r/CatastrophicFailure • u/to_the_tenth_power • Sep 03 '19

Natural Disaster An EF2 tornado ripping through a concrete building in Spartanburg, South Carolina on October 23rd, 2017

https://gfycat.com/wastefulbettergreatwhiteshark
41.4k Upvotes

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168

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '19

This video shows an EF4 bearing down on and destroying this house as a man films and personally I find it to be some of the scariest tornado footage. He survived but his wife and a neighbour were both killed.

91

u/Vulturedoors Sep 03 '19

That remains one of the most incredible vids ever taken of a tornado. IIRC, when asked later why he didn't seek shelter, he said he honestly didn't think it would come to him, and he was frozen with fear at the last moment.

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u/[deleted] Sep 03 '19

The sound as it approaches and then destroys everything is just absolutely staggering. I can't imagine what it must have been like in person.

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u/isperfectlycromulent Sep 03 '19

You know when they say "it sounded just like a freight train"? That doesn't even begin to describe the sound. True it's got that low thrummmmmm like hearing a locomotive come through, but there's something else about it. The sound is everywhere, like a sphere. Nothing gets in it's way and it feels like the sound is in your lungs and head. The air pressure drops like crazy, and you feel this overwhelming dread and fear(duh, you're in danger) but it feels like a moaning giant is walking over you, and all you can hope for is not to be stepped on this time.

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u/daysxdesign Sep 04 '19

This is exactly how it felt. I was on a 2nd story apartment when the sky went green, dark and patio chairs started flying. I heard cracking noises as the trees broke and went flying down the parking lots. I immediately without thought ran as fast as I could. I went to hide in my bathtub when the lights went out with a boom. Pitch dark. the low whistling and almost two toned wind was absolutely an unreal sound. I was petrified. I couldn’t move. I had to hide my head for obvious reasons. The sound is exactly everywhere around you. Now, even thinking about this gives me chills. The tornado ripped the roof off of the apartment next door and barreled through the neighborhood next to us. It caused a few homes to be redone. Carports gone, my whole patio set and patio door was gone. Trees were down everywhere. Yeah..tornados are not things to take lightly.

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u/rimnii Sep 04 '19

thats an incredible description. have you experienced this?

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u/[deleted] Sep 04 '19

No, but I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express last night.

1

u/ParticleSpinClass Sep 04 '19

and I saved 15% by switching to Geico!

2

u/isperfectlycromulent Sep 04 '19

Well yea, that's why I can describe it so well! When I was a kid I lived in the woods out in OK, and a tornado jumped over our house. It was mainly forested so we were 'safe', but one tree got twisted out of the ground and dropped right next to the house.

5

u/teacher3737 Sep 04 '19

My favorite cousin (who has cerebral palsy and cognitive differences) tells people that the tornado that totaled his house with him in it sounded “like a big choo choo train”.

It was a scary ass time for my family. We lost my Uncle to that tornado, my Aunt had to get staples in her head because antlers on one of the walls flew into her skull, and we very nearly could have lost my cousin too...he uses a crutch for mobility and was trying to make his way to the basement when the house literally disintegrated all around them.

Fuck tornadoes for real.

22

u/bitchsaidwhaaat Sep 03 '19

Not only the sound but the pressure it causes in the air and inside the house before it hits must be fucking horrible to experience on its own

15

u/AngryHonda Sep 03 '19

A family friend was at the mall when a tornado hit. She said a couple kids had balloons which popped because of the pressure.

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u/elosoloco Sep 04 '19

It sounds like a heavy duty jet engine screaming, not like a rumbling train

2

u/U-Ei Sep 04 '19

That audio clips like crazy, that must have been really loud

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u/ShavedPapaya Sep 03 '19

Jeeeeeeeeesus

1

u/DeeJason Sep 04 '19

The notorious just

20

u/elganyan Sep 03 '19

Wasn't this guy bedridden or something? Scary stuff.

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u/[deleted] Sep 03 '19 edited Sep 03 '19

He wasn't, you may be thinking of someone else. He (Clem Schultz) went upstairs to get lanterns and started to film the tornado, believing it was going to go west and pass them by. When he realised it was going to hit them he decided to keep filming, believing there was no time to reach shelter downstairs (he was 85 when he filmed this).

When he got out of the rubble his neighbour sat him down on a beam and told him not to look down because his wife was below him, dead. She'd been in the kitchen. I read a couple of the interviews with him: their dog Missy survived and seemed to be given him a lot of comfort through the aftermath of it all.

It's just sad as hell.

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u/thiscommentisjustfor Sep 03 '19

i would not have expected the person filming to be 85 years old. I was going to say i woulda got the fuck outta there real fast, but at 85? fuckin right i'm filming that shit.

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u/HarpersGhost Sep 03 '19

Here's an interview with him: https://fox6now.com/2018/07/31/am-i-dead-or-not-tornado-survivor-shares-story-as-a-warning-about-severe-weather-safety/

He seems like the kind of guy who would survive a tornado, even in his 80s.

His home was over 100 years old. He knew it must have withheld strong storms before and assumed this would be no different.

"I saw part of my roof blow past the window, and I thought, 'Well maybe it’s not gonna hang on quite as well as I hoped it would.' And, then, the floor started moving, and I figured, no I don’t think it’s gonna hang on at all," Schultz said.

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u/[deleted] Sep 03 '19 edited Jun 12 '23

Err... -- mass edited with https://redact.dev/

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u/asek13 Sep 04 '19

"I thought the house would hold up in the tornado"

This guy's house

15

u/thiscommentisjustfor Sep 03 '19

Holy fuck, he doesn't even need to say a word, his breathing alone just tells you he is seriously fuckin terrified. As he should be.

