Chasers Hit By Multi-Vortex Tornado in S. Central Nebraska!!
At 7:45 P.M. CDT or 0045 UTC, David Drummond reports being hit by a multi-vortex tornado on the tornado-warned storm that is just southeast of Hastings, Nebraska in Clay County, Nebraska. With thanks to God, they appear to be o.k. physically with David's vehicle suffering significant damage! According to David, his van has several windows blown out and it appears that the weather station gear that was on top of his vehicle has been blown off or severely damaged also. Dave was stopped on the side of the road talking to a volunteer fireman who was in a fire truck when the storm developed suddenly. Upon noticing that a tornado was developing, David punched the accelerator and blasted east to try to get away from the circulation(s). Before they could get too far from the developing tornado, his van was struck by a circulation and that is when the damage occurred. David thinks that he saw in his mirror as they were pulling away from the fireman, the firetruck get rolled over by the tornado but he is not 100 percent sure that is the case. They have not been able to turn around and go back to check on the fireman because they are trying to still get away from the tornado which is now a full blown funnel-tornado. I have just gotten back in touch with Dave at 8:10 and called the Hastings NWS Forecast Office and asked them to copntact authorities in Clay County to see about checking on the fireman who might have had his vehicle rolled. The incident happened on Nebraska State Highway 74 just southwest of the town Clay Center, west of Nebraska State Highway 14.
David had come upon the fireman and they both stopped to talk about large trees that were blown down in the road on Highway 74. As they were talking the multi-vortex circulation developed on top of them. David's annometer measured wind speeds up to 117 MPH while standing still. More updates soon. Tom Tackett---Ft. Worth, TX 8:25 PM.
