Posted on 06/08/2011 5:43:04 PM PDT by libertarian27
Ryan Donovan knows what everyone else with a daily commute out of Springfield knows well.
If you're just a few minutes behind schedule, you might as well not even try the South End bridge. The way traffic jams from Columbus Ave onto the bridge and moves slowly off to Route 5 or the Agawam rotary, you're much better off heading to the Memorial Ave bridge and taking your chances there.
That is, unless an F-3 tornado is barreling down that stretch of Route 5 and heading directly for the bridge. Donovan, a 25-year-old chemist from Westfield, learned that lesson the hard way but was miraculously spared injury last Wednesday when the now infamous tornado washed over him and his 2003 Ford Escape XLT. He actually has the video to prove it.
"I was running a little late and normally take the south end bridge," he said. "I decided to take Route 5 north and came over the Memorial Bridge and saw the funnel cloud developing in West Springfield."
(Excerpt) Read more at masslive.com ...
His direct YouTube link to his video - Amazing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkWuz-1sb58&feature=feedlik
Holy Moley!
That last 20 seconds are frightening. That tornado looked like the Martians in the War of the Worlds remake coming over the trees!
home viewing bkmk.
Wasn’t it!
This is the first video I’ve seen of this tornado coming directly at and over/through someone - amazing stuff, apparently he only received one scratch on his person - I don’t think his car made it.....
This tornado cell took a 39 mile swath across Massachusetts.
Our very own Freeper, kickstart, was stuck in traffic on I91 north as the tornado passed over his truck.
Cracked windshield, a few dents and scratches.
Amazing indeed!
watch at home reminder
Wow!
I'd have been curdling the air with invective, interspersed with prayers for forgiveness in latin, english and hebrew, and later, changed my pants.
/johnny
I’ll bet Ryan was glad he decided against buying the Smart car.
ping
I was thinking the same thing. At a bare minimum there would have been at least one “oh, s&#t!” when I saw it was coming straight at me.
I think I heard a faint S-word when he got into his car - lol
I wouldn’t have that much composure - if it was me I’d have to dub the whole video with music instead :>)
I'm pretty sure my audio would not be fit for children, women or sober sailors either.
LOL
self bump
You need to have a good lateral view of any tornado; they sometimes have multiple votices rotating about a common center. Also the "wind wall" extends out much farther laterally than is indicted by the "dust pick-up cloud" in the center. While he was focused on the dust/debris pickup, the windwall came in from the left and whacked him...
To get a look at the lateral "reach" of that same tornado, look at this YouTube video of it as it crossed the Connecticut River (and hit two bridges). Notice how it pulls the surface water into itself (starting to form a waterspout) and how far up and down the river it reaches out and disturbs the water as it crosses diagonally. (The video appears to have been made from a "towercam" atop a building high up on the east bank...)
I haven't georeferenced this video to a map, but Donovan was probably somewhere on the far bank of the river somewhere near the bridge on the right in this video. I sure wouldn't have wanted to be on either of those two bridges!!
See what I mean about the danger of developing "tunnel vision" as a tornado is approaching...?
Wow! That funnel sucked the water up right down to the exposing the river bottom! Imagine how far away fish were falling as that monster dissipated.
Kickstart! You made it! Yikes.
FWIW, look how the winds "reach under" the second bridge. That may give you an idea why experts now do not advise "taking shelter" under a bridge or overpass...
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