er, fashion guru clinton kelly and journalist soledad o'brien on hot topics and collaborated with justin timberlake and who the lonely island is working with next. the latest juicy hot topics. now here's wendy! [ applause ] ♪ ♪ >> wendy:

>> reporter: samaras explained why to soledad o'brien in 2004. >> why do you want to get so close to tornadoes and do this? >> i plant probes in the path of tornados and in order to get them correctly in the path you have to be close. >> reporter: his team tried to close in on the tornado in what samaras warned about in what became his final tweet. dangerous day for oklahoma. stay weather savvy. >> reporter: other chasers were in harm's way including meteorologist mike bettis and his crew as seen here on the weather channel. >> eventually the camera was ejected. this is the camera. it never stopped recording. watch it here as you can actually see bettis' truck rolling over and over in the field. >> i just saw my wife's face and i thought, you know, that's, you know, that's my life. i don't want to give that up just yet. and thankfully i don't have to. >> reporter: a fortunate fate bettis' photographer shared as well. he escaped the storm with broken back bones, a broken rib and breast plate, but says he's not done storm chasing. >> there's a lot more to learn about tornadoes and gett

soledad o'brien spoke to tim in 2004. >> how close was too close? >> the tornado was about 100 yards and closing. >> how fast do they close on you? >> this particular tornado is moving about 15 to 20 miles an hour. >> wow. >> yes. >> in fact, we can see telephone poles being ripped out of the ground and absorbed into the tornado as i did the first. >> we're going to die. >> reporter: brandon sullivan and his storm chasing team also had a close call. >> you okay? >> yeah. >> reporter: they survived, not a scratch, but there were some very scary moments. in a massive storm spawning a series of tornadoes, most of the nine people killed died in their cars. >> one of the things we think happened this week with all the congestion on the roads is that people were out trying to find other buildings and places to go to. >> reporter: another hard lesson in this season of storms, unless you are certain you can make it to a safe place. better to shelter where you are than to try to outrun a tornado, no matter how fast or souped up your car may be. miguel marque

>> reporter: samaras explained why to cnn's soledad o'brien in 2004. >> why do you want to get so close to tornadoes and do this? >> my plan probes in the path of tornadoes, and in order to get them correctly in the path, you have to be close. >> reporter: his team tried to close in on the tornado that samaras ominously warned about in what became his final tweet. "dangerous day ahead for oklahoma. stay weather savvy!" other chasers were in harm's way, including weather channel meteorologist mike bettes and his crew, as seen here on the weather channel. >> eventually, the camera was ejected. >> this is the camera. it never stopped recording. watch it here, as you can actually see bettes's truck rolling over and over in the field. >> i just saw my wife's face, and i thought, you know, that's, you know, that's my life, and i don't want to give that up just yet. and thankfully, i don't have to. >> reporter: a fortunate fate bettes's photograph austin anderson told as well. he escaped with a broken back bones, broken rib and breast plate, but says he's not done storm chasing. >> there's a l