tonight on "nightline" -- monster tornado. powerful twisters tear a path of destruction across the heart of texas. tonight, the storm that exploded power lines and send 18-wheelers flying. and catastrophe con man? from tsunamis to earthquakes to tornadoes. this guy shows up asking for money and says he's everything, from a doctor to a government agent. but is he any of those things? or is this a real-life "catch me if you can". plus, haley's comet, the youngest person and only woman ever of elected governor of south carolina.

but this tea party superstar has battled racism and rumors of affa affair. tonight, nicky haley opens up about her nerves of steel and her sky-high stilettos. >> announcer: frt global resources of abc news, in new york city, this is "nightline," april 3, 2012. good evening. i'm cynthia mcfadden. tonight, people in texas, louisiana, and missouri are keeping watch as the storm that sent violent tornadoes across the dallas-ft. worth area remains a severe threat. it trashed senior centers, elementary schools and destroyed houses and sent tractor trailers spiraling through the air. abc's weather editor sam champion brings us incredible stories of the people who weathered the storm. >> oh, wow! >> reporter: take a look at this as a pair of ferocious twisters

hit in dallas today. the national weather service called the two twisters large and extremely dangerous. and just look at their power, bowling over tractor trailers, lifting several clean off the ground and hurling them through the air. take a look at that again, and keep in mind these trucks weigh anywhere from 15,000 to 30,000 pounds. now watch debris fly and power lines go down. residents ran for cover, and roofs were blown right off their homes. check out this from a storm chaser on the scene as a huge funnel cloud touches down in forney, texas, destroying up to 30 homes. and listen to this incredible story of survival. lindsay eknock's mother sherry was babysitting an 18-month-old and two other children when the twister hit. sherry took the kids into the bathtub and saved her grandson by holding on to his feet as he was almost lifted out of her arms.

>> she saved his life. she stayed on him and the baby she babysits, she kept -- she had three of them, kept them all alive. >> reporter: both grandma and baby are fine, but the house is completely destroyed. local resident brandy kemp filmed one of the tornadoes coming right for her. >> get in the house! to see this in front of your own eyes is like fall. it was naunl. >> reporter: reporter brad watson of wfaa shows us some of the severe damage some suburban arlington. >> this is the underside of a camper. where was the camper? 70 yards down the street. this kind of damage is evident all over the place. however, amazingly, no one injured in this dallas-ft. worth suburb. >> reporter: in one school, students including first graders were ordered to duck and cover. the dallas-ft. worth airport canceled over 400 flights and more than 100 planes were damaged by the gol ball-sized

hail that hit during the storm. janet davies saw the gathering storm from her plane silting on the runway. >> the sky was that purple and green and orange you see in the movies. immediately when we got into the terminal, we were told to go to shelters in the terminal, which are actually, most of them, the restrooms. >> reporter: it's a scene becoming all too familiar. the tornadoes in joplin, missouri, killed 153 people, almost one year ago, and just last month a series of twisters battered ohio and indiana. earlier in the season than the region had ever seen before. though it's hard to know whether the wacky march weather in which over 7,000 record high temperatures were recorded has had anything to do with it. we haven't found really much of a linkage between the warm weather that we saw especially the warm weather in march and what we're seeing now. in fact, this part of texas, tarrant and dallas-ft. worth counties, they experience a couple of these tornadoes every year.

it's not uncommon to see tornadoes, especially in april in this part of texas. >> unbelievable. >> reporter: though they weren't used today, the national weather service is testing a new warning system in kansas, missouri and nebraska, hoping that using frightening language like "catastrophic" or "unsurvivable" tornadoes in the warnings will encourage residents to take cover even more quickly. so what do you do if you find yourself in the path of one of these storms? safety experts say stay away from windows, get into a basement if you can, and, if you can't, find a ground floor bathroom or closet, cover yourself with a mattress, and wear a helmet if you have one in case of flying debris. they sound simple, but they could be lifesaving tips for the start of what some experts could be a rough season. for "nightline," i'm sam champion in new york. >> abc's mike becher joins us from dallas. mike, you started your day in norman, oklahoma, then you drove all the way to dallas. tell us what you saw and heard on the way. >> reporter: well, i bolted out