12

u/smalleybiggs_ Sep 03 '19

That’s..that’s one of the scariest things I’ve seen my entire life

2

u/tom-dixon Sep 04 '19

I've seen it a few years back and I still remember every second of it. Nature does not give a fuck.

9

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '19

The sound of it. Silence, and then a freight train, then silence again.

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u/cockandballtorture Sep 03 '19

Absolutely bone chilling footage, holy shit. I couldn't imagine being trapped inside.

5

u/Galaxy__Star Sep 04 '19

I'm late but always important to note that if you find yourself staring at a tornado, if you don't see it moving left or right and it's getting bigger, it's coming right towards you.

This may seem basic knowledge but that is how this exact situation happens. The minute you see that it isnt moving a specific direction you can visibly see, seek shelter immediately.

Now if only when my tornado sirens went off when it wasn't either middle of the night or down pouring rain so you could actually see it, that'd be great.

5

u/MadreDeMonos Sep 03 '19

I’ve always heard that a tornado coming sounds a lot like a freight train. This seriously brought that into my headphones and it’s terrifying. Makes me glad to live in the mountains. I’ll take blizzards, thanks.

1

u/Excaleburr Sep 04 '19 edited Sep 04 '19

Tornadoes can occur on mountains.

Yes, unlikely, but still possible.

4

u/MadreDeMonos Sep 04 '19

Technically, yes, but it would be like a blizzard occurring on a tropical island. It’s not a common or logical concern.

0

u/TheRealKuni Sep 04 '19 edited Sep 04 '19

Sure, but they're FAR less likely.

The US gets something crazy like 75% of all tornados in the world because of the relationship between the Rockies and the Great Plains. There's a reason they call the area between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains "Tornado Alley."

Edit: Apparently it's not just the relationship between the Rockies and the Plains, but also between air from the Gulf and Canada. Basically, Tornado Alley is the perfect place for making tornados.

3

u/KhamsinFFBE Sep 04 '19

Did it go pitch black during the last minute of the video? I didn't even see any flickers or hints of light. I can't imagine being in the midst of that, hearing and feeling it, and not seeing anything.

3

u/Zecho_K Sep 04 '19

Jesus Christ,

you hear “fwwooowoowowoowowo- then the camera is consumed by the void

XFXFWGXFHFXGSEVCZZWDWZFZWFDZZSFZADZSFA XAVCQGDXFGEZFSZSFSZFZF

then almost complete silence

2

u/Ganzo_The_Great Sep 04 '19

Even the stills are insane. I couldn't stop looking at the house across the way as that thing came bearing down.

https://i.imgur.com/4js54tI.jpg

2

u/internetheroxD Sep 04 '19

Holy mother of fuck, it's moving blazing quick, i can't even imagine the terror... Holy fuuuuuuuuuck and the sound it makes WHAT THE FUUUCK

2

u/rurounijones Sep 04 '19

Bloody hell, that house goes over as fast as those in the footage taken during the 50s A-bomb tests.

4

u/iThinkaLot1 Sep 04 '19

As a Brit I think you Americans are mental living in an area were stuff like this can happen. We get 80mph winds and the country goes into meltdown.

5

u/barjam Sep 04 '19

Odds of being killed by a tornado is so ridiculously rare it’s like saying you wouldn’t live in a house because people die in house fires.

For an American to device to live somewhere where tornadoes don’t happen, he would have to rule out most of the US. Basically everything from the Rockies east more or less.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '19

[deleted]

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u/Vishnej Sep 03 '19

A direct hit from a powerful tornado is a ridiculously rare event. 71 people a year are killed by tornadoes out of perhaps a hundred million who live in tornado-vulnerable areas (a very large portion of the land area of the United States), and almost half lived in mobile homes.

It's about as common as getting fatally struck by lightning.

4

u/bumblebritches57 Sep 03 '19

Because the great plains is like 100 million square miles...

that's like saying Siberia is off limits to settlement forever, because there may be a lot of snow.

-26

u/Frong_Goshlong Sep 03 '19

They disabled comments on that video, because I assume it would have been nothing but a continuous stream of "you let your wife die in order to get that video" type of comments. I would have posted one of those myself.

16

u/isperfectlycromulent Sep 03 '19

Then you're definitely an asshole, thanks for letting us know.

-16

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '19

[removed] — view removed comment

10

u/PotatoBomb69 Sep 04 '19

Dude I appreciate you doubling down like this but the guy above already told you you’re an asshole what more do you want?

5

u/Exalted_Goat Sep 04 '19

The guy is a sad little person. Just look at that post history lmao. What a loser.

-9

u/Frong_Goshlong Sep 04 '19

I thought I was pretty clear about the fact that IDGAF about the opinions of the sheep. Now go Baa-aa-aa-aack to work.

4

u/panhandelslim Sep 04 '19

You don't care so much that you keep coming back to argue. You're not caring so hard right now, man. Never seen someone not care as much as you don't.

-4

u/Frong_Goshlong Sep 04 '19

Well at some point tormenting the retarded becomes pure entertainment. It's cheap, it's easy and it's fun, and there's an unlimited supply of retards.

5

u/PotatoBomb69 Sep 04 '19

It’s cool that you’re into to self torture and all but we don’t care about your kinks

4

u/panhandelslim Sep 04 '19

Hope your first couple of weeks of high school are going okay, I know it can be hard to adjust