. >> reporter: in alabama, veteran meteorologist james spahn is a living legend.entor. >> all of these places right in through here was in danger. >> reporter: he was on tv in what would be a 12-hour marathon of warnings when he watched that tornado on the radar approaching his home. what we're going to do real quick is change my battery, taylor. i'll be right back. tell me about when you realized that your house was being threatened and then hit? >> once it got within about five miles of my neighborhood, i knew that our house was right in the path of this thing. i felt this urgent responsibility, even though i know that at our house we have a weather radio, my wife has her phone. i had to make a direct communication with her to make sure she a in a shelter that we have at the house. >> the reason i had to step out, we've had major damage at my house. i've been out in the hall trying to make sure my family is okay. >> i've been doing this for 43 years. and i never had one right over my house. i've never had one directly affect my house like this. >> we're going to