of my classroom at the university of oklahoma, drove three hours through heavy storms. and when i hit north dallas, there was bulletin after bulletin warning residents of tornadoes. you could see the dark, ominous clouds and it looked very, very bad. >> did you see much destruction on the way, mike? >> no. i was very surprised. i thought that i would see a lot of destruction because some of these tornadoes were heading toward the downtown area, but there was none until i hit south dallas where i'm standing now. >> a miracle. might reporting tonight. "good morning merng" will have all the latest on the storm in the morning. up next, meet the man authorities are calling the real-life "catch me if you can." >> announcer: abc news "nightline" brought to you by purina. [ sighs ] ♪ [ upbeat ] [ barking ]

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when disaster strikes, a tsunami or a tornado, the volunteers in relief workers who swoop in are often heroic which makes the story we're about to tell you so very disturbing. about a man who allegedly scammed victims of calamity across the globe. here's abc's chief investigative correspondent, brian ross. >> reporter: it was one month and a day ago today that this huge tornado hit the town of henryville, indiana. >> that's a big tornado! >> there's a tornado right there, guys. >> reporter: a school bus driver got her students out just in time. >> go, go, go! >> the bus was blown into a restaurant. across town the school and dozens of homes were destroyed. >> i was here with three older brothers.

>> reporter: in the aftermath, henryville needed all the help it could get. so gerald flint was more than welcome when he showed up and started to issue orders, wearing the trademark flight suit he's worn at disasters around the world. >> he portrayed himself as some kind of commander. >> saying that he was with the natural disaster relief group. >> he claimed to be homeland security. >> reporter: but when authorities say the people of henryville did not realize was that flint was an imposter, someone drawn to tornadoes, earthquakes, war, chaos, and disaster. someone who appears to practice medicine without a medical license. someone authorities call a real-life version of the leonardo dicaprio imposter character in the film, catch me if you can. >> are you a real-life pirate? >> i sure am. >> reporter: in indiana, the people of henryville say they began to have suspicions when

flint asked local residents to ask for donations. >> collecting cash and having people make checks out to cash. >> reporter: then flint began to collect emergency supplies. >> we got his truck and trailer loaded up, and off they go. >> reporter: but authorities say many of the supplies he collected never made it to the disaster victims of henryville. >> he was not able to provide a satisfactory explanation of where those supplies went. >> reporter: the state police moved in, and now flint is charged with theft of the some of the supplies and impersonating a government official. according to prosecutor jeremy mull. was he even homeland security? >> he was not. >> reporter: was he a federal agent? >> he was not. >> reporter: so based on what you know, he was a great imposter? >> that's correct, yes. >> reporter: in a jail house interview, flint denied the charges. >> reporter: did you ever tell anyone that you were with homeland security? >> negative, never.

>> reporter: but then he told abc news he did have a role with homeland security, a claim authorities say is just not true. >> i'm climbing the ladder with homeland security. i don't know how the confusion came in, but i have to use some protocols with homeland security to report some things they saw, and that was my duty. >> reporter: our abc news investigation of flint found he's spent years showing up at disaster areas on behalf of a charity he founded called volunteer medics worldwide. pictures he's posted online show how he's saved thousands of lives. authorities say the video posted by flint online showing him conducting eye procedures on a young woman in africa, raise questions about his medical qualifications. >> our investigation is to the amount of medical training that he has, lead us to believe that he has not properly qualified to be engaging in medical procedures or dispensing

medication. >> reporter: flint did serve in a military medevac unit, but the only credential we could find was a delinquent vocational nurse's license in california. >> reporter: do you have a medical degree or license? >> i can't answer that at the moment. >> you can't answer that? >> yeah. >> god bless everybody, god bless america. >> reporter: as flint was being driven to jail, he pulled what authorities believe was another stunt, appearing to pass out from some kind of physical emergency. in a last ditch effort to avoid being sent to jail. the people of henryville say jail is where he belongs. >> it feels good that the next person's not going to have to go through this. >> in court flint entered a plea of not guilty, telling the judge he served his country faithfully and wanted to clear his name the

people of henryville, indiana say they can't wait to see what he has to say. just ahead, the fresh face of the tea party. could this come be his vice president?

