:14,105
I mean, we knew that neighborhood
like the back of our hands,
1137
01:02:15,273 --> 01:02:17,775
and we had no idea where we were.
1138
01:02:17,859 --> 01:02:19,277
There was nothin' to orient us.
1139
01:02:19,360 --> 01:02:21,362
[engine revving]
1140
01:02:27,452 --> 01:02:29,162
There was a field.
1141
01:02:29,746 --> 01:02:32,498
I remember Kaylee
gettin' stuck in the field.
1142
01:02:33,374 --> 01:02:36,627
She gave it some gas,
and I remember us sinking a little bit.
1143
01:02:36,711 --> 01:02:39,172
Me and Eric said,
"It's fine. We'll get out and push."
1144
01:02:39,672 --> 01:02:41,299
We jumped out of the truck.
1145
01:02:41,799 --> 01:02:43,718
Me and Eric looked at each other and said,
1146
01:02:43,801 --> 01:02:48,097
"Dude, what field
is in the middle of Joplin?"
1147
01:02:48,181 --> 01:02:50,850
"What field? Where are we at?
Why are we in a field?"
1148
01:02:50,933 --> 01:02:55,938
And then we looked and realized that
we were in the high school practice field.
1149
01:02:56,856 --> 01:03:00,943
Like the high school we went to.
We were there.
1150
01:03:01,027 --> 01:03:02,737
[emotional music playing]
1151
01:03:03,279 --> 01:03:04,989
We couldn't even recognize
1152
01:03:05,615 --> 01:03:10,161
that we were where
we went to school at for our childhood.
1153
01:03:10,244 --> 01:03:11,287
Um…
1154
01:03:12,205 --> 01:03:13,289
[sighs]
1155
01:03:14,040 --> 01:03:15,666
And that was pretty sobering.
1156
01:03:20,588 --> 01:03:23,841
[Will] More than 2,100 students
fill the halls of Joplin High School.
1157
01:03:26,803 --> 01:03:29,430
[student speaker] I've recently been
thinking about the future,
1158
01:03:29,514 --> 01:03:31,265
waiting for something big to happen.
1159
01:03:31,974 --> 01:03:33,643
Today is that something big.
1160
01:03:38,981 --> 01:03:42,276
[man 1 on radio] Have you heard anything
about the Joplin High School on 20th?
1161
01:03:42,985 --> 01:03:45,822
[reporter 1] Joplin High School,
as we understand it, has been destroyed.
1162
01:03:48,199 --> 01:03:50,993
[girl] It's crazy.
And today was my graduation.
1163
01:03:51,619 --> 01:03:56,123
Usually, I mean, like, the tornado sirens
go off, but nothing usually happens.
1164
01:03:56,207 --> 01:03:58,084
So I thought,
"Ah, well, nothing's gonna happen."
1165
01:03:58,167 --> 01:04:02,088
And the one day that I say,
"You know what? Nothing's gonna happen…"
1166
01:04:12,682 --> 01:04:14,517
[man, breaking up]
Check, one, two, three, four.
1167
01:04:14,600 --> 01:04:18,437
Weather Channel, Mike Bettes here.
Amanda, it's Bettes. You hear me?
1168
01:04:18,521 --> 01:04:20,648
Joplin is destroyed.
1169
01:04:22,525 --> 01:04:25,528
{\an8}[Amanda] We're talking about severe
weather in the middle of the country.
1170
01:04:25,611 --> 01:04:28,948
{\an8}Now we're seeing confirmation
of tornado touchdowns in Joplin, Missouri.
1171
01:04:29,031 --> 01:04:31,367
{\an8}[reporter 2] This is raw video
coming in live as we speak.
1172
01:04:31,450 --> 01:04:33,327
{\an8}Paul, I've never seen
a scene like this before.
1173
01:04:33,411 --> 01:04:36,497
{\an8}Kind of taking my breath away here.
Oh my goodness.
1174
01:04:38,040 --> 01:04:41,085
{\an8}It is a devastating scene. I… Oh.
1175
01:04:43,129 --> 01:04:47,425
{\an8}All I can say is it looks very reminiscent
of what we saw last month in…
1176
01:04:49,093 --> 01:04:50,094
{\an8}[gasps]
1177
01:04:50,887 --> 01:04:52,430
{\an8}[voice breaking] Excuse me.
1178
01:04:52,513 --> 01:04:54,098
{\an8}[tearfully] In, uh, Tuscaloosa.
1179
01:04:54,807 --> 01:04:55,808
{\an8}[Amanda] Oh God.
1180
01:04:57,018 --> 01:04:58,185
{\an8}[Mike sniffles]
1181
01:04:59,520 --> 01:05:01,230
{\an8}[Amanda] Mike, are you all right?
1182
01:05:01,314 --> 01:05:04,233
{\an8}You're seeing
some just terrible things, I'm sure.
1183
01:05:05,818 --> 01:05:07,862
{\an8}Yeah, it, uh… Uh…
1184
01:05:14,118 --> 01:05:16,203
{\an8}I remember seeing that
and thinking, "Oh shit."
1185
01:05:16,287 --> 01:05:20,499
Someone from the Weather Channel is being
moved and upset by the devastation.
