A father and daughter duo of storm chasers came within seconds of being crushed in their car by a massive metal tank during a devastating tornado in Oklahoma.
Jesse Rossi, his 12-year-old daughter and her mother came terrifyingly close to the powerful EF3 tornado near Marietta, southern Oklahoma, on Saturday.
Their car was almost hit by debris during Jesse’s Facebook Live stream as the trio drove on Interstate 35.
Jesse and his wife are heard talking about the cloud formation ahead of them as they see lightning and realize they are standing right in front of the tornado.
While they decide to stop. a large piece of metal falls right in front of their car, causing panic among the storm chasers.
Jesse Rossi and his 12-year-old daughter came terrifyingly close to the powerful EF3 tornado near Marietta, southern Oklahoma, on Saturday.
You hear Jesse and his wife talk about the cloud formation ahead of them as they see lightning and realize they are directly across from the tornado
One of the family members is seen outside the vehicle after inspecting the damage
At least 25 tornadoes killed four people in the state and left thousands without power on Sunday, injuring at least 100 people.
Footage from the aftermath in Marietta shows a Dollar Tree distribution center completely destroyed and torn open by the twister.
More than 20,000 people were still without electricity hours after the tornadoes began late Saturday evening.
Devastation was widespread in Sulfur, a city of about 5,000, where a tornado destroyed many downtown buildings, tossed cars and buses and ripped the roofs off homes over a 15-block radius.
“You just can’t believe the devastation,” Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt said during a visit to the hard-hit city.
“It seems like every business downtown has been destroyed.”
Stitt said about 30 people were injured in Sulfur, including some who were in a bar when the tornado struck. Hospitals across the state reported about 100 injuries, including people apparently cut or struck by debris, according to the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.
Footage from the aftermath in Marietta shows a Dollar Tree distribution center completely destroyed and torn open by the twister
The contents of a Dollar Tree warehouse are seen in an aerial photo
An infant was among the dead, 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 the federal government’s full support.
The deadly weather in Oklahoma added to the dozens of reported tornadoes that have wreaked havoc across the belly of the country since Friday. Another death was reported Sunday in Iowa, where officials in Pottawattamie County said a man who was seriously injured in a tornado on Friday had died.
In Oklahoma, authorities said the tornado in Sulfur started in a city park before tearing through downtown, toppling cars and ripping the roofs and walls off brick buildings. Windows and doors were blown out of structures that were left standing.
Farther north, a tornado near the town of Holdenville killed two people and damaged or destroyed more than a dozen homes, according to the Hughes County Emergency Medical Service.
Stitt issued an executive order on Sunday declaring a state of emergency in twelve provinces due to the effects of the severe weather.
Stitt said about 30 people were injured in Sulfur, including some who were in a bar when the tornado struck
Residents in other states were also digging because of storm damage. A tornado in the suburbs of Omaha, Nebraska, destroyed homes and businesses Saturday as it moved for miles through farmland and subdivisions, then slammed an Iowa city.
The tornado damage began Friday afternoon near Lincoln, Nebraska. An industrial building in Lancaster County was hit, causing it to collapse with 70 people inside. Several people were trapped, but everyone was evacuated and the three injuries were not life-threatening, authorities said.
One or possibly two tornadoes then crawled toward Omaha for about an hour, leaving behind damage consistent with an EF3 twister, with winds of 130 to 165 mph, said Chris Franks, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service office in Omaha.
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds toured the damage Saturday and arranged aid for damaged communities. Formal damage assessments are still underway, but states plan to seek federal assistance.