residents there just try to get their lives and damaged homes, what they can, back together. we spent the morning outside here at the church of christ where residents are trying to get permits to reenter into their devastated community. volunteers and charity organizations are working with the survivers and trying to get them back on their feet. we heard a lot of haunting stories of survival. none more haunting than that of 17-year-old dylan whitehead. he was literally picked up 20 feet in the air a by the tornado and thought he was taking his last breath. i was, i was in the air and i opened my eyes and i was about 20, 30 feet up in the air. the tornado picked you up? yes. when i opened my eyes and all the debris flying around me. he was outside at the time the tornado hit. he saw the cloud formations and then the twister formed.
tell me what happened. i can t really explain. it just happened so fast. just wish it didn t happen at all. i m trying to i want to forget what happened because it was that terrible. reporter: the dog was outside in the front yard? almost blown away. yeah. he was outside. luckily he survived. and the two other times, he was with us. reporter: we re thankful you survived as well. we re hearing haunting stories of survival. this line is full of stories of survival. this is another family, mcfarland family. you also rode out the storm in your house. yes, we were in the bathroom. and the whole house was shaking. we still ten more feet our direction, we wouldn t be standing here. reporter: was there a time or a moment when you thought maybe this is it? this is the end? we were in the bathroom, i thought it was it. reporter: have you ever been through anything like this before? no. reporter: hope you never have to go through it again. yeah. i hope we don t have to g
searching for his dog. he found him at a shelter. now they are back together. with more on the storm recovery, here s nick valencia. we spent the morning outside here at the church of christ where ranchos brazos residentses are trying to get permission to reenter their community. volunteers and charity organizations are working with survivors and trying to get them back on their feet. we have heard haunting stories of survival. none more haunting than that of 17-year-old dylan whitehead. dylan said he was picked up 20 feet in the air by the tornado. he thought he was taking his last breath. i was in the air. i opened my eyes and i was about 20, 30 feet up in the air. the tornado picked you up. yes. i saw the debris flying around me. dylan said he was outside at
up. this morning at 9:00 we opened the door at 10:00, we re putting them in the hallway, out of the hot sun and into the air conditioning with bathroom facilities. we hope to be done by noon. we ll still be set up to get people in and maybe didn t hear about it. but the line is moving fairly quickly. hopefully, you know, your wait won t be more than an hour or two. inside, that is the community of rancho that s what s left of it. dozens of people waiting to find out if their belongings are still there, if their homes are still standing. not sure what they re going to go back to. they know most of it won t be very good. haunting stories of survival. i spoke to the seven people presumed missing, the family, the rodriguez family, not sure if they wanted to join us on camera. they did speak to us saying they were trapped under rubble and debris. they spoke to cnn. they said thank god they re alive and happy to be alive today. thank goodness they are alive. six people lost their lives
we know overall at least six people killed. today some residents got permits to return to see what s left. nick, take it it from there. reporter: fred, we spent the morning out here at the church of christ in granbury where residents of that neighborhood that was devastated by the ef-4 tornado have returned to try to get permits to reenter into the community. they have told us haunting stories of survival. the most haunting you have heard is the story of 17-year-old dylan whitehead who was picked up by the tornado, tossed around and he told me he thought it was the end. i was in the air, and i was about 20, 30 feet up in the air. the tornado picked you up? yes. and when i opened my eyes, i saw the debris flying around me. a piece of wood hit me in the