when hearts like our's meet i fell for you like a child oh but the fire went wild ♪ ♪ i fell in to a burning ring of fire i went down, down, down and the flames went higher ♪ ♪ and it burns burns, burns this ring of fire this ring of fire ♪ ♪ i fell in to a burning ring of fire i went down, down, down and the flames went higher ♪ ♪ and it burns burns, burns

this ring of fire this ring of fire ♪ ♪ and it burns burns, burns this ring of fire this ring of fire ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> jimmy: hi. that sounded great. thank you very much. jewel, you can see her play june carter cash in the lifetime movie "ring of fire" on may 27th. thanks to ed helms. apologies to matt damon, we ran out of time. tomorrow night ethan hawke, the bachelorette desiree hartsock and music from thirty seconds to mars. thanks for watching. nightline is next. thanks for watching. goodnight!

tonight, on "nightline," direct hit. a tornado over a mile wide strikes the suburbs of oklahoma city. and we'll take you into the wake of one of the most destructive twisters in that state's history where homes, hospitals and schools have been turned into wreckage and the death toll continues to rise. and we go into the tornado outbreak and look at the destruction in the heartland and bring you footage of storms like you've never seen before and stories of survival. we'll hear from those who encountered this cyclone of terror and lived to tell about it. but as the forecasters signal

more storms the nightmare might not b

this is a special edition of "nightline." direct hit, twister outbreak. >> thanks for being with us tonight. i'm bill weir. it was another day of wailing storm sirens south of october city this afternoon. another round of tornado drills in schools where duck and cover is ritual. but there was nothing routine about this twister. one so big it erased entire sections of the city of moore. like an amsic chainsaw, ripped apart a couple of schools and pushed the death toll to the highest point in this tun's stormy history. this is video shot by a resident jason legere as the funnel cloud, dark with debris, approached. stake note of his house and those trees as jason heads

underground for two loud and what must have been very tense hours. imagine emerging into a whole new reality. house, trees, gone. neighborhood, gone. >> the lord giveth and the lord taketh away. >> it could go down as one of the deadliest tornados in american history. abc's ginger zee is there outside oklahoma city amid all of the shock, all of the searching, all of the hope and pain. >> reporter: at 2:30 p.m. local time the first tornado warnings went out. >> this is horrible! >> reporter: and 16 minutes later the darkening skies over oklahoma turned deadly. >> oh, my god. >> reporter: churning with winds up to 200 miles per hour. the tornado that bore down on the suburbs of oklahoma city today was a monster. >> just a massive tornado here. you're seeing from bob mills. sky news 9. we got power flashes.

it's in a heavily populated area right now. and look at the churning motion. there is a huge flash. right there. it is ripping up everything. everything in its path. >> reporter: preliminary rating ef-4 by the national weather service. the tornado tore a 12-mile-long gash in the earth from newcastle to moore. >> it is crossing the interstate right now! we're in it right now. >> drop down! stop, stop, stop! dropping down, dropping down! drop down! drop down! >> put it down, put it down. >> are you guys seeing this? >> that's where it crossed i-35. cars there, emts there, police -- oh my gosh. i don't know if people lived in that one. i honestly do not know if people lived in that. >> reporter: hundreds of homes and buildings obliterated. frantic groups of rescuers

digging through debris within minutes. >> we were pulling walls off people. there were people controlling out from everywhere. basically just a war zone. >> storm chasing in. we heard everyone needed help. we came in and pulled up over here and everyone was at the 7-eleven trying to pull cooler doors off and everything. and they got a wrecker truck in and sadly they found a man and then a woman and a small baby. >> reporter: more than 50 people are reported dead, among them children from the plaza towers elementary school, one of two schools filled with students that lay directly in the tornado's path. >> there have been confirmed casualties. i do not have a number at this time. >> at the elementary school? >> yes. >> reporter: the lieutenant governor spoke with bill weir earlier tonight. >> the one school where it is just flattened, bill. quite frankly the walls were pancaked, absolutely flattened. and the students were grouped together. that's why some reports were that they were killed by