1186
01:05:20,583 --> 01:05:22,293
Like, that's real stuff.
1187
01:05:22,376 --> 01:05:25,296
It's weird to see it from someone else's
eyes that's not from here.
1188
01:05:26,672 --> 01:05:30,051
{\an8}A powerful tornado
leveled a big chunk of the city.
1189
01:05:30,927 --> 01:05:33,971
{\an8}Almost nothing, we're told,
is left standing.
1190
01:05:34,055 --> 01:05:37,224
{\an8}We wanna tell you, this is very serious,
and these things happen very quickly,
1191
01:05:37,308 --> 01:05:40,645
{\an8}so it's tough to get cameras in there,
but we're working on it.
1192
01:05:40,728 --> 01:05:44,815
{\an8}On the morning of the 23rd, I got a call
from the Fox 5 station in San Diego.
1193
01:05:45,316 --> 01:05:49,779
And they asked
if I could do some reporting,
1194
01:05:49,862 --> 01:05:54,700
because at the time, none of the national
networks had arrived in Joplin yet.
1195
01:05:54,784 --> 01:05:57,286
And I actually remember
thinking to myself,
1196
01:05:57,954 --> 01:06:01,540
"Well, if all the other reporters
can do it, so can I."
1197
01:06:02,249 --> 01:06:06,379
Good afternoon, meteorologist Chad Crilley
here live in downtown Joplin
1198
01:06:06,462 --> 01:06:07,838
in the residential communities
1199
01:06:07,922 --> 01:06:10,967
where we did see
a large wedge tornado come through.
1200
01:06:11,050 --> 01:06:13,511
And we do have extensive damage here.
1201
01:06:13,594 --> 01:06:17,306
[Heady] The next few days,
he sat in the studio with me.
1202
01:06:17,390 --> 01:06:20,559
In fact, Chad got to get on-field training
1203
01:06:20,643 --> 01:06:23,854
for exactly what we do
here in Tornado Alley.
1204
01:06:25,231 --> 01:06:29,610
And I knew at that time, Chad was gonna
turn into a rock star someday.
1205
01:06:31,153 --> 01:06:33,864
{\an8}Thanks, Wolf. Good evening.
We begin tonight here in Joplin.
1206
01:06:33,948 --> 01:06:38,160
{\an8}The record-setting F5 tornado
ripped open a six-mile-long wound here.
1207
01:06:38,244 --> 01:06:41,664
{\an8}After the tornado,
Joplin was on everyone's radar.
1208
01:06:41,747 --> 01:06:44,208
{\an8}[reporter 1] Joplin, Missouri
took a beating from a tornado.
1209
01:06:44,291 --> 01:06:46,335
{\an8}It really is post-apocalyptic looking.
1210
01:06:46,419 --> 01:06:49,505
{\an8}And the bad weather period is expected
to continue into tomorrow.
1211
01:06:49,588 --> 01:06:50,631
{\an8}- [thunder crashes]
- Whoa!
1212
01:06:50,715 --> 01:06:53,926
{\an8}News reporters were coming in
from around the world.
1213
01:06:54,010 --> 01:06:56,053
[in German] Some houses
were literally pulverized.
1214
01:06:56,137 --> 01:06:58,639
[in Italian] The authorities have declared
a state of emergency.
1215
01:06:58,723 --> 01:07:01,434
{\an8}[Cecil] The media attention was hard.
There was cameras everywhere.
1216
01:07:01,517 --> 01:07:03,436
[imitating cameras clicking]
1217
01:07:03,519 --> 01:07:06,772
And I remember feeling like
there was, like, a target on my back.
1218
01:07:06,856 --> 01:07:08,816
It was like, "Him." Like, "Video him."
1219
01:07:08,899 --> 01:07:10,651
[reporter] Can you say
and spell your name?
1220
01:07:10,735 --> 01:07:14,947
I'm Cecil Cornish.
C-E-C-I-L, C-O-R-N-I-S-H.
1221
01:07:15,031 --> 01:07:16,115
[reporter] How old are you?
1222
01:07:16,198 --> 01:07:17,074
Seventeen.
1223
01:07:17,158 --> 01:07:18,159
[reporter] In high school?
1224
01:07:18,242 --> 01:07:19,076
Yeah.
1225
01:07:19,952 --> 01:07:20,828
Yeah.
1226
01:07:25,374 --> 01:07:27,460
[Keegan] When everyone
threw their caps up in the air,
1227
01:07:27,543 --> 01:07:29,211
I was like, "Wow, finally made it."
1228
01:07:29,295 --> 01:07:32,381
Never would have thought
that I'd have to share my graduation day
1229
01:07:32,465 --> 01:07:34,967
with one of the most tragic moments
that Joplin's seen.
1230
01:07:35,051 --> 01:07:36,802
It was… it was pretty hard.
1231
01:07:36,886 --> 01:07:39,096
And I still don't know
if my friend, Will Norton…
1232
01:07:39,180 --> 01:07:43,309
He's been missing.
