. >> reporter: dale thrasher was inside the church when the tornado hit.e hid under the communion table. >> i just asked the good lode to -- lord to help and protect me and he put his arms around me and sealed me under the table and everything else was thrown around. >> him in a tornado right now. >> reporter: the storms ripped a path of destruction from missouri to louisiana arkansas to alabama killing nearly a dozen people including three children one of them a 3-month-old. hundreds of buildings are destroyed and hard hit mississippi. as rescuers look for anyone unaccounted for. >> we worked for something for 44 years and just in a matter of a minute or two and it's all gone. >> reporter: residents now focus on cleanup as the national guard patrols from the ground and the air. in a helicopter, mississippi governor haley barbour toured the devastation. the images of a ravaged county is one he takes pearlly he viebd what he saw as utter obliteration. because of the sheer magnitude, the national weather service says it may not understand the full scope of t

dale thrasher who took cover in a church sanctuary can't believe he survived. >> the front door, i seen the rain and wind swirling. i wept in the sanctuary, got on the pulpit table and the building fell around me. >> at least two died in alabama. that is because of the storms that hit there. >>> it's a family's worst nightmare. a mother killed and baby in the hospital. linda so joins us live with details. >> reporter: a witness says she was crossing the street with her baby when hit with a pickup truck but made a split-second decision that may have saved the baby. baltimore county police say the mother was taken to shock trauma where she was pronounced dead. we're waiting to get an update on the baby's condition. robert craig witnessed the crash, said she was walking to the nearby shopping center, from the bus stop. she realized she was about to be hit and tried to get her baby to safety. >> from what i understand she was able to push the baby out of the way and was pinned under the truck. >> police haven't said if the driver of the pickup will be charged. we're hoping to get an update

dale thrasher said he climbed under this communion table and said a prayer. re you terrified yesterday? >> not until it was over. >> reporter: dale managed to escape and although he admits he was shaken, his faith was not. many people might ask where was god yesterday. >> he was with me right there with his arms around me. >> yeah, it's a miracle. >> reporter: ashley saxton is lucky to be alive, but her family restaurant in yazoo city is gone. the roof ripped off, the building caved in. and she lost much more. two relatives, including a cousin who died while saving her children. >> she was just trying to protect her kids and she put them underneath the mattress and her house caved in on her. >> reporter: in some small town where people cross paths every day, it's the loss of life which is hardest to take. >> i know this can be built back, but thes lives can't be brought back. >> reporter: let's go to the national maps, at least the severe weather map, and talk about what happened saturday and what we expect for today. much calmer weather today. saturday, of co

dale thrasher was alone in the church when the storm hit. he hid under the communion table. >> i asked the good lord to protect me and it's like he put his arms around me. everything else was thrown around except for me and that table. >> reporter: the cleanup is just beginning as neighbors help each other deal with so much loss. volunteers have come from hundreds of miles away to help in the cleanup effort here. meanwhile, governor haley barbour has declared a state of emergency in 17 counties across mississippi. don teague, cbs news, yazoo city, mississippi. >>> this morning in the gulf of mexico, a robot submarine is working to stop an oil leak at the site of that sunken oil rig. it's a growing environmental threat. 5,000 feet below the surface, the leak is pumping 1,000 barrels of oil a day into the gulf. the oil spill now covers 600 square miles, an explosion on the rig last tuesday killed 11 workers. >>> a senate hearing be held tomorrow on that deadly west virginia mine explosion. on sunday, president obama and vice president biden at

. >> reporter: dale thrasher was inside the church when the tornado hit, he hid under this communion table. >> i just asked the god to help me and protect me and it was like he put his arms around men and sealed me under the table. >> reporter: the storms damaged towns. rescuers look for anyone unaccounted for. >> you've worked for something for 44 years, in a matter of a minute or two and it's all gone. >> reporter: residents now focus on cleaning up as the national guard patrols from the ground and the air. in a helicopter, mississippi governor, haley barber toured the devastation. this images of a ravaged yazoo county is some he takes personal. he grew up here. because of the sheer magnitude of destruction, the national weather service says it may not understand the full scope of the deadly storms until tuesday. in new york, terrell brown, wjz eyewitness news. >>> now our weather coverage continues with meteorologist bernadette woods. more details on the powerful weekend storms, bern. >> these were insense storms not just in the strength they had but in the size they had. we're go

there was someone inside the sanctuary, when the walls came tumbling down and he joins us live, dale thrasheralled and said it had been reported, a tornado, at little yazoo to look out the door and i looked out the door and it didn't look bad and i walked down the hall and the building shook and i went back out and looked like a giant cloud with rain and winds swirling and i run to the sanctuary, and got under the communion table, and, then the windows started coming in and the building started collapsing like the lord put his arm around me at the communion table and i'm here today, praise him for that. >> reporter: amen. talk to me... you are beneath the pile of rubble and how long did it take to get out of that and what did you do to climb out. >> i called my son first, to get him to come up here, we live about two miles... and a smelled gas and could hear it spewing out and i knew i had to get out as quick as i could and kicked a 2 by 4 loose, that was over me and crawled out and thank the lord we got the gas cut off and no fire... and the lord blessed us to rebuild the building and the li