Terrifying videos captured the terror unleashed by a series of tornadoes that hit the nation over the weekend leaving five people dead.
Jesse Rossi, his 12-year-old daughter and his mother came frighteningly close to the powerful EF3 tornado near Marietta in southern Oklahoma on Saturday.
Their car was nearly hit by debris during a Facebook live stream by Jesse as the trio drove on Interstate 35.
Jesse and his wife are heard discussing the cloud formation in front of them when they see lightning and realize they are directly in front of the tornado.
When they decide to stop, a large piece of metal falls right in front of their car, causing panic among the storm chasers.
Meanwhile, footage from Friday in Nebraska shows the moment a truck collided with a vehicle during another tornado.
Footage from Friday in Nebraska shows the moment a truck collided with a vehicle during another tornado.
Jesse Rossi and his wife are heard discussing the cloud formation in front of them when they see lightning and realize they are directly in front of the tornado.
Jesse Rossi and his 12-year-old daughter came awfully close to the powerful EF3 tornado near Marietta in southern Oklahoma on Saturday.
At least 25 tornadoes killed four people in the state and left thousands without power on Sunday, with at least 100 people injured.
Images of what happened in Marietta show a Dollar Tree distribution center completely destroyed and opened by the tornado.
More than 20,000 people were still without power hours after the tornadoes began Saturday night.
The destruction was extensive in Sulfur, a city of about 5,000 people, where a tornado destroyed many downtown buildings, tossed cars and buses and sheared the roofs off homes within a 15-block radius.
“You can’t believe the destruction,” Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt said during a visit to the hardest-hit city.
“It looks like all the downtown businesses have been destroyed.”
Stitt said about 30 people were injured in Sulfur, including some who were at a bar when the tornado hit. Hospitals across the state reported about 100 injuries, including people apparently cut or hit by debris, according to the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.
One of the family members is seen outside the vehicle after checking the damage
Images of what happened in Marietta show a Dollar Tree distribution center completely destroyed and torn apart by the tornado.
Among the dead was an infant, Hughes County Emergency Management Director Mike Dockrey told Oklahoma television station KOCO.
White House officials said President Joe Biden spoke with Stitt on Sunday and offered him the full support of the federal government.
The deadly weather in Oklahoma added to the dozens of reported tornadoes that have wreaked havoc in the center of the country since Friday.
Another death was reported Sunday in Iowa, where Pottawattamie County officials said a man seriously injured during a tornado on Friday had died.
In Oklahoma, authorities said the tornado in Sulfur began in a city park before tore through the center of town, overturning cars and ripping roofs and walls off brick buildings. The windows and doors of the structures that remained standing were blown away.
Farther north, a tornado near the town of Holdenville killed two people and damaged or destroyed more than a dozen homes, according to Hughes County Emergency Medical Services.
Stitt issued an executive order Sunday declaring a state of emergency in 12 counties due to the consequences of the severe weather.
The contents of a Dollar Tree store are seen in an aerial photograph
Stitt said about 30 people were injured in Sulfur, including some who were at a bar when the tornado hit.
Residents in other states were also recovering from storm damage. A tornado in suburban Omaha, Nebraska, demolished homes and businesses Saturday as it moved for miles across farmland and subdivisions, then struck an Iowa town.
Tornado damage began Friday afternoon near Lincoln, Nebraska. An industrial building in Lancaster County was hit and caused it to collapse with 70 people inside. Several were trapped, but all were evacuated and the three injured were not life-threatening, authorities said.
One or possibly two tornadoes spent about an hour moving toward Omaha, leaving damage consistent with an EF3 tornado, with winds of 135 to 165 mph, said Chris Franks, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Omaha office.
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds spent Saturday touring the damage and organizing assistance for damaged communities. Formal damage assessments are still being done, but states plan to seek federal help.