It's still pretty bad. Yeah. But…
1233
01:07:45,102 --> 01:07:46,353
Yeah, so…
1234
01:07:48,189 --> 01:07:50,399
[Keegan] Cell phone service was
super spotty.
1235
01:07:50,483 --> 01:07:52,777
And I remember people texting and saying,
1236
01:07:52,860 --> 01:07:55,529
"Hey," you know, "You okay?
Where are you at?"
1237
01:07:55,613 --> 01:08:00,534
And that's when I realized
that Will wasn't accounted for.
1238
01:08:01,035 --> 01:08:05,372
Hey, guys, I just got back from LA
last night for a long weekend of fun.
1239
01:08:05,456 --> 01:08:08,292
[reporter] That's Will Norton,
18 years old.
1240
01:08:08,375 --> 01:08:12,004
Yes, I'm a senior in high school.
No one believes me, I swear.
1241
01:08:12,088 --> 01:08:14,173
[laughing] I'll show you my student ID.
1242
01:08:14,256 --> 01:08:15,800
[reporter] Already a star on YouTube,
1243
01:08:15,883 --> 01:08:18,719
with more than a million and a half views
of his videos.
1244
01:08:19,220 --> 01:08:22,348
Can't make myself go to sleep.
I am just in way too good of a mood
1245
01:08:22,431 --> 01:08:24,183
and I don't even know why.
1246
01:08:24,266 --> 01:08:27,561
He disappeared Sunday
when the twister hit his SUV.
1247
01:08:28,646 --> 01:08:31,315
- [reporter] Can you say your name?
- Yeah, it's Tracey Presslor.
1248
01:08:31,398 --> 01:08:32,817
[reporter] And we're talking about…
1249
01:08:33,442 --> 01:08:35,986
Uh, my nephew, Will Norton.
1250
01:08:36,070 --> 01:08:38,155
[reporter] He was coming home
from graduation, correct?
1251
01:08:38,239 --> 01:08:39,573
[Tracy] The sirens were going off.
1252
01:08:39,657 --> 01:08:42,576
So everybody went different directions
to try to get into shelter.
1253
01:08:42,660 --> 01:08:45,746
And he was driving.
My brother was in the passenger seat.
1254
01:08:45,830 --> 01:08:50,459
And the tornado basically just
grabbed them and took them into the air.
1255
01:08:50,543 --> 01:08:53,504
He reached over and grabbed my nephew
and was holding onto him,
1256
01:08:53,587 --> 01:08:56,841
and Will started
quoting Scripture immediately,
1257
01:08:56,924 --> 01:08:58,425
and just kept saying
verses and verses,
1258
01:08:58,509 --> 01:09:02,054
and the tornado literally
pulled him through the sunroof
1259
01:09:02,138 --> 01:09:04,056
while my brother had a hold of him.
1260
01:09:06,016 --> 01:09:08,018
[melancholy music playing]
1261
01:09:09,728 --> 01:09:13,107
[Keegan] Seeing all
the collective effort of everybody,
1262
01:09:13,816 --> 01:09:17,111
I held out hope that at some point,
we're gonna find Will.
1263
01:09:18,821 --> 01:09:23,117
People were searching for him day after
day, trying to figure out where he was.
1264
01:09:26,036 --> 01:09:28,581
[Tracy] We really kind of think
that he's still out there,
1265
01:09:28,664 --> 01:09:32,001
but we're concerned
with the vortex of this tornado
1266
01:09:32,084 --> 01:09:35,588
that it really could have taken him
much higher and much further.
1267
01:09:35,671 --> 01:09:39,258
I'm really asking people
everywhere from Joplin
1268
01:09:39,341 --> 01:09:41,969
towards Springfield, Nevada, wherever,
1269
01:09:42,052 --> 01:09:45,431
they need to check their fields,
people need to look in trees.
1270
01:09:45,514 --> 01:09:49,018
Not just for my nephew, but…
I mean, there's a lot of people missing.
1271
01:09:50,811 --> 01:09:52,813
[wind gusting]
1272
01:09:57,735 --> 01:10:02,281
[reporter 1] An extremely rare
flesh-invading fungus called zygomycosis
1273
01:10:02,364 --> 01:10:05,576
infecting victims
of the tornado in Joplin, Missouri.
1274
01:10:05,659 --> 01:10:10,372
Health officials say flying debris
to blame for the rare but serious disease.
1275
01:10:10,456 --> 01:10:13,751
[reporter 2] Eight people have
contracted a rare type of fungus,
1276
01:10:13,834 --> 01:10:16,170
and three of them have died.
1277
01:10:16,253 --> 01:10:17,713
Steven was in a coma,
1278
01:10:19,173 --> 01:10:23,594
and he got this flesh-eating fungus
that was killing people.
1279
01:10:24,178 --> 01:10:28,557
It was eatin' his bone,
it was eatin' the skin, his… his muscle.
1280
01:10:28,641 --> 01:10:30,768
It was tearing him apart.
1281
01:10:30,851 --> 01:10:33,312
[reporter 1] The infection's caused
by exposure to a fungus
1282
01:10:33,395 --> 01:10:36,023
found in soil and decaying vegetation.
1283
01:10:36,523 --> 01:10:42,655
[Doug] With this being the Ozarks,
that tornado went through so much.