crushing blows or drowning. because they were grouped together and the water came in and they couldn't get out. >> reporter: the photos captured the dramatic rescue in the rubble at the plaza towers elementary school. but tonight dozens of first responders continue that search. >> for those families who don't know the status of loved ones in particular the children in the schools that have been hit, there is a reunification center set up at st. andrews church at 119th and south main. our prayers are with you and we are working as quickly as we can to try to get through the debris and to try to answer some questions about where loved ones are. >> reporter: students remained at the school despite the tornado warnings because there were safe areas where they could be protected. >> i was in my classroom building and we were told to get in our tornado precaution system but then they moved us to the -- to the boys and girls bathrooms.

>> i was on the ground and my -- my ears just went beep and i couldn't hear anything except cracking and kids screaming. >> i can't even begin to describe the amount of terror that i was feeling. >> reporter: robert's son was at briarwood elementary. >> when we got up to briarwood, you could see that it had been just completely destroyed. i'm just happy that i was able to find my son. my family's okay. >> reporter: briarwood parents were reunited with their children at an assigned pickup place. first grader camden was waiting right there when his mom showed up. she was overcome with relief to find out that her son was safe and sound. and so grateful for the school worker who protected him. >> this is gabriel ryan wheeler. he's my son. we just got reunited. he's okay but he was directly in

the tornado. his teacher was right next to him. >> reporter: andrew wheeler credits a briarwood teacher with keeping his son safe. >> the teacher held their heads and bricks were falling on the kids. she got her arm injured. one of the other boys on her other side got a big gash on his head but he's okay. he was the last one to be reunited. so we got him. gabriel wheater is safe. >> reporter: abc news contributing correspondent mike boettcher, who lives in oklahoma, was at the scene nearby briarwood elementary. >> the good news now is that students in the school and adults associated with the school tell us that no children died. that tornado passed right over that school. we were less than a mile from it when it hit the school. and you can see the explosion and the debris once it hit that large stone structure. >> reporter: outside briarwood elementary school i ran across

this woman still trying to find her niece. >> i'm glad that everybody's okay. looking at that it's hard to believe. >> reporter: when the tornado came through and you found out it hit the school. >> when i saw it, a picture of it on the news, i was at work. i was in tears. and my house is on the same block as the school. so i knew at that point that -- i was going to come home to this. >> reporter: this is still such a raw situation. you can see behind me we've got the search is rescue dogs, plenty of firefighters, and just complete and utter devastation. helping with the search and rescue, 80 national guard members deployed by the oklahoma governor. >> it's like a battle zone. there's nothing standing. no trees, no houses, no landmarks. you don't know where you're standing over there. i got completely lucky being a couple of blocks over and my house is completely untouched. it really makes you think about things.

>> such arbitrary fury. borne out by all those parents hugging kids tighter tonight while their neighbors go into the dark filled with worry about children still unfound. our thanks to ginger zee. coming up next, sam champion checks in trying to put historic perfespective on a place so familiar with these storms but has never seen anything this big. ♪ [ male announcer ] every car we build must make adrenaline pump and pulses quicken. ♪ to help you not just to stay alive... but feel alive. the c-class is no exception. it's a mercedes-benz, through and through. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers through mercedes-benz financial services.

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they know something about killer wind speeds in moore,

oklahoma. in fact may 3rd is a shorthand for the 1999 storm that took over 40 lives. the municipal website has a page pointing out how remote the chances are that moore could have another may 3rd type event. but this, the may 20th monster that followed that same storm's path with eerie precision has a higher body count. and sam champion is there to put thrash of deadly twisters into a broader perspective. >> oh, my god, that thing is getting huge. >> reporter: the destruction is widespread and devastating. preliminarily classified as an ef-4 tornado, cutting a path two miles wide and at least 12 miles long. the national weather service says it may have been on the ground for as long as 40 minutes. the tornado in these oklahoma

city suburbs just the latest assault to a region already reeling from a weekend of severe storms. >> it tore through it like a truck. >> reporter: a helicopter capturing it from up in the sky. look closely and you can see the flashes as the power lines and transformers are ripped apart. >> there is a huge flash right there. it is just ripping up everything in its path. >> reporter: it's the latest in a three-day outbreak that has brought more than 50 tornados from oklahoma all the way to nebraska. >> oh, my god! >> that is so crazy. >> 6:30 p.m. just a violent tornado. >> reporter: in this outbreak the massive twisters came one after another some on the ground for miles. dozens of storm chasers in pursuit. >> get back here we got to go soon! it's going to miss us. it's going to miss us. >> reporter: this was sunday night in shawnee, oklahoma.

