Storm chaser says his tornado experience Sunday will be his last
theweathernetwork.com
Tuesday, April 29, 2014, 11:22 AM -
New storm chaser video shows what it's like to be trapped inside a deadly tornado.
The man who recorded the video now says his storm chasing days are done.
TORNADO ADVICE: Avoid the instinct to help
"My ears are popping, we're in it , we're in the tornado right now."
Cotton Rohrscheib and his storm chasing team drove right into the tornado in Mayflower, Arkansas on Sunday. He says he still can't believe he's alive to talk about it today.
"That was as bad a tornado, as I've ever seen…"
Within seconds, it was too late. Rohrscheib was trapped and everything went dark around him.
In Knoxville, waiting on the Tornado... #arwx pic.twitter.com/WYbGQzXphW
— Cotton Rohrscheib (@cottonr) April 27, 2014
LIVING THROUGH A TORNADO OUTBREAK: Weather Network Meteorologist Doug Gillham recalls one of the biggest tornado outbreaks in American history
"The storm was coming from that direction and I just put it in reverses and stepped on it, and as we were coming back the storm picked us up and turned us sideways and of course we were ducked down into the vehicle holding on and praying...It went completely black. If you look at the video, there was nothing we could do," he says. "It was on us before we realized it."
Rohrscheib has been chasing tornadoes for three years, but what he witnessed and survived Sunday night proved to be too much.
"We heard kids crying, we heard someone getting out of the car saying my kid's hurt," he recalled.
Rohrscheib says he is done chasing storms.
"I've got a 2 year old son and a wife and they mean the world to me. And I guess God showed us last night he's got a purpose for us in this life and storm chasing is not it."
I'm on my way home to kiss my family! #fb
— Cotton Rohrscheib (@cottonr) April 28, 2014
The storm system that unleashed the chain of deadly tornadoes in parts of the U.S Midwest and the South continues to move eastward.
Officials say the overall death toll from the past two days is at least 28, with 11 killed Monday and 17 Sunday in a band of storms stretching from Oklahoma to Alabama.