1284
01:10:42,738 --> 01:10:47,618
It was almost impossible for it to not
have had something like that come about.
1285
01:10:48,202 --> 01:10:50,412
[reporter 1] The fungi are
extremely invasive.
1286
01:10:50,496 --> 01:10:53,123
The black, dead tissue has to be removed.
1287
01:10:54,083 --> 01:10:57,628
Steven had about a 5% chance of survival.
1288
01:10:57,711 --> 01:10:59,755
Like, I was afraid
I was gonna lose my friend
1289
01:10:59,838 --> 01:11:01,715
that's now fighting for his life.
1290
01:11:02,466 --> 01:11:04,301
[unsettling music playing]
1291
01:11:06,804 --> 01:11:10,015
[Steven] In my coma,
I had the craziest dream.
1292
01:11:10,099 --> 01:11:12,101
[squelching]
1293
01:11:12,184 --> 01:11:14,937
[Steven] I didn't know
if my head was cut off
1294
01:11:15,020 --> 01:11:17,398
and it was just still alive
somewhere or somethin',
1295
01:11:17,481 --> 01:11:18,941
'cause I couldn't feel my body.
1296
01:11:19,024 --> 01:11:20,818
[wind gusting]
1297
01:11:20,901 --> 01:11:23,362
[old-fashioned announcer]
A dark reminder of the terrible forces
1298
01:11:23,445 --> 01:11:25,197
within the Earth, waiting to be unleashed.
1299
01:11:25,281 --> 01:11:28,284
- [wind gusting]
- [faint brass band music playing]
1300
01:11:33,706 --> 01:11:37,334
[Steven] It felt like
I was waiting to go somewhere,
1301
01:11:38,961 --> 01:11:41,672
but the waiting place was a hell to me.
1302
01:11:42,589 --> 01:11:44,258
I was like,
"I don't know what's goin' on."
1303
01:11:44,341 --> 01:11:46,051
"This ain't real.
I need to get outta here."
1304
01:11:46,135 --> 01:11:47,386
[squelching]
1305
01:11:48,804 --> 01:11:52,683
[man] It's really quite rare.
I've never seen a case in over 30 years.
1306
01:11:52,766 --> 01:11:56,437
[Steven] My mom and dad, they were talking
to the doctor like I wasn't even there.
1307
01:11:56,520 --> 01:11:58,397
[man's voice, faintly] …that lets spores…
1308
01:11:58,480 --> 01:12:00,941
[Steven] But it felt so good
hearing their voices.
1309
01:12:01,567 --> 01:12:03,694
[faint, whispering voices]
1310
01:12:03,777 --> 01:12:05,738
[Steven] My parents split when I was nine.
1311
01:12:06,613 --> 01:12:10,659
We moved out, and that destroyed my dad.
1312
01:12:10,743 --> 01:12:16,165
He went back to his old life, drugs,
and then lost his job, lost his house.
1313
01:12:17,249 --> 01:12:19,376
I left home when I was about 12,
1314
01:12:19,460 --> 01:12:22,588
and I was just at friends' houses,
couch surfing, you know.
1315
01:12:23,672 --> 01:12:26,800
I wanted a life
like other normal families' lives.
1316
01:12:26,884 --> 01:12:30,846
Stable home, dinners,
and normal things like that.
1317
01:12:32,556 --> 01:12:37,061
In my dream, the doctor said, "We can't
give any more resources to your son."
1318
01:12:37,144 --> 01:12:38,645
"We have to give up on him."
1319
01:12:39,521 --> 01:12:42,107
And then I started freakin' out,
'cause I couldn't talk.
1320
01:12:42,608 --> 01:12:44,610
I was like, "I wanna live." You know?
1321
01:12:44,693 --> 01:12:47,071
- [monitor beeping rhythmically]
- [heartbeat]
1322
01:12:48,238 --> 01:12:49,490
[thunderclap]
1323
01:12:50,324 --> 01:12:52,076
[steady beep]
1324
01:12:52,159 --> 01:12:54,036
[sounds fade]
1325
01:12:55,662 --> 01:12:57,664
[emotional music playing]
1326
01:12:58,999 --> 01:13:02,628
[Steven] I woke up,
and it was sunny outside.
1327
01:13:04,963 --> 01:13:09,426
I breathed outside air for the first time,
and it took my breath away.
1328
01:13:12,429 --> 01:13:15,349
I could tell
it wasn't the dream that I'd been in.
1329
01:13:18,227 --> 01:13:24,024
Waking up out of a coma is like your body
being in a coffin for 100 years,
1330
01:13:24,942 --> 01:13:27,319
and God's giving you a chance
to be alive again.
1331
01:13:28,028 --> 01:13:29,780
It feels brittle. It feels…
1332
01:13:31,198 --> 01:13:33,367
uh, like a baby, you know?
1333
01:13:33,909 --> 01:13:37,746
It, uh… it aches really bad.
It… it hurts a lot.
1334
01:13:39,039 --> 01:13:44,044
My mom and my dad come in,
and they're crying, and they're like…
1335
01:13:44,545 --> 01:13:46,964
My dad's like, "I told you.
