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Terrifying moment when one of several tornadoes hit northern Mississippi as the family took refuge inside a car as trees collapsed around them.
- Tornadoes swept through northeast Mississippi Thursday afternoon, causing damage in the town of Ripley, 45 miles northwest of Tupelo.
- No one is believed to have died in the storms, but several buildings were damaged by the winds.
- One family recorded their harrowing experience of seeking shelter in their car as the storm raged.
A family in Ripley, Mississippi captured the dramatic moment a tornado ripped through their town as they sought refuge in their truck.
The dramatic clip shows the storm passing overhead Thursday afternoon in his town of 5,000, 45 miles northwest of Tupelo.
The family did not have an underground shelter, so they decided that their truck would be safer than their bungalow.
Debris swirled, trees collapsed and rain poured down, but luckily no one is believed to have been injured during the terrifying storm.
The tornado was one of several that struck the region Thursday afternoon.
A family took shelter in their truck in Ripley, Mississippi, Thursday when a tornado struck.
The storm battered the city, but no deaths were reported.
The family felt their van was safer than their house (pictured)
In the city itself, a gas station owner recounted how the winds lifted his storage shed and swept it across his front yard.
“I’m at a loss for words, because this is the first time I’ve been in this situation. I was super scared,” said Dev Patel, the owner of the 76 gas station.
He said WTVA: ‘He opened both my doors, wide open, and went through them.
“He threw everything into the air, glasses and bottles in a circular motion.”
Patel said there were two customers inside the gas station shop at the time and he was concerned about making sure everyone was safe.
When I got out, I checked the outside. He blew my shed up and knocked it over.
“I was thanking God no one was hurt when the metal plates fell – it could have cut a man in two.”
Dev Patel, owner of the 76 gas station, said he was terrified when the storm hit.
Patel’s storage shed was dumped across the service station yard.
Anna Jordan, who lives in Ripley, said WREG: ‘It got very strong, the wind picked up.
‘And then it got louder and louder, the next thing you hear is the crunching of limbs, things like that. She came out of nowhere, really.
She said it lasted around 30-40 seconds, and when it came out, there was damage all over it.
“The garage hardly exists anymore,” he said.
You practically raised the roof and the a/c unit is upside down.
NASA satellites at 7:15 p.m. UTC, 1:15 p.m. local time at Ripley, showed dramatic thunderstorms raging in the area.
‘A large jump in #lightning (indicated by the color red on the map) occurred at 1915Z in the SPoRT GLM Flash Extension Density, just before the rotation rapidly rotated in a cell of northern #Mississippi, which now it’s a storm with a #tornado warning,’ they tweeted.
The National Weather Service began issuing tornado warnings in the early afternoon.
At 2:34 pm they tweeted: ‘A group of storms is moving through northern Mississippi and southwest TN. A tornado warning and a severe thunderstorm warning remain in effect. Stay alert and informed!’
Photos shared on social media showed a tornado forming near Smithville, 30 miles southeast of Tupelo.