A storm chaser has captured what he calls the “most insane tornado video ever captured in Westmoreland, Kansas.”
The terrifying video shows a huge, wild tornado that is uprooting trees and knocking over power lines as debris flies through the air.
The pictures were captured by meteorologist and storm chaser Reed Timmer who has a specially-made SRV Dominator (SRV stands for Storm Research Vehicle) which he uses to withstand the forceful twisters.
“Powerful tornado forms just west of Westmoreland, Kansas and destroys the north side of town,” Timmer writes in the YouTube description of his video. “Powerful roar. Tornado funnel tied in knots with destructive jet-like winds at ground [sic] level. Team Dominator in full intercept mode.”
The “roar” references the massive sound that a tornado makes and Timmer can be heard in the video shouting “Big roar” as the enormous twister lays waste to a small community. The storm was so powerful that it even sucked up a manhole cover.
Tragic
While the video is awe-inspiring, the end of the video sees Timmer searching a destroyed residency desperately searching to see if anyone was inside the house that is now in pieces.
Timmer and his team didn’t find anyone there but the violent tornado claimed the life of 58-year-old Ann Miller, a long-time resident of Westmoreland.
“My mother’s best friend, Ann Miller, was the lone fatality in this tragedy. She was a kind soul and a member of a wonderfully tight-knit community, the kind that I hope everyone can experience someday. She will be dearly missed,” writes a commenter called Josh.
WIBW 13 reports that Miller’s death was the first one in the area by a deadly tornado since 2012.
Tornados Battering The Midwest
A series of violent tornados have hit Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa, and Nebraska in recent week killing four people and injuring more than 300 others. Last week, PetaPixel reported on a harrowing video taken by a train conductor in Nebraska as a tornado directly struck his locomotive.
The University of Colorado recommends citizens that live in areas susceptible to tornadoes to use emergency notifications on phones and follow local meteorologists or National Weather Service accounts on social media.