I knew he would make it."
1336
01:13:47,047 --> 01:13:50,676
And then I've never seen
Evan cry in my life.
1337
01:13:50,759 --> 01:13:55,889
And the first time him and Dylan
walked in, he started crying.
1338
01:13:55,973 --> 01:13:58,684
And I was like,
you know, trying to cheer him up.
1339
01:13:58,767 --> 01:14:00,144
I was like, "Are you crying?"
1340
01:14:00,227 --> 01:14:04,231
And he was like, "You're messed up, bro."
He was like, "You're pretty messed up."
1341
01:14:07,359 --> 01:14:10,279
The fungus was just taking over me.
1342
01:14:11,405 --> 01:14:15,492
They cut a little piece of me off,
and then it didn't grow back to it,
1343
01:14:15,576 --> 01:14:17,870
so they just started
cuttin' everything off of me.
1344
01:14:19,121 --> 01:14:22,458
My ribs, part of my lung, my liver.
1345
01:14:22,541 --> 01:14:24,293
My right nipple's gone.
1346
01:14:24,376 --> 01:14:27,337
And they removed a piece of my heart.
1347
01:14:29,506 --> 01:14:30,924
Other than that, though,
1348
01:14:31,550 --> 01:14:34,678
it's, yeah, pretty much beach bod.
1349
01:14:35,721 --> 01:14:37,264
You know? Mm-hmm.
1350
01:14:37,347 --> 01:14:40,225
There was a lot of times
I didn't think I was gonna have my son.
1351
01:14:41,518 --> 01:14:43,937
And it's a miracle
that he's made it through this.
1352
01:14:44,021 --> 01:14:47,524
I just want to go home and get settled in.
1353
01:14:48,567 --> 01:14:50,861
And get back to normal.
1354
01:14:51,361 --> 01:14:56,533
My dad did a lot to help me, uh,
through my whole stay, whole four months.
1355
01:14:56,617 --> 01:14:58,118
He was there, like, every day.
1356
01:14:59,912 --> 01:15:02,789
Love is all you really need.
1357
01:15:02,873 --> 01:15:06,502
You don't need nothin' in life
but just family.
1358
01:15:07,503 --> 01:15:12,007
And I didn't really ever take advantage
of it until the tornado.
1359
01:15:12,633 --> 01:15:14,426
Seeing how much I needed them,
1360
01:15:14,510 --> 01:15:17,095
and they were actually there
this time, you know?
1361
01:15:17,179 --> 01:15:19,848
And it brought me and my dad
close together.
1362
01:15:20,724 --> 01:15:24,728
It's amazing how strong that bond is
when you need it, you know?
1363
01:15:24,811 --> 01:15:26,855
[reporter] It's an emotional day
for Steven Weersing,
1364
01:15:26,939 --> 01:15:28,815
known as the walking miracle.
1365
01:15:29,399 --> 01:15:31,318
[Steven] The press called me Miracle Boy.
1366
01:15:31,944 --> 01:15:34,321
I didn't really understand
what a miracle meant, really,
1367
01:15:34,404 --> 01:15:36,657
'cause I didn't think I was a miracle.
1368
01:15:39,618 --> 01:15:41,787
It takes someone like me
to live through this.
1369
01:15:42,287 --> 01:15:44,873
Hah. No, I'm not surprised.
1370
01:15:45,874 --> 01:15:47,668
Surprise, motherfuckers. [chuckles]
1371
01:15:49,044 --> 01:15:51,046
[emotional music playing]
1372
01:15:56,260 --> 01:15:58,971
[Keegan] I remember how people would say
that the real world sucks.
1373
01:15:59,680 --> 01:16:02,808
And I didn't realize that,
15 minutes after graduation,
1374
01:16:02,891 --> 01:16:06,103
the real world would hit us
and our class of 2011.
1375
01:16:06,186 --> 01:16:10,857
I mean, it specifically hit us and me,
uh, you know, guns blazin'.
1376
01:16:12,025 --> 01:16:14,653
{\an8}[reporter 1] The search
for Will Norton is over.
1377
01:16:15,445 --> 01:16:17,239
{\an8}[reporter 2] His body was
discovered in a pond
1378
01:16:17,322 --> 01:16:20,117
{\an8}near where the tornado
had flipped Will's SUV.
1379
01:16:20,867 --> 01:16:23,620
[reporter 3] Oh my gosh.
Part of the graduating class of 2011.
1380
01:16:23,704 --> 01:16:25,163
A lot of memories there.
1381
01:16:28,125 --> 01:16:31,461
[Keegan] For those that haven't seen it,
Will maintained a YouTube channel.
1382
01:16:31,962 --> 01:16:33,463
He has tons of videos up there,
1383
01:16:33,547 --> 01:16:38,176
and they embody Will's life every day,
his enthusiasm for living.
1384
01:16:39,094 --> 01:16:41,471
I remember Will told me
that he had a full-ride scholarship
1385
01:16:41,555 --> 01:16:43,724
to a film school in California,
1386
01:16:43,807 --> 01:16:45,809
and I was, like,
so proud of him, so excited.
