Glad youre okay buddy.
PM me your address and this brand spankin new BCM hat is all yours. Came with my Kino and I dont wear hats.
Amazing (and terrifying) photos and video. Glad you and your families are OK.
Thanks everyone. It has been an intense few days to say the least. The rescue and relief effort has been great. I have seen police from every corner of the state. Electric company trucks with out of state tags, volunteers coming in with Virginia plates. You get the point.
Trident feel free to use the photo. But if you post it anywhere else just give me credit if you don’t mind. It really has become very popular because of CNN using it. I didn’t think it was that great at first. But I guess that is because I was there and the photo pales in comparison to seeing it.
For anyone wondering this ended up being a EF-4 on with winds of 175-180mph.
Here are a couple more photos of the town.
This is the gas station where I normally went. Knew the guy who worked 3rd shift there pretty well since I stopped in a lot. They also had a subway in there where I would grab lunch sometimes. Locally owned by an Indian family. Good people. Thankfully they all are ok.
For the record the semi trailer and bus were not always in the building. 
This is also the gas station. But see that empty space on the right where there are just some stripped trees. There used to be a huge white farmhouse there. Beautiful place. I always wanted it. Now it is a hole.
Finally this is a small restaurant across from the school. You have probably seen this one on TV. Like the gas station, this didn’t used to have a bus in it either.
(This is not my photo)
ETA:
Here is the school. Not my photo either but I wanted you all to see the damage.
No doubt pal, I just clicked over it and hit " set as desktop background ". I just wanted to stare at it for a day or so. Ive honestly looked at tons of google images for tornadoes, and your pic is certainly one of the most captivating ones I’ve ever seen…in large part because it appears to be spawning in full strength right over your head.
It’s like the mothership formation spawned it out right on top of your position.
Well wishes for all those affected by this large outbreak, and thanks for sharing your pics and story with us all.
ETA: I was uploading a youtube video when I was reading this earlier and just now got to watch your video…WOW!!!
Glad you guys are ok.
Amazing pics and vid.
Prayers sent for you and all others affected by this tragedy.
I used to live south of you. We saw some bad weather at times, but nothing like what you experienced.
Holy hell in a hand basket! :eek:
Glad to hear your hat didn’t take you with it.
Holy!! Glad you and yours are ok kwels. I can relate to what you are going through. Same thing happened to us in Fayetteville last year. Clean up was a pain and my 1sg and CO let me take some leave to help the folks out. The guys at Grey Group were doing doing security patrols with the police to keep looting away.
I’ll say this too. If you find yourself needing help and want to put me up I’ll come down and give you guys a hand. Great job on the interview btw I think you sounded alot better than the “this is what the tornado sounded like” folks you see sometimes.
as shitty of a situation it is… I’ve never met anyone in life that’s ever been anywhere near that close to a tornado… much less one that is forming right above them… and even much much more less be able to video the entire thing…
consider it something in life that however tragic, is still a wonder to behold
watch the film “Take Shelter”… very good flilm
you’re not by chance in the middle of a divorce from Helen Hunt are you?..should we call you Bill?
WOW amazing story for sure !!!
have to say Hats off to you 
pun intended for checking on your neighbors !!! dude that is the stuff that sadly does not seem to happen as much anymore and for you to do that shows their are great people out their still !!!
bummer about the house hope insurance covers it ? glad you are still here
Do you need anything?
I’m glad to hear that you and yours are OK.
RIP to the victims of this last storm 
Thanks again everyone. I don’t really need anything at this point. I am a bit worried about covering my insurance deductible but that is a minor thing for later. The town as a whole however needs a lot of help. The Red cross has been taking collections of money and items so anyone close that feel like helping can go that route.
Last night to add insult to injury we got about an inch of snow. Not enough to be a real problem normally but enough to really screw with cleanup and recovery.
Here are some photos of my house.
Most of the damage has been covered but this is some you can still see.
This is one of the holes in my roof. You could drop a golf ball through the hole and onto the insulation between the joists. There are about a dozen of these and about double that in holes that only splintered the wood underneath.
This one just shows how cleanly it was breaking the shingles.
And this is some of the siding of my house.
This part isn’t too bad but I have tarps over the rest. 3 sides of my house look like this.
Kevin, you are a crazy man!
I’m glad to see you made it out OK.
I hope your community rebuilds and gets back on it’s feet in short order.
I’m glad you’re OK, and survived the experience intact (sans hat). I’ve chased three tornadoes in my life, and wouldn’t mind chasing more… but it’s a lot DIFFERENT, than when they’re chasing YOU through your own neighborhood!
My sister, in se TN, had 4 pass within a few miles of her that same day. VERY hair-raising for her, since they just moved there before Christmas! :eek:
great video, Kwelz, and am so glad you made it through. I take it you’re heavy in the clean up?
What region does she live. We had several pass near us. The town where I do ride-alongs with local PD had one pass south of it. Apparently, the tornado traveled across three counties. No fatalities though. Can’t say the same for Cumberland county.
I’ll echo everything else that everyone’s already said and add:
Way to go rocking Noveske on CNN! I bet they had no idea what your hat even meant.
Where was it filmed at? I’m assuming they meant to have the schoolbus in the background…
neat story…no doubt we all turn our noses at mother nature only to get sucker punched.
Growing up along the coast as a kid, I remember big groups of my folks friends having hurricane parties and just rolling with it. Looking back, we had a blast & it gave me a meh attitude towards them…especially being a little inwards and not having to worry about a direct storm surge. It’s those tornados in the cells that scare me more than anything now that I’m grown.
Only advice I can give someone with advance notice to an incoming storm is to get the wife & kids OUT…there is nothing worse than being w/out electricity for 3 days & listening to nagging that is out of your control. I have a generator that will run everything accept the AC…told them next storm they are all driving to my sister’s upstate or I will start kicking people in the taint if they complain about no electricity.
GTF over it and STFU or leave the house…I will never put myself through that torture ever again.
I was in front of the restaurant across from the school. If you look up at some of the photos I posted you will see it. The bus is sticking out of the restaurants front. That bus was originally parked in front of the main part of the school. about 50-75 yards away from where it landed.