(ABC News)

High school security cameras in Henryville, Ind., captured rare footage of the effects of a tornado that ripped the unoccupied school apart.

On March 2, a deadly string of tornadoes turned tight-knit rural communities into apocalyptic war zones. Buildings were reduced to rubble, businesses were destroyed and families were left homeless by the disaster.

In Henryville, the town's elementary, middle and high schools were wiped out. Receipts from the town were found 150 miles away in Cincinnati, carried by the brutal force of the storm.

"I'm a storm chaser, and I have never been this frightened before," Henryville resident Susie Renner told the Associated Press.

The death toll was 39 across the South and Midwest in that bout of wild weather.