1387
01:16:45,892 --> 01:16:47,019
[Will] Whoosh!
1388
01:16:47,102 --> 01:16:49,563
[Cecil] He said he wanted to be
just like Steven Spielberg.
1389
01:16:50,230 --> 01:16:52,316
I wasn't close to Will,
1390
01:16:52,399 --> 01:16:54,985
but, like,
him telling me about his dreams,
1391
01:16:55,068 --> 01:16:56,737
like, created dreams in myself.
1392
01:16:56,820 --> 01:16:59,781
I'll show you guys
how many people are here. It's crazy.
1393
01:16:59,865 --> 01:17:02,993
[Keegan] I remember he had
a massive Halloween party our senior year.
1394
01:17:04,036 --> 01:17:07,247
It was probably one of the highlights
of senior year for everybody.
1395
01:17:08,248 --> 01:17:10,417
- [laughter]
- [Keegan] His laugh is over-the-top.
1396
01:17:10,500 --> 01:17:12,502
You could just hear it.
I can hear it now in my head.
1397
01:17:12,586 --> 01:17:14,087
Bye, guys! [laughs]
1398
01:17:14,963 --> 01:17:17,841
[Keegan] Everything that he did
always came from a good place.
1399
01:17:30,896 --> 01:17:34,149
Everyone was impacted by the tornado.
1400
01:17:34,232 --> 01:17:38,153
Either they lost a loved one,
or a friend, or their homes.
1401
01:17:38,820 --> 01:17:40,030
Mmm…
1402
01:17:40,113 --> 01:17:42,783
Nobody was unscathed.
1403
01:17:44,368 --> 01:17:48,163
My parents' house was gone,
but our families were okay.
1404
01:17:49,081 --> 01:17:51,083
[vehicle reversing alarm beeping]
1405
01:17:52,626 --> 01:17:55,545
[Kaylee] I just want to come up here
and smoke a cigarette where we stood.
1406
01:17:57,005 --> 01:17:58,382
This is where we was.
1407
01:17:59,508 --> 01:18:02,469
- We all huddled right here.
- [Mac] Right here.
1408
01:18:04,054 --> 01:18:05,472
[Kaylee] I feel grateful.
1409
01:18:07,140 --> 01:18:08,266
Guilty.
1410
01:18:09,935 --> 01:18:12,145
Why we got to stand up and walk away,
1411
01:18:12,229 --> 01:18:15,148
and a lot of other people didn't,
especially kids.
1412
01:18:18,193 --> 01:18:19,444
We got very lucky.
1413
01:18:20,570 --> 01:18:24,825
[Kaylee] We ran out this way,
jumped off, ran down there.
1414
01:18:25,575 --> 01:18:27,077
Son of a bitch.
1415
01:18:28,745 --> 01:18:31,873
[Mac] I've heard about PTSD
and how it could affect you,
1416
01:18:32,833 --> 01:18:37,295
and I can feel myself just
slightly vibrating, you know what I mean?
1417
01:18:37,379 --> 01:18:40,424
That's what happens
when I talk about it any time.
1418
01:18:42,843 --> 01:18:43,885
It's crazy.
1419
01:18:47,431 --> 01:18:48,932
[poignant music playing]
1420
01:18:52,894 --> 01:18:55,063
[Keegan] The summer after the tornado,
1421
01:18:55,147 --> 01:18:57,315
everyone in the community
was working hard,
1422
01:18:57,399 --> 01:18:59,609
trying to get back to normal.
1423
01:19:05,365 --> 01:19:07,284
I remember seeing the school and thinking,
1424
01:19:07,367 --> 01:19:09,953
"We were the last class
to go through that school."
1425
01:19:10,036 --> 01:19:13,248
"We were the last ones
to graduate from that building."
1426
01:19:14,374 --> 01:19:16,752
Those walls and the halls,
1427
01:19:16,835 --> 01:19:19,463
all the memories there are…
are gone forever.
1428
01:19:22,883 --> 01:19:26,261
[man] What you've done,
and the things that you've gone through,
1429
01:19:26,344 --> 01:19:28,972
there is nothin' that can happen
on a football field
1430
01:19:29,055 --> 01:19:31,892
that we can't overcome
if we stay together.
1431
01:19:31,975 --> 01:19:33,685
- Are you with me?
- [team] Yes, sir!
1432
01:19:35,604 --> 01:19:37,939
[crowd cheering and screaming]
1433
01:19:39,274 --> 01:19:41,276
[music swells]
1434
01:19:44,446 --> 01:19:45,822
[chanting] Joplin Eagles!
1435
01:19:46,907 --> 01:19:48,283
Joplin Eagles!
1436
01:19:49,534 --> 01:19:51,119
Joplin Eagles!
1437
01:19:51,203 --> 01:19:54,206
[Keegan] The community was excited
for the first home football game.
1438
01:19:54,706 --> 01:19:56,333
Joplin Eagles!
1439
01:19:57,667 --> 01:20:00,587
{\an8}Junge, the football field,
didn't take any damage from the tornado.
1440
01:20:02,339 --> 01:20:05,258
Walking into Junge,
I remember that sense of pride
1441
01:20:05,342 --> 01:20:07,093
and seeing the stands packed.
