a massive, massive clean-up effort is under way right now, and stunned survivors are taking stock after killer tornados carved a trail of terror and death across the deep south. our meteorologist, reynolds wolf is on the ground for us. reynolds, the pictures are horrible, but tell us what you re seeing up close. reporter: i ll tell you what we re seeing, wolf. take a look at this. this is all that remains of hillcrest baptist church here in yazoo city, louisiana. as you take a look, it s all just a twisted pile of metal, of wood, of insulation, and memories. it is certainly just one of the nearly 700 buildings that have been destroyed in the region. but within this rubble comes a story of survival and faith. this pile of rubble is all that remains of the baptist church are dale thrasher has worshipped for the past 12 years.
we had a two-story building here with a sanctuary in the middle, classrooms above, offices down the hall here. thrasher was working alone inside on a men s group project, when his wife called to warn of the coming fury. moments later, his world went dark. it was just like a huge, giant cloud on the ground, swirling, black rain, wind. reporter: he ran for cover in the sanctuary, got under a table and then prayed for a miracle. at the time, the windows started blowing out, the windows started shaking and collapsed around me. reporter: and then it was over. i looked up, and rain was hitting me in the face, and the clouds were still there, but that storm was gone, and i knew the building was gone. reporter: thrasher walked away with a scratch on his thumb and elbow. but also a stronger faith. he is sovereign, and he knows what s best, and i leave it there. i m praising that i m safe and able to talk to you today. reporter: and a new appreciation for mother nature. gen
at the central western border of louisiana. it moved 150 miles across mississippi before it weakened as it moved into alabama. it hit with speeds of up to 170 miles an hour. take a look at this. new video of the tornado as it was moving into yazoo city, mississippi. this thing damaged homes, toppled trees, destroyed cars. also blamed for 12 deaths. damage assessment teams are arriving in mississippi today. reynolds wolf is already there in yazoo city. reynolds, this is quite something, as it was developing, it seemed as big and treacherous as it ended up being. what s the situation now? reporter: the situation now is recovery. people are trying to put things back together. what an amazing, hor pliribly amazing time it was. a church, what s left of it. i got a quick story of survival for you. a member of this congregation for the past 12 years, dale thrasher. the day of the storm, he actually walked up to the front
through this situation. we build and burnt several years back. martha: your church was burned to the ground i believe by an arsonist several years ago, right? yes, ma am, and the lord blessed and we built it back, bigger and better, lock and key and the lord did that and he ll do it again if we have faith in him. martha: i know you all are leaning on each other and our hearts go out to you and all the people in the area. we re going to continue to tell your story and all the other stories out there today in mississippi and alabama, and we thank you very much for talking with us today, mr. thrasher and we re glad to have you here. we thank you for having us. martha: thank you, sir. bill: what a contrast it is to the sky above and on the ground with the different story, that tornado by the way, described as nearly a mile wide, leaving a path of destruction straight across the state. if you re online as you watch this today, you can
the deep south after a series of storms and twisters broke out there over the weekend. it all began to unfold on saturday afternoon, the storms killed at least and they still don t have a complete death toll here at least 12 people, and in ten in mississippi, two in alabama. the worst appears to be in western mississippi, at least 100 homes were damaged in yazoo county lube, now hundreds are in the dark there and dozens are alone, now hundreds are in the dark and dozens are homeless. the walls caved in on him, the lord put his hands around me an that table and that s the only two things that didn t move during that tornado. it was about ten minutes t. came on. it came on. martha: joining me is dale thrasher, the first man you heard talking about t. he