well, tonight mitt romney swept all three republican primaries in wisconsin, maryland and washington, d.c. and although the race for delegates continues tonight, this all but ensures his position as the presidential nominee. yet one of romney's weak points is that he can't seem to win over women. so he'll likely be calling on one of his most visible female supporters, south carolina's governor, nikki haley. the tough yet glamorous darling of the tea party and tonight's "nightline" interview. >> reporter: nikki haley was thrust into the national

spotlight when the tea party's most visible champions, sarah palin, came to the steps of the south carolina staishouse to endorse her bid for governor in 2010. >> she has the conservative values that make her a strong defender of all of our values including the second amendment. >> reporter: we took a walk on the same steps friday. while palin boasts of being a soccer mom, hailey boasts of how fierce she can be in high heels. >> reporter: those are pretty high. when you kick it's got to hurt. >> no one can come into the office without read being this first. >> reporter: the sign on her door announces her philosophy -- "can't is not an option," also the title of her new book. >> when you walk into this office, don't come to me and give me excuses on why we can't do things. >> the unemployment number just dropped again. from 9.3 to 9.1. >> reporter: that take-charge pizzazz combined with conservative bona fides made her

endorsement one of the most coveted in this gop primary seasons. she went with mitt romney, but he lost her state by a whopping 13 points. >> reporter: do you think it means you're losing your political fairy dust? >> i don't care about that. what i know is i can sleep at night. and what i know is i still think he's the best person to beat president obama. >> reporter: and if he asked you to be vice president? >> i would say no. i made a promise to the people of this state, and i think that promise matters and i intend to keep it. >> reporter: to understand the woman running the state, it helps to understand the little girl who grew up in rural bamberg, south carolina, in this house. >> it's where my heart is. we were the only indian family in this small southern town. they didn't know what to make of us and we didn't know what to make of them. >> reporter: while herñi parent who immigrated from india told their four children their differences made them special, there were rough spots. the pageant was certainly an eye-opening experience. >> it was the little wee miss bamberg pageant. it was the thing to do in the

town. there was a black queen and there was a white queen, and they disqualified me and my sister because they didn't want to upset either side. i remember my mom just said, well, can she at least do had her talent? because i had practiced. so i sang "this land is your land, this land is my land," and they gave me a beach ball. and if they think it's a good idea, it comes to my desk. >> reporter: but she says the experience did not embitter her. quite the contrary. >> this same town that may have disqualified us in a pageant was the same town that accepted me into girl scouts, was the same town that when my brother was deployed in desert storm they wrapped their arms around us. that's the message, how much our country has changed. >> reporter: it's not over, though. >> it's not over. i had a white senator call me a rag head and another call me a conservative with a tan. but that does not define us. >> reporter: hailey refused to invite the two to the annual

barbecue at the governor's mansion. >> we kept out those two because i don't want them around my kids. >> reporter: that held her well when two separate allegations of extramarital affairs emerged. >> flat-out lies. >> reporter: she said sarah palin predicted the better she did, the uglier it would get. actuallied the day the first accusations came forward, she called you. >> she did. >> reporter: asked two questions. >> she. are you okay and is it true? i said, yes, i'm okay and no, it's not. she said, let's fight. >> reporter: they did, she won. and while that is a lot of republican sisterhood, women in general seem to be punishing republicans on the heels of the recent birth control debate. obama now leads romney by nearly 20 points nationally among women voters. >> there is a lot of talk about whether there is a republic war on women.

is there? >> no. women care about jobs and the economy and other issues. >> and they also care about contraception. >> yes. >> i don't think government should man dhait people have to have something within their insurance policy. >> reporter: though hailey shuns the feminist label, her home couldn't be more modern. her husband had michael a national guardsman shares many of the household duty tsz, including cooking. >> he's a great cook and i'm not so thank goodness because if he didn't cook, we truly wouldn't eat. >> i had an apartment in college. i only had one pot and the one time nikki did decide to cook she made macaroni and cheese and she burned it so bad i had to throw away my pot. >> why is feminism a bad label? >> i don't want to be labeled anything. i am nikki haley who is a proud wife of a husband in the military and proud mother of two