In a heart-stopping video, a train conductor and his engineer get caught in a tornado's path as it ravaged parts of Nebraska over the weekend. The video, shared by ViralHog, was filmed by a 27-year-old conductor while he waited for signal clearance on April 26.
In the three-minute video, you can see the tornado off in the distance. There are a few fields and a road with cars driving on it in between the tornado and the train.
Throughout most of the video, you can see the tornado growing in size as the funnel expands and it gets closer to the train. An ominous dark cloud hovers around it mid-funnel.
"Oh, shit," said the cameraman at the two-minute mark as the tornado begins crossing the road. "It just took that building out," the engineer said.
With the grey twister closing the gap, the wind begins to push the trees and throw debris. "Um, should we get away from the windows?" the engineer asks. Then, debris starts hitting the cab. "Oh shit," the conductor says and ducks inside the cab. "Take cover," says the engineer as the train gets pelted with flying debris.
At the 2-minute 26-second mark, the tornado towers over the train engine. "It's right over us. Hold on," says the conductor. Noise from debris hitting the train gets louder and dirt gathers all over the windows.
Then, the camera gets pointed to the ground as the conductor holds on to a rail for safety. After about 15 seconds or so, he looks up and the windows are cracked and covered in dirt and one of them is even shattered.
After the tornado passes, the conductor says, "I'm sure it knocked a car over," as he opens one of the windows. "Let me see," he says. "We got trees and everything else behind us."
According to reports, tornados hit multiple areas throughout Nebraska and other states over the weekend. The National Weather Service classified them as EF3 tornadoes, meaning winds reached speeds as fast as 168 miles per hour.
In the end, according to the video's caption, the tornado derailed and knocked over 31 train cars, but both the conductor and the engineer were unharmed.