1442
01:20:13,850 --> 01:20:16,019
Something I had never seen
on a Friday night before.
1443
01:20:16,853 --> 01:20:18,146
It was like, "Damn!"
1444
01:20:18,772 --> 01:20:21,274
Hell, I wanted to go put pads on
and a helmet and play.
1445
01:20:25,237 --> 01:20:29,449
[announcer] The Joplin High School
Football Eagles!
1446
01:20:29,950 --> 01:20:32,244
[Keegan] Somethin' really shitty
happened to our community.
1447
01:20:32,327 --> 01:20:34,204
[chanting] Let's go, Eagles!
1448
01:20:35,497 --> 01:20:38,500
[Keegan] It would have been easy
for a lot of people to go somewhere else.
1449
01:20:40,669 --> 01:20:43,213
Joplin is built on a community of miners.
1450
01:20:43,296 --> 01:20:46,716
People grabbed their own chainsaws
and figured out a way to get it done.
1451
01:20:47,217 --> 01:20:49,553
That says a lot about Joplin.
1452
01:20:52,472 --> 01:20:54,558
[cheering and whistling]
1453
01:20:54,641 --> 01:20:56,643
[announcer] Touchdown for Joplin Eagles!
1454
01:20:57,394 --> 01:20:59,688
[Kaylee] For the rebuild,
it was remarkable
1455
01:20:59,771 --> 01:21:02,774
just to see the amount of help
that came in.
1456
01:21:02,858 --> 01:21:05,694
[reporter 1] An estimated total
of 300,000 volunteers
1457
01:21:05,777 --> 01:21:08,238
from all over the country
lent their time and energy.
1458
01:21:08,321 --> 01:21:11,783
[Keegan] In the district, they were able
to get the students back into school
1459
01:21:11,867 --> 01:21:13,577
and not miss a day at school.
1460
01:21:13,660 --> 01:21:15,453
[reporter 2] Joplin High School
has reopened.
1461
01:21:15,537 --> 01:21:18,123
- Welcome, students.
- [reporter 2] At the local mall.
1462
01:21:18,665 --> 01:21:20,959
[Cecil] In my senior year,
even though we were different,
1463
01:21:21,042 --> 01:21:22,794
and we had, like, different cliques,
1464
01:21:22,878 --> 01:21:26,047
there was a togetherness
that was really cool about my community.
1465
01:21:26,840 --> 01:21:29,885
Some of life's strongest bonds
are the ones we forge
1466
01:21:30,635 --> 01:21:32,721
when everything around us seems broken.
1467
01:21:32,804 --> 01:21:35,974
To the people of Joplin
and the class of 2012,
1468
01:21:36,600 --> 01:21:39,436
the road has been hard
and the day has been long,
1469
01:21:40,020 --> 01:21:41,271
but we have tomorrow,
1470
01:21:42,188 --> 01:21:43,273
so we march.
1471
01:21:44,733 --> 01:21:45,984
We march together.
1472
01:21:46,735 --> 01:21:49,905
Usually, the President
of the United States isn't at graduation.
1473
01:21:49,988 --> 01:21:52,407
It's crazy. It meant so much.
1474
01:21:52,490 --> 01:21:57,287
My deepest hope for all of you is that as
you begin this new chapter in your life,
1475
01:21:57,370 --> 01:21:59,372
you'll bring that spirit of Joplin
1476
01:22:00,040 --> 01:22:01,708
to every place you travel,
1477
01:22:02,834 --> 01:22:04,336
to everything you do.
1478
01:22:06,296 --> 01:22:08,506
You can serve as a reminder
1479
01:22:08,590 --> 01:22:11,217
that we're not meant
to walk this road alone.
1480
01:22:12,969 --> 01:22:16,681
That we're not expected
to face down adversity by ourselves.
1481
01:22:17,724 --> 01:22:20,018
Congratulations. May God bless you.
1482
01:22:20,101 --> 01:22:23,146
May God bless the class of 2012.
1483
01:22:23,939 --> 01:22:25,982
May God bless
the United States of America.
1484
01:22:28,485 --> 01:22:29,444
[teacher] Cecil Cornish.
1485
01:22:29,527 --> 01:22:31,363
[loud cheering]
1486
01:22:32,530 --> 01:22:34,574
[Obama] I could not be prouder of you,
1487
01:22:34,658 --> 01:22:38,036
and I want to shake
as many hands as possible, all right?
1488
01:22:38,119 --> 01:22:40,121
[cheering and applause]
1489
01:22:42,415 --> 01:22:44,918
Good to see you. I'm so proud of you guys.
1490
01:22:45,001 --> 01:22:46,753
- [Cecil] Thank you.
- [girl] Thank you.
1491
01:22:46,836 --> 01:22:48,421
[Obama laughing] Good to see you.
1492
01:22:48,505 --> 01:22:50,507
[cheering and applause]
1493
01:22:57,931 --> 01:22:59,474
[peaceful music playing]
1494
01:22:59,557 --> 01:23:00,934
[birdsong]
1495
01:23:01,017 --> 01:23:04,437
[Cecil] Whenever I was 17, I was
so concerned about, like, being chosen,
1496
01:23:06,064 --> 01:23:08,817
but the most powerful thing
is to, like, choose yourself.
