>>> it was assumed if anything in this town could stand up to a tornado it would have been the brick and steel frame henryville school. at first glance, the twisted rubble it appears it would appears it wasn't a match. but it was strong enough to protect the handful of students and adults who found themselves in a no-man's-land when the tornado came calling. when he surveys the damage to his elementary school , principal glenn rigs can't help but get emotional.
>> i'm sorry. my 4 and 5-year-olds that would have been in there.
>> reporter: would have been there except officials made the decision to send the 1,200 k-12 students home early. as it turned out, an hour before the tornado struck. bus driver chris spencer was about to drop off the last student when the sky darkened.
>> i knew she lived in a mobile home . we came to the school. got her in the safety.
>> reporter: a handful of other students were forced to come back too including 14-year-old preston perry. moments after he made it back to school, the bus he had been on became a flying projectile. what were people saying, what were they doing?
>> they were screaming and saying get down, it's here. and then the ceiling fell in on a couple of us. i thought that we were all going to die.
>> reporter: principal rigs meantime and younger students and faculty huddled in an interior office.
>> when we were in there when the first vacuum came, it was just -- i mean, literally it felt like your skin was going to pull off the body.
>> reporter: that was before it hit?
>> that was before it hit. once it hit, then all this crashing was what we were hearing.
>> reporter: amazingly no one was hurt. so this is the way you came out? outside unrecognizable jumble.
>> i thought this cannot be real. and my god, it is. it is.
>> the seats.
>> reporter: today, 6-year-old madelyn evans pointed out to her mom what's left of the bus that did manage to get her and several of her classmates home ahead of the tornado.
>> truly it's a miracle that those kids came out alive.
>> reporter: she's not the only grateful one. you saw your bus, what were your thoughts?
>> that i was glad that i wasn't sitting on it because nobody would have survived it.
>> reporter: school officials say there are no other places that can easily accommodate all the students displaced by the disaster, but they acknowledge a plan and decision will have to be
Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/46615929/
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