Story highlights Clinton -- at the time New York's junior senator -- described the "sickening experience" of 9/11

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New York (CNN) Fifteen years later, the scene is still seared into Hillary Clinton's memory.

"We saw this curtain of black smoke that was stretched across the island," Clinton recalled. "Occasionally it would be broken by a firefighter coming out. I remember one image so indelibly, dragging his ax, and it was as close to depiction of hell that I've ever personally seen."

Those were the things Clinton saw as she approached Ground Zero on September 12, 2001 -- the day after the country's worst terrorist attacks brought down New York City's World Trade Center and left thousands dead.

In an exclusive interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo, Clinton -- at the time New York's junior senator -- described the "sickening experience" of 9/11 and how she coped with the national tragedy by getting right to work.

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When news broke of the first plane ripping through the north tower of the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11, Clinton had just left her house in Washington, D.C., and was on her way to the Senate. By the time she reached Capitol Hill, evacuations were already underway.

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