Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Interview with Tornado Survivor
Aired May 06, 2003 - 07:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Now to a story of survival, and what a story it is. When you see something like this bearing down on your town, you rush to a place that is safe, like your basement, or as in the case of my next guest, a vault lined with cement. Attorney Joe Byrd was working in an office on Sunday evening, when a tornado came screaming down his street.
Joe Byrd is our guest this morning live in Jackson, Tennessee.
Joe, good morning to you. Great to see you are safe and OK.
JOE BYRD, SURVIVED TORNADO: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: Take me back to Sunday night. What were you feeling? What were you seeing? What gave you the idea that you had to go inside of this vault in order to save your life?
BYRD: Well, basically, the tornado sirens were going off in cycles. Periodically they would start and then stop, and then start and then stop. And we had the weather.com on our computer. We knew there was a big cell coming over from Arkansas, and we were keeping an eye on it. I had a brief due in federal court in about two weeks, one of four I've got actually due.
And after the second siren, I called my home to make my wife and children aware that we had bad weather coming, and they were already watching the weather. And we decided -- my legal assistant and I decided after the third alarm that it might be a good idea to start finding the keys to the basement and go to a lower part of the building.
And after, I guess, one more siren cycle had ended, we came out thinking that maybe the bad weather had passed. And the wind picked up, and I had a cell phone call from my wife that said we needed to seek shelter immediately; that there was a cell in South Jackson moving our way.
Within probably two minutes of that time, we -- my legal assistant and I just stepped into the vault. It's a bank vault in the basement of our building that we own. And the tornado, I guess, lasted between -- it seemed like maybe 8 to 10 minutes, and we could hear loud, explosive sounds outside. And the wind was just horrific. It sounded like just cyclonic in nature, not really a train sound or a jet engine sound, but the grayest rushing of wind I've ever heard with periodic explosive sounds.
And then, when we finally emerged from the building, the wind was probably still going, I guess, 60 or 75 mile-an-hour gusts. The devastation outside was just unbelievable, based upon what we had heard. I mean it sounded bad when we were in the basement, but when we emerged we had no idea...
HEMMER: Wow!
BYRD: ... that it would be what it was outside.
HEMMER: Joe, go back a little bit. You said 8 to 10 minutes inside you heard the rumbling outside. It seems like an awfully long time to me based on a number of other eyewitness accounts who say it came and went in a matter of seconds. What's to account for that 10- minute period of time that you describe?
BYRD: We could hear -- we could hear the wind just -- our building is flanked on the north -- or I guess the east actually and the south by two other buildings, both of which sustained substantial damage. One of my law partners and I own a building that was built in the -- I guess it was 1907, and has withstood many, many storms in the past. And I think it was because the corner of the basement we were in was in the direct path of this tornado, while the wind was almost like a vortex between the two buildings, one to our right and one behind us.
And we didn't emerge any sooner than we needed to. I mean, we came out to broken glass and debris still falling. So it may have been a shorter period of time than that, but it seemed like an awfully long time for what was going on at that time.
HEMMER: You were a lucky man, Joe. I'm sure you feel that way, and I'm sure your family does as well.
Listen, thanks for sharing your story. And the absolute best of luck to you and the rest of the people there in Jackson, Tennessee, trying to dig out from this one. Joe Byrd survived that tornado by going into a cement vault late on Sunday night.
Thanks, Joe, for that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired May 6, 2003 - 07:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Now to a story of survival, and what a story it is. When you see something like this bearing down on your town, you rush to a place that is safe, like your basement, or as in the case of my next guest, a vault lined with cement. Attorney Joe Byrd was working in an office on Sunday evening, when a tornado came screaming down his street.
Joe Byrd is our guest this morning live in Jackson, Tennessee.
Joe, good morning to you. Great to see you are safe and OK.
JOE BYRD, SURVIVED TORNADO: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: Take me back to Sunday night. What were you feeling? What were you seeing? What gave you the idea that you had to go inside of this vault in order to save your life?
BYRD: Well, basically, the tornado sirens were going off in cycles. Periodically they would start and then stop, and then start and then stop. And we had the weather.com on our computer. We knew there was a big cell coming over from Arkansas, and we were keeping an eye on it. I had a brief due in federal court in about two weeks, one of four I've got actually due.
And after the second siren, I called my home to make my wife and children aware that we had bad weather coming, and they were already watching the weather. And we decided -- my legal assistant and I decided after the third alarm that it might be a good idea to start finding the keys to the basement and go to a lower part of the building.
And after, I guess, one more siren cycle had ended, we came out thinking that maybe the bad weather had passed. And the wind picked up, and I had a cell phone call from my wife that said we needed to seek shelter immediately; that there was a cell in South Jackson moving our way.
Within probably two minutes of that time, we -- my legal assistant and I just stepped into the vault. It's a bank vault in the basement of our building that we own. And the tornado, I guess, lasted between -- it seemed like maybe 8 to 10 minutes, and we could hear loud, explosive sounds outside. And the wind was just horrific. It sounded like just cyclonic in nature, not really a train sound or a jet engine sound, but the grayest rushing of wind I've ever heard with periodic explosive sounds.
And then, when we finally emerged from the building, the wind was probably still going, I guess, 60 or 75 mile-an-hour gusts. The devastation outside was just unbelievable, based upon what we had heard. I mean it sounded bad when we were in the basement, but when we emerged we had no idea...
HEMMER: Wow!
BYRD: ... that it would be what it was outside.
HEMMER: Joe, go back a little bit. You said 8 to 10 minutes inside you heard the rumbling outside. It seems like an awfully long time to me based on a number of other eyewitness accounts who say it came and went in a matter of seconds. What's to account for that 10- minute period of time that you describe?
BYRD: We could hear -- we could hear the wind just -- our building is flanked on the north -- or I guess the east actually and the south by two other buildings, both of which sustained substantial damage. One of my law partners and I own a building that was built in the -- I guess it was 1907, and has withstood many, many storms in the past. And I think it was because the corner of the basement we were in was in the direct path of this tornado, while the wind was almost like a vortex between the two buildings, one to our right and one behind us.
And we didn't emerge any sooner than we needed to. I mean, we came out to broken glass and debris still falling. So it may have been a shorter period of time than that, but it seemed like an awfully long time for what was going on at that time.
HEMMER: You were a lucky man, Joe. I'm sure you feel that way, and I'm sure your family does as well.
Listen, thanks for sharing your story. And the absolute best of luck to you and the rest of the people there in Jackson, Tennessee, trying to dig out from this one. Joe Byrd survived that tornado by going into a cement vault late on Sunday night.
Thanks, Joe, for that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
