A man driving home from work found himself caught in the middle of one of the 14 tornadoes that rocked Alabama — leaving at least five people dead, intense video shows.
The footage — shot Thursday in Pelham, where the first twister was recorded — shows Cesar Villaseñor and his boss gasping in shock as heavy rains and intense winds rocked their car and sent debris flying everywhere.
“Oh no,” one of the men said as they drove past several homes that appeared to be heavily damaged. “Oh s–t!”
The men then briefly stopped their car as they pulled up to several downed trees and took stock of the widespread devastation.
“Oh my God, what the f–k?” one said on the clip. “Oh hell no!”
Villaseñor told Storyful he was about a half-mile from his home when the rain dramatically worsened.
“I was like, ‘This is probably it,’” Villaseñor told CNN. “’I’m probably dead.’”
Tornadoes that tore through Pelham, Alabama, caused catastrophic damage. via REUTERSA total of 14 tornadoes were reported in Alabama, with another in Mississippi, CNN reported, citing the National Weather Service.
Villaseñor said he and his boss were headed to the man’s home to seek shelter when “everything starts going to hell, basically,” causing him to nearly lose control of the car.
Cesar Villaseñor shot footage of the tornado from inside his vehicle in Pelham, Alabama.
“At one point, the van was shaking really bad to the point that I thought it was [likely] to flip over. I was just shaking. I couldn’t control my hands.”
Calhoun County Sheriff Matthew Wade said five people died in the storms, including three victims from the same family.
A Calhoun County coroner said four adults were killed in Ohatchee, including three from the same family, while a woman also died in Wellington, AL.com reported.
Cesar Villaseñor described the scene of the tornado as “everything going to hell, basically.”
The victims were identified early Friday as Joe Wayne Harris, 74, James William Geno, 72, Ebonique Harris, 28, Emily Myra Wilborn, 72, and Barbara Harris, 69, according to the report.
The hardest-hit areas in Calhoun County were in Ohatchee and Wellington. Several injuries were also reported there and elsewhere through the state, AL.com reported.
Centreville volunteer firefighters search a destroyed mobile home after a tornado crossed Bibb County Highway 6 south of Centreville, Alabama. Gary Cosby Jr./USA Today Network/Sipa USAThe severe storms were in western Georgia early Friday — with one large tornado moving through Newnan and surrounding areas near Atlanta, according to the National Weather Service.
Reports of damage in Newnan were received shortly after midnight, NWS meteorologist John De Block said.
With Post wires
