that is a monster tornado. reporter: battle hardened storm chasers in awe of nature s power. oh, my gosh. this is awful. dude, the trees. the trees are debarked! reporter: residents running for cover anywhere they could. in a crowded convenience store some 20 people hunkering down in a darkened commercial refrigerator. can we go in the cooler? [ screaming ] go! oh, dear heaven. god! reporter: at the same time a security camera in a nearby frozen yogurt shop catches the chaos. workers moving customers to the back and then everything goes flying. the massive tornado mowing down everything in its path. people s lives churned up and spewed out. here s the gas station that we were at. reporter: this is the convenience store now. this would have been where we walked in. reporter: all across the city, thousands and thousands of people in shock, taking the first steps on the long road to recovery. make no mistake, joplin, missouri, will rebuild, but it will
reporter: battle hardened storm chasers in awe of nature s power. oh, my gosh. this is awful. dude, the trees. the trees are debarked! reporter: residents running for cover anywhere they could. in a crowded convenience store some 20 people hunkering down in a darkened commercial refrigerator. can we go in the cooler? [ screaming ] go! oh, dear heaven. god! reporter: at the same time a security camera in a nearby frozen yogurt shop catches the chaos. workers moving customers to the back and then everything goes flying. the massive tornado mowing down everything in its path. people s lives churned up and spewed out. here s the gas station that we were at. reporter: this is the convenience store now. this would have been where we walked in. reporter: all across the city, thousands and thousands of people in shock, taking the first steps on the long road to recovery. make no mistake, joplin, missouri, will rebuild, but it will never be the same. hello an
the nurses had already warned everybody that we do have a tornado. go. reporter: patient paul johnson hit the decks. my son was with me, so he shoved me into the hallway. reporter: moments later, the tornado hit the hospital dead on. the whole building started going side to side like we were on a boat. oh, my gosh. everything just started flying at me. all the ceiling tiles came down. oh, it s getting big, big, big. pieces of the window come sailing around all over. ekg machines, gurneys are flying down a hallway. that is a monster tornado. and of course there was a whole lot of our fathers and hail marys going on. there were three co-workers in front of me. i started screaming for them to get down. pushed them under the registration desk. reporter: before the tornado had passed, abner started crawling down the hall to find out if everyone was okay.
flying at me. all the ceiling tiles came down. oh, it s getting big, big, big. pieces of the window come sailing around all over. ekg machines, gurneys are flying down a hallway. that is a monster tornado. and of course there was a whole lot of our fathers and hail marys going on. i started screaming for them to get down. pushed them under the registration desk. reporter: before the tornado had passed, abner started crawling down the hall to find out if everyone was okay. most of our nurses were protecting their patients and directly protecting patients, laying over the top of patients because these ambulance doors immediately gave, blew through the e.r. reporter: when it was over, paul johnson could see the sky. i could look up through that ceiling right there and see blue
go. reporter: patient paul johnson hit the decks. my son was with me, so he shoved me into the hallway. reporter: moments later, the tornado hit the hospital dead on. the whole building started going side to side like we were on a boat. oh, my gosh. everything just started flying at me. all the ceiling tiles came down. oh, it s getting big, big, big. pieces of the window come sailing around all over. ekg machines, gurneys are flying down a hallway. that is a monster tornado. and of course there was a whole lot of our fathers and hail marys going on. i started screaming for them to get down. pushed them under the registration desk. reporter: before the tornado had passed, abner started crawling down the hall to find out if everyone was okay. most of our nurses were