Several 911 calls made in the wake of Monday's massive tornado in Moore, Oklahoma are now being publicly heard, revealing the chaos that the city's residents had experienced from the devastation.
On Friday, recordings of some of the emergency calls were made available by Moore police (click on the video above to hear). One of the frightening calls came from a man describing that a daycare center had been hit -- what sounds like children crying or people in distress could be heard in the background during the call:
Dispatcher: Moore 911?
Man: We got a daycare full of babies. We need help bad. We need help bad. We got a daycare that just got cremated...we got tons of babies in here.
One of the other calls to 911 came from a woman who said she and others were stuck under rubble, while another person said a man's house in Moore collapsed on his kids.
A caller, who had to ask the people around her if they were trapped, told a dispatcher in another recording: "They could possibly get out...but everything in front of us from what we could see is wiped out."
53 Photos
[h=3]Massive tornado hits Oklahoma[/h]
In another recording, a woman called and said that she and others were trapped in a closet. She added that they weren't injured but couldn't breathe.
Monday's tornado claimed 24 lives.
Meanwhile, a principal at Plaza Towers Elementary School, which was destroyed by the tornado, recounted how she walked the halls until the twister was on the doorstep, then announced on the intercom, "It's here."
In a pause-filled recollection that left many weeping, Amy Simpson said at a news conference that her teachers emerged battered after doing what they could to save every child in the Oklahoma school. Still, seven second- and third-graders were among the 24 killed.
19 Photos
[h=3]Children rescued from two elementary schools in Oklahoma[/h]
"The teachers covered themselves in debris while they were covering their babies. And I believe that is why so many of us survived that day, because the teachers were able to act quickly, stay calm and take literally the weight of a wall onto their bodies to save those that were under them," said Simpson, a native of the city of about 56,000.
The tornado was on the ground for 40 minutes and left a 17-mile path of destruction.
Its victims at the school were ages 8 and 9.
The Moore School District canceled its school year after the tornado hit Plaza Towers and the Briarwood school, where all students survived. District officials and teachers met with pupils and their parents Thursday to give everyone a chance to say goodbye before heading into summer vacation.
Simpson said that, having been born and raised in Oklahoma, she knew what it meant to deal with tornadoes. The state, in the heart of Tornado Alley, has averaged more than 50 tornadoes per year since record-keeping began in 1950.
"Not one parent blamed us because they're Oklahomans, too, and they know what a tornado means and they know what it means in school," Simpson said. "We practice our procedures. We get in our safest places."
Play Video
[h=3]The man who sounded the alarm in Moore, Okla.[/h]
In other news related to the Oklahoma tornado, CBS News correspondent Mark Strassman spoke to the man who issued an emergency tornado warning on Monday. Forecaster David Andra of the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma, was monitoring the storm and called it 16 minutes before it hit Moore. "We knew the potential existed for particularly strong tornadoes that afternoon," he said.
He was also keeping track on his stepdaughter, Elizabeth Farrar, whose family was living in Moore. They talked Monday morning about whether she should leave with her husband Abe and their 13-month old son Keegan. "I know his tones, I know how he says things," she recalled, "and I could tell that he was concerned about Monday."
Out of the tragedy and destruction came some happier news for one Oklahoma family. CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman profiled the Brown children -- Caleb, Colby and Courtney -- whose home was destroyed by the tornado. Before the storm, the Brown kids were your usual fighting siblings, but the incident brought them closer together.
Play Video
[h=3]On the road: Three siblings survive Okla. tornado[/h]
"They're my only brothers, and if they died, I don't know what I'd do," said Courtney, who hurt her head during the storm and was being taken cared of in a hospital.
"As a mom," said Rachquel Brown, the children's mother, "that's what you want, 'cause you try to teach them the family is the most important thing. And it took this experience for them to realize how much their sister and brother mean to them."
And bringing a bit of good news: the kids' dog Charlie emerged from the rubble safe and sound.
On Friday, recordings of some of the emergency calls were made available by Moore police (click on the video above to hear). One of the frightening calls came from a man describing that a daycare center had been hit -- what sounds like children crying or people in distress could be heard in the background during the call:
Dispatcher: Moore 911?
Man: We got a daycare full of babies. We need help bad. We need help bad. We got a daycare that just got cremated...we got tons of babies in here.
One of the other calls to 911 came from a woman who said she and others were stuck under rubble, while another person said a man's house in Moore collapsed on his kids.
A caller, who had to ask the people around her if they were trapped, told a dispatcher in another recording: "They could possibly get out...but everything in front of us from what we could see is wiped out."
[h=3]Massive tornado hits Oklahoma[/h]
In another recording, a woman called and said that she and others were trapped in a closet. She added that they weren't injured but couldn't breathe.
Monday's tornado claimed 24 lives.
Meanwhile, a principal at Plaza Towers Elementary School, which was destroyed by the tornado, recounted how she walked the halls until the twister was on the doorstep, then announced on the intercom, "It's here."
In a pause-filled recollection that left many weeping, Amy Simpson said at a news conference that her teachers emerged battered after doing what they could to save every child in the Oklahoma school. Still, seven second- and third-graders were among the 24 killed.
[h=3]Children rescued from two elementary schools in Oklahoma[/h]
"The teachers covered themselves in debris while they were covering their babies. And I believe that is why so many of us survived that day, because the teachers were able to act quickly, stay calm and take literally the weight of a wall onto their bodies to save those that were under them," said Simpson, a native of the city of about 56,000.
The tornado was on the ground for 40 minutes and left a 17-mile path of destruction.
Its victims at the school were ages 8 and 9.
The Moore School District canceled its school year after the tornado hit Plaza Towers and the Briarwood school, where all students survived. District officials and teachers met with pupils and their parents Thursday to give everyone a chance to say goodbye before heading into summer vacation.
Simpson said that, having been born and raised in Oklahoma, she knew what it meant to deal with tornadoes. The state, in the heart of Tornado Alley, has averaged more than 50 tornadoes per year since record-keeping began in 1950.
"Not one parent blamed us because they're Oklahomans, too, and they know what a tornado means and they know what it means in school," Simpson said. "We practice our procedures. We get in our safest places."
[h=3]The man who sounded the alarm in Moore, Okla.[/h]
In other news related to the Oklahoma tornado, CBS News correspondent Mark Strassman spoke to the man who issued an emergency tornado warning on Monday. Forecaster David Andra of the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma, was monitoring the storm and called it 16 minutes before it hit Moore. "We knew the potential existed for particularly strong tornadoes that afternoon," he said.
He was also keeping track on his stepdaughter, Elizabeth Farrar, whose family was living in Moore. They talked Monday morning about whether she should leave with her husband Abe and their 13-month old son Keegan. "I know his tones, I know how he says things," she recalled, "and I could tell that he was concerned about Monday."
Out of the tragedy and destruction came some happier news for one Oklahoma family. CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman profiled the Brown children -- Caleb, Colby and Courtney -- whose home was destroyed by the tornado. Before the storm, the Brown kids were your usual fighting siblings, but the incident brought them closer together.
[h=3]On the road: Three siblings survive Okla. tornado[/h]
"They're my only brothers, and if they died, I don't know what I'd do," said Courtney, who hurt her head during the storm and was being taken cared of in a hospital.
"As a mom," said Rachquel Brown, the children's mother, "that's what you want, 'cause you try to teach them the family is the most important thing. And it took this experience for them to realize how much their sister and brother mean to them."
And bringing a bit of good news: the kids' dog Charlie emerged from the rubble safe and sound.