On Monday Alfredo Corrales crowded into a small underground shelter with his family and a neighbor.

“Me and the neighbor were just holding on to the hatch, just to keep the door secure. And that wind was blowing over, and the wind was just sucking up on the door. And when it was doing that, the rain was just shooting down into the cellar.”

The storm hit two elementary schools just as students were preparing to leave for the day. Both schools were crushed, leaving many children trapped in the wreckage.

“It was just thump, thump and the roof came off. And then I left something and then it was raining, clay on me and all that.”

Rescue workers dug through the wreckage and pulled several children out alive.

Quick-thinking teachers are credited with saving lives by moving students to closed spaces before the storm destroyed the building. Sherry Biddle teaches at Briarwood. She described how she helped her students protect themselves.

“I had them take their backpacks and put them over their heads, just as another safety precaution, as they were down in the center of our room, in the center of our building.”

But seven children were killed when the tornado destroyed Plaza Towers Elementary School.

Susan Pierce is superintendent of Moore public schools. She said many lives were saved because every school followed sheltering directions.