listen as the sirens wail. a warning to residents to take cover immediately. >> slow down. slow down. stop. >> reporter: there was also advanced warning for the massive twister from new castle to moore. it was issued at 2:40 p.m., 16 minutes before the storm touched the ground, a warning that no doubt helped save lives. this part of oklahoma is no stranger to deadly tornados. >> a roof was blown off this school. >> reporter: in may 1999 the town was hit by a twister that reached speeds of over 300 miles an hour. the top of the scale, an ef-5 some of the fastest winds recorded on earth. 36 people were killed and one of the costliest storms in american history. >> how long will you stay on the scene? >> not until everyone is found. >> reporter: and this round comes almost two years to the

day that 158 people were killed in joplin, missouri. >> i suction just pulling me. >> reporter: wednesday is the two-year anniversary of the storm that left more than 1,000 people injured. it is the deadliest in modern u.s. history. in america's heartland there will be more severe storms on tuesday. but in oklahoma tonight they are hoping they have seen the worst of this year's outbreaks. >> and you feel the pressure of the tornado and everything just kind of going everywhere. >> reporter: for "nightline" i'm san sam champion in shawnee, oklahoma. >> we will check in with the lieutenant governor in oklahoma for the latest on the search efforts there. ♪ [ male announcer ] start with a dodge dart. now give it a "tiger shark" engine and 41 mpg. good. now add some of this. and that. definitely him. and her.

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is it a tough night in moore, oklahoma. destined to get tougher as first light breaks over the searchers combing through rubble for those lost including children in an elementary school. a short time ago we spoke with the lieutenant governor of the state of oklahoma, todd lamb. >> thank you for taking time out of a horrific day. can you give us the latest tonight on the search and rescue, search and recovery? what's happening? >> all of the above. search and rescue and search of recovery. we never give up hope finding those alive buried in the rubble. and the latest reports and this could change minute to minute.

we have roughly 51 confirmed deaths. seven of which are children. at one of the trauma centers in the metropolitan area there are 85 trauma patients and around 60 of those are children. generators have been brought in. we'll continue the search and rescue, the search and recovery, both, throughout the evening. the lights with the generators will be powered up. we will continue to look for family members throughout the evening. >> can you give us any sense of what happened to the children? were they huddled for shelter in the school and the structure gave way? >> that's the appearance right now. usually the drills and when the tornado is coming, students leave their classrooms and go to the hallway and hunker down on their knees. they arch their back and stay down until the teachers tell them to get up.

that's why the students are grouped together. >> is there an early warning system that would have mattered today in moore? >> the reality is as much destruction as we are looking at if it were not for the recaearl warning systems in oklahoma and the shelters and meteorologists in oklahoma that loss of life would have been greater without those warning systems. >> have you heard any stories that give you a respite in all this tragedy? >> oklahoma is good at responding to tragic events. we have resilient and tough and faith-based people. and once again we see neighbor helping neighbor, people just showing up to help. matter of fact within an hour and a half we were at max kp

capacity for volunteers. people wanted to come, show up and help those in need. they may not know them or be related to them but the fact they are neighbors in oklahoma, people want to help. >> lieutenant governor, todd lamb good luck to you in the coming days. we hope you find the strength you need. >> thank you, bill. >> for those of you who want to reach out the red cross is there as our national proxy. anyone wishing to make a donation to support their efforts can visit redcross.org. or you can just text redcross to 90999 and a $10 donation will automatically go their way. we do thank you for watching abc news. world news now coming up soon with overnight breaking news. good morning america will be in moore with the latest at first light and we are online at