there, dead and gone. >> reporter: you saw a lot of things that day. how are you going to process that? >> i'm going to pray about it, brian. that's all i can do. that's all i can do now. >> reporter: we wanted to share some of the wonderful people we met here in tuscaloosa today. remember, even as they now get used to their new existence and the new landscape here, and of course, the story spreads out from here to other communities and six other states. and whether the damage is catastrophic or minor, whether the loss is small or large, people, of course, in this region are jumping in to help. we want to go to nbc's john yang in the small town of phil campbell, alabama, which was among the hardest hit. >> reporter: there wasn't a lot to the town of phil campbell to begin with. now there's even less. at least 26 dead here in a community of around 1,000. winds of up to 175 miles an hour destroyed nearly 100 homes. one of them was linda correll's. she was lying in bed when everything came crashing down.