Earlier this month in Horsham, Pennsylvania a truck driver’s dashcam caught footage of an accident involving a tornado. The driver’s semi-truck is flipped on its side by a massive tornado. The other vehicles in the video seem to have gone completely unaffected and got away safely. As you might’ve imagined, this video is sweeping the internet. After all, it’s not every day you see a semi-truck flipped sideways by a tornado.

The driver posted the video to YouTube and states in the description that the van driving in front of him is who pulled him out of his truck. The video starts with the truck approaching a traffic light with a van driving in front of it. There are obviously very heavy winds and rain but not much of a sign of a tornado just yet. Within a few seconds, what looks like a massive swirl of wind begins to appear in front of the truck.

A semi-truck flip

Eventually, the truck shakes and moves until it tips completely over. The driver appears on the dashcam after the vehicle flips. He, fortunately, went completely unharmed in the incident. With the low visibility and intense winds, it’s amazing any driver could tell what was going on. It seemed like the other driver had already left the area, though it is very difficult to see. The other driver turned around to help the trucker get out of the overturned semi.

A tree and traffic light topple over just before the truck takes its tumble. The devastation left in the wake of a tornado is unmatched. Drivers are encouraged to heed warnings whenever possible. The person who posted the video encouraged people to take tornado warnings seriously regardless of their location. Just because you aren’t living in an area that usually gets tornadoes does not mean you won’t see one.

Take warnings seriously

These recent events are a perfect example of what the driver is saying. New Jersey is not known for having tornadoes but has had 13 in 2021, its most since 1989 according to ONJSC @ Rutgers. As for this incident, nearby in Pennsylvania, 19 tornadoes have hit in 2021 which is three over the yearly average. These 19 tornadoes hit by September of this year, so there’s still time for more. Though uncommon events might seem silly to hide from, the destruction they cause is far too significant to take the risk. The location of the home destruction pictured above is only a 56-minute drive from the town where the video took place. The two events happened during the same storm.

Was this preventable?

Some users suggested that the driver may have been able to prevent a complete flip by turning the truck to one side in an “L” shape. Surely there are variables that could change the answer to this, such as the haul in the truck, or if it’s completely empty. If the tornado is powerful enough, we’re not sure anything would make a difference. The driver responded on YouTube to one of these suggestions saying he has lost sleep wondering what he could’ve done to prevent it.

Thankfully no one was hurt and the amount of property damage is unknown. Depending on what the trucker is carrying in the video, it could’ve been a costly spill. The video is only a minute long but truly captures an up-close and personal view of a deadly tornado. This type of destruction out on a road near what looks like a gas station and a parking lot is much better than if it were ripping through a residential area. The semi-truck flipped sideways by a tornado caused no injuries thankfully, but the video displays the damage a tornado can cause. If it can flip a semi-truck, what can it do to other vehicles and structures?