Oklahoma Elementary Schools Reduced To Rubble By Tornado

INSIDE EDITION toured the elementary school blown apart by the ferocious winds of the tornado where seven children died and hundreds of others were saved by hero teachers.

Our Jim Moret walked through the wreckage of Plaza Towers Elementary with Moore, Oklahoma Police Sergeant Jeremy Lewis.

Everywhere are signs of the nightmare conditions faced by the little ones who were here when the massive twister touched down. This once bustling school is now just a memory.

And then there is evidence of the bustling school it once was. Textbooks are still stacked on a shelf, and a classroom was largely intact. A blackboard, still attached to a wall and the school mascot evident on another wall.

The entrance looked like a typical school on the day before the tornado. Now, it is totally different, totally destroyed.

A hallway in front of the school was where many of the students were hunkered down, many of them covered by their teachers. That was where they survived.

Sergeant Lewis said, "It is very unfortunate we lost any life, but what these teachers and principals did, there is no telling how many lives they saved."

Country music superstar Toby Keith was born in Moore.  Coincidentally, he was in his hometown on Monday, but left for a recording session in Nashville. He rushed home to comfort family and friends.

Keith spoke to the Today show's Matt Lauer.

He said, “People here are so resilient, they'll bounce back.”

On The Voice Tuesday night, Blake Shelton and his wife Miranda Lambert remembered the victims of the Oklahoma tornado.

More photos have emerged of the students who perished at Plaza Towers Elementary. Nine-year-old best friends, Antonia Lee Candilaria and Emily Kanatzer were found holding hands. Nine-year-old Nicholas McCabe also lost his life. Some are now calling the site of the school, “Sacred ground.”