1497
01:23:12,737 --> 01:23:15,740
Now that I'm older,
I am an openly gay man.
1498
01:23:17,534 --> 01:23:20,578
I lead a nonprofit support group
for queer people
1499
01:23:21,246 --> 01:23:23,832
that probably felt
like I did when I was a kid.
1500
01:23:28,837 --> 01:23:32,924
Growing up, staying in my hometown,
to me, was the worst thing.
1501
01:23:33,425 --> 01:23:36,052
But I live here now,
1502
01:23:36,928 --> 01:23:38,847
and I love Joplin.
1503
01:23:39,347 --> 01:23:41,891
[tearfully] I love Joplin so… so much.
1504
01:23:54,487 --> 01:23:58,033
[Steven] Everything I did in my life,
everything I had to go through,
1505
01:23:59,659 --> 01:24:01,161
it was probably for a reason.
1506
01:24:04,497 --> 01:24:06,166
[child] Daddy!
1507
01:24:06,249 --> 01:24:10,170
[Steven] Becomin' a dad…
it's the best thing in the world.
1508
01:24:11,546 --> 01:24:12,922
It feels so good.
1509
01:24:14,215 --> 01:24:15,842
'Cause I just… Yeah.
1510
01:24:15,925 --> 01:24:17,677
I never thought I'd feel like that.
1511
01:24:18,428 --> 01:24:20,180
- [Steven] Ah!
- [mother] Ah!
1512
01:24:20,263 --> 01:24:23,266
[Steven] It's like, "Oh, that's what
I've been missing. That's what I needed."
1513
01:24:23,349 --> 01:24:24,934
{\an8}Ah! [babbling]
1514
01:24:25,435 --> 01:24:26,936
{\an8}- [baby laughing]
- Ah!
1515
01:24:28,104 --> 01:24:30,732
[Steven] I wanna give 'em
everything I didn't have,
1516
01:24:31,483 --> 01:24:32,567
and more.
1517
01:24:32,650 --> 01:24:34,652
[laughing]
1518
01:24:35,945 --> 01:24:38,281
My kids look at me as like a superstar.
1519
01:24:42,494 --> 01:24:43,745
I love all of them.
1520
01:24:49,751 --> 01:24:51,753
[emotional music continues]
1521
01:25:02,013 --> 01:25:03,389
[Kaylee] After the tornado,
1522
01:25:04,265 --> 01:25:06,226
my confidence exploded.
1523
01:25:07,894 --> 01:25:10,396
Like… "Bring it."
1524
01:25:11,981 --> 01:25:15,819
I started a role in my career
that had me going to new places,
1525
01:25:15,902 --> 01:25:19,739
gettin' on a plane, driving in big cities,
meeting new people.
1526
01:25:20,740 --> 01:25:22,575
Somethin' that I wouldn't have done
1527
01:25:22,659 --> 01:25:25,829
unless I had the experience
of the Joplin tornado.
1528
01:25:27,038 --> 01:25:28,790
"Bring it on," like…
1529
01:25:30,583 --> 01:25:32,168
I'm not scared of anything anymore.
1530
01:25:34,921 --> 01:25:35,755
Hey!
1531
01:25:35,839 --> 01:25:36,714
Hey!
1532
01:25:36,798 --> 01:25:38,466
- Good to see you, sis.
- [Kaylee] Nice fire.
1533
01:25:38,550 --> 01:25:40,009
- [Eric] Thank you.
- [Kaylee] Good job.
1534
01:25:40,093 --> 01:25:41,302
- I'd say Mac helped…
- Yeah, but…
1535
01:25:41,386 --> 01:25:44,013
- But we know he's the same… same old Mac!
- [Kaylee] No, he…
1536
01:25:44,097 --> 01:25:45,265
[Eric] Hey-o!
1537
01:25:47,976 --> 01:25:51,229
[Mac] You know,
that experience that we share,
1538
01:25:51,813 --> 01:25:53,356
Kaylee and I and her brother…
1539
01:25:53,439 --> 01:25:55,483
- Yeah!
- [all laughing]
1540
01:25:56,359 --> 01:25:59,237
You know that we'll always be close
because of that.
1541
01:26:01,531 --> 01:26:04,701
Sounds kind of cliché,
but, you know, you really gotta
1542
01:26:05,952 --> 01:26:08,288
just cherish the time you get with people.
1543
01:26:08,872 --> 01:26:12,500
'Cause, you know, there's people that,
after that day, I never got to see again.
1544
01:26:20,300 --> 01:26:23,178
[Steven] Mother Nature is somethin'
you don't wanna mess with.
1545
01:26:23,761 --> 01:26:25,138
I will bow down to her.
1546
01:26:25,638 --> 01:26:26,598
She's scary.
1547
01:26:27,849 --> 01:26:28,933
That's for sure.
1548
01:26:49,329 --> 01:26:51,331
[upbeat electronic music playing]
1549
01:27:41,714 --> 01:27:43,341
[music fades]