A tornado is a wind storm which spins and twists violently in the air, causing a lot of damage to anything in its path.
Its destructive nature means it can easily destroy large buildings, uproot trees and hurl cars into the air.
For the majority of us, that’s as much as we’re ever going to need to know about a tornado – as well as everything we learnt from the iconic film Twister of course.
But for some people, like the unfortunate woman in this terrifying footage, the situation becomes all too real when they find themselves stuck in the middle of a tornado’s path.
You can watch the terrifying footage here:
The woman, Kasandra Parker from Gatineau, Canada, can be heard screaming throughout the 25 second long video, clearly terrified of what is happening both outside and inside her car.
And I’m not surprised – by the looks of things, the trees are struggling to stay rooted in the ground and debris is flying into her car windows.
Her car looks as though it’s struggling to fight against the power of the wind and then her side window smashes due to the storm’s force, destroying her one defensive shield.
By any stretch of the imagination, I think it’s fair to say that she’s very lucky to have escaped without any life-threatening injuries.
Kasandra posted the shocking video on Facebook shortly after the incident occurred and it quickly went viral, having 5.9K likes, 49K shares and 2.5M views at the time of writing (September 25).
A lot of people expressed their shock at what had happened, wishing her well:
Oh my goodness. I hope your ok.
Are you all right???
I hope you weren’t hurt and all your loved one were safe
Whilst others berated her for filming at all:
Why the crying and screaming yet able to aim camera phone on lap full of glass….never mind getting fb vid get your stupid head down….jeeesuzzzzz
The tornado struck on the afternoon of Friday September 21, affecting the areas of Kinburn, Dunrobin and Gatineau.
Environment and Climate Change Canada issued a statement stating that the storm had wind speeds of up to 265 kilometres per hour.
They said:
This tornado damaged or destroyed numerous buildings, overturned vehicles and snapped many trees and hydro poles.
There were also reports of multiple injuries including several people that were critically injured.
And this isn’t the only tornado to hit Canada this year – or even this month. According to The Weather Network, Canada is one of the most tornado prone countries in the world.
In fact, on the very same afternoon another tornado occurred in Ottawa, again damaging buildings and producing wind speeds of 220kph.
People affected by the tornadoes have taken to Twitter, using the hashtag #onstorm to update their followers.
One person wrote:
In the middle of this. Ottawa hit hard by one or more tornados. Emergency vehicles onsite. Crazy weather. Am parked and safe. Hope everyone else is too. #ottweather #Tornado #Ottawa #CTV
Whilst another showed the damage done to her mother’s neighbourhood:
Photos that my mom took of the tornado damage in Dunrobin #onstorm #ottweather #Ottawa
Power has now been restored to the areas affected but the cleanup has only just started, with the Red Cross stating that more than 1,500 people have registered following the tornadoes.
Hopefully the towns will be able to get back on their feet soon, and I hope everyone affected makes a full recovery.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).