and that is difficult because you hurt. you hurt for the people who have lost so much and there s just no easy path out of this and you have to be prepared for this long road. reporter: that is such an underestimate there. a long road indeed. what we ve seen is that the city of joplin and city of tuscaloosa are linked not just in tragedy but in charity as well. there was actually a charity fund-raiser going on in joplin for tuscaloosa at the time that the tornado hit there. and take a look at this video. this happened today. a truck load of aid from alabama now arriving in joplin. i talked to so many people here about the things they have learned about their fellow man and it all goes back to charity and generosity that they have seen as they try to put their lives back together and one thing, one bit of advice that several people tell me to give to the people of joplin from
tuscaloosa is that do not turn down anyone who wants to help. david, thanks. we ll see you tonight at 8:00. cnn presents special is called a twister s fury in the path of destruction airing tonight at 8:00 eastern here on cnn. another attack on nato forces in afghanistan with taliban taking credit. a live report from pakistan next. later, a special report on florida man released from prison after spending 27 years for a crime he didn t compete. we ll show you why people are saying this guy could be the next johnny cash. ike this: compacted, drained of nutrients. it ll hold your plants but it ll also hold em back. the solution: miracle-gro garden soil. the perfect mix of rich, organic ingredients, and miracle-gro plant food. just mix it in. and turn bad soil into great soil. helps plants grow twice as big. instead of holding em back, they ll leap ahead. miracle-gro garden soil.
because there s plenty of work to do. i get overwhelmed looking over your shoulder at the work that needs to be done. great story that you re saying but as you look behind you, the amount of work that needs to take place is certainly more than an individual can grasp. reporter: absolutely. it s even bigger than we first thought, drew. the initial estimates of this tornado were that it stretched six miles through the community of joplin. but we drove from one end of where the devastation started to the other today. and it actually was three miles west of here and nine miles east and 12 miles swath of devastation. about twice what the original estimates were, drew. incredible. thanks for that. tonight at 8:00 right here on cnn, a one hour special on this tornado in joplin. in tuscaloosa, alabama, an important part of that story. why? because exactly one month ago an f-5 tornado mowed down a giant section of that city.
on it. we believe there was a fire. we re trying to get details. passengers had to be evacuated. scary moments obviously but apparently there are no injuries. just a few minutes ago we did watch a bus transport passengers from that plane to the delta terminals here in atlanta. we want to bring in on the phone, you were in a hotel that overlooks the runway as i m told. can you tell us exactly what you saw? caller: we were just out on the balcony of our hotel that overlooks the runway and we were just watching planes come in and then after one landed there was a big boom and just a line of smoke and then it looks like it turned off the runway and then the fire got a lot bigger. and then fire trucks went over and they started evacuating everybody. did you see any need for any ambulance or anything like that? caller: a bunch of ambulances and fire trucks went to it. i don t know if they needed them or just because of the fire. okay. thank you so much for that eyewitness a
the agonizing recovery efforts there offer a glimpse of what joplin is now up against. cnn s david mattingly joins us live from tusk tuscaloosa with a preview. reporter: people in joplin can see their futures. there have been significant steps forward. streets are now clear. the water is back on. and electricity is being restored to neighborhoods by the day. there are also significant things to point out like the house behind me. there are very large areas where it looks like the tornado just hit yesterday. i had a long conversation with the mayor of tuscaloosa and he tells me the time has come for a lot of tough decisions to be made by individuals on what they re going to do and the city has some tough decisions to make as well. we ve moved 300,000 cubic yards but when you go around tuscaloosa it looks like we were hit by this tornado yesterday.