"AMERICAN IDOL" WINNER TAYLOR HICKS WHO WENT THROUGH THE TORNADO.
>> YOU JUST SHAKE YOUR HEAD, JUST UNBELIEVABLE.
THE DEATH TOLL MOUNTING.
LET’S BRING IN TAYLOR.
HOW ARE YOU DOING?
>> DOING OK.
STILL PROCESSING WANT WHEN ON LAST NIGHT.
I LIVE IN THE GERMANTOWN AREA.
IT WAS PRETTY SCARY.
LIVING IN ALABAMA, YOU GROW UP AROUND THESE TORNADOES, BUT IF YOU GO THROUGH ONE, YOU NEVER WANT TO GO THROUGH ONE AGAIN.
MY HEART JUST GOES OUT FOR ALL THE FAMILIES WHO HAVE LOST LOVED ONES TODAY, AND IT W A SURREAL EXPERIENCE, AND ONE THAT I HOPE I NEVER GO THROUGH AGAIN.
>> YOU HEAR THE REPORTS, AND THE FIRST AREA OF NASHVILLE THAT COMES UP IS GERMANTOWN, WHERE YOU WERE.
TELL US ABOUT WHERE YOU WERE, WHAT IS HAPPENED -- WHAT HAPPENED.
TAKE US THROUGH IT.
IT WAS 1:00 IN THE MORNING.
A LOT OF PEOPLE HAD GONE TO BED.
I WAS ABOUT TO GO TO SLEEP.
SOMEONE TEXTED ME THE STORMS WERE COMING.
IT DID NOT FEEL LIKE A DAY YOU WOULD WATCH THE WEATHER AS CLOSELY AS YOU DO FOR OTHER DAYS FOR SOME REASON, I DO NOT KNOW.
BUT THE LOCAL TV STATIONS, THE ACTUAL STORM WAS ROTATING, AND IT WAS CONFIRMED ON THE GROUND.
THE POWER WENT OUT AT THAT TIME.
YOU DO NOT KNOW WHERE THAT STORM IS.
I HAD TIME TO GO TO THE BASEMENT . AS I WAS LOOKING TOWARD THE LEFT OF THE WINDOW, I GOT INTO A LITTLE AREA, WHERE I COULD SEE LARGE OBJECTS BEING THROWN
AROUND IN A CIRCULAR MANNER, AND I REALIZED I HEARD THE TRAIN SOUND AND THE VIBRATION, AND I JUST GOT IN THE CAR AND SET A PRAYER AND HELD ON FOR DEAR LIFE.
AFTER IT WAS ALL OVER, THERE WAS DAMAGE TO MY HOUSE.
I THINK 100 YARDS, THERE WERE HOUSES LEVELED.
BUSINESSES ARE GONE.
YOU DO NOT THINK OF GROWING UP IN BIRMINGHAM, YOU DO NOT THINK OF THOSE BIG LONG-TRACK TORNADOES COMING THROUGH A DOWNTOWN AREA.
WE GROW UP IN BIRMINGHAM, AND WE ALWAYS HAVE THE OLD ADAGE, IT WILL SKIP US, OR LIVING IN NASHVILLE, UNFORTUNATELY, THAT WAS ONE OF THOSE TORNADOES THAT NOT CARE WHERE IT WAS.
IT CREATED A LOT OF DEVASTATION.
I AM OK.
BUT MY HEART JUST GOES OUT TO THOSE FAMILIES THAT REALLY LOST PEOPLE AND LOVED ONES THIS MORNING.
>> HAVE YOU GOTTEN OUT TODAY TO LOOK AT SOME OF THE DEVASTATION?
>> I HAVE.
WHEN YOU GO THROUGH SOMETHING LIKE THAT, AFTER YOU REALIZE YOU ARE OK, FIRST THING YOU THINK OF IS ARE THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU OK, OUR NEIGHBORS OK?
MY FAMILY WENT TO THE TORNADO OUTBREAK IN -- AND YOU PICK UP ON WHAT THEY KIND OF DID WHEN A TORNADO CAME THROUGH, AND THIS WAS VERY SIMILAR.
THERE ARE POWER LINES DOWN, FLOOD.
IT GETS SLUNG FROM THE TORNADO AND IT PATES EVERYTHING BLACK.
THERE IS AN EERIE, INTERESTING WAY TO LOOK AT RIGHT AFTER A TORNADO, BECAUSE ALL THE MUD IS WET, BECAUSE IT HAS BEEN RAINING A BIT, EVERYTHING IS BLACK.
WE VENTURED OUT TO SEE IF PEOPLE WERE OK.
BY THAT TIME THEY WERE, THE FIRST RESPONDERS WERE THERE PRETTY QUICK, BUT YOU KNEW, YOU FELT IMMEDIATELY AFTER THAT TORNADO HAD COME THROUGH THAT IT WAS A BIG TORNADO.
YOU JUST HAD AN IDEA THAT THAT WAS THE CASE >> BLESS YOUR HEART, BUDDY.
GLAD YOU ARE SAFE.
PRAYERS, THOUGHTS, AND OUR PRAYERS TO ALL YOUR BUDDIES IN NASHVILLE.
>> NASHVILLE IS A STRONG TOWN.
IT IS A SISTER CITY TO MY HOMETOWN, BIRMINGHAM, AND IT WILL BE A LONG COUPLE WEEKS, BUT I THINK WE WILL BOUNCE BACK.