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WATCH: Texas Tornado Spins Pickup Like a Toy, Truck Drives Away After

Call it Twister, the Sequel. A tornado in Texas picked up a red pickup truck and spun it like a top, then flipped it back upright. It looked like something designed by Hollywood special effects.

But the scene definitely wasn’t CGI. In fact, you can call this a miracle. The young man driving the truck drove away from the scene, although he did receive help from another trailing storm chaser.

Details: Texas Tornado Flips Truck

  • Funnel cloud picked up a Ford F-150 and spun it like a top.
  • This happened Monday as tornado knifed through Elgin, east of Austin.
  • Young driver was shaken up, but not hurt.
  • Storm triggered numerous tornadoes as system swept the state.

Check out this video from Brian Emfinger. He captioned it: “Omg… just going thru my video. This is a story about a red truck and a tornado…. I CANNOT believe they drove away like that. #txwx #tornado

As you can see from the video, the tornado swept across a rural highway. You’ll notice sparks flying as the funnel clipped electrical lines. And there’s also the signature debris field. But wait, through all that mess, a red Ford F-150 is trying to drive through it.

Marcus Reynolds, another photographer chasing the funnel, was driving behind Emfinger. He tweeted that he helped the driver. Some weather fans assumed the red truck picked up by the tornado was manned by a storm chaser. That wasn’t the case, Reynolds said: “I wish it was one of us, he was about 17 and other than being completely shaken up he got away with just a cut on his arm.”

Tornadoes, Severe Storms Churned Through Texas

The tornado picked up the truck near Elgin, Texas. That’s a town of 10,000 about a 30-mile drive from Austin. The National Weather Service sent meteorologists to Central Texas, Tuesday, to determine how many tornadoes touched down. There were at least a dozen reports of funnel clouds touching down and causing damage. Severe thunderstorms also rocked a chunk of the state. Lightning struck Kyle Field in College Station. That’s the massive Texas A&M football stadium.

The tornados ripped through Texas Monday afternoon. A cold front coming out of the Rockies slammed into a low-pressure system pulling moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. Conditions were perfect to spawn multiple funnel clouds.

Round Rock, an Austin suburb of 100,000 people, seemed to be hardest hit. A funnel touched down near the intersection of two major roads — an interstate and a tollway. The highway was packed with people headed home from work. The tornado flipped an 18-wheeler, pushed over a light pole, then threaded its way through a neighborhood. Another tornado was spotted just east of where the first one touched down. It could have been the same funnel called a “long track tornado.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 16 counties that suffered extensive damage. Abbott issued the declaration while he was touring the aftermath of a tornado that smashed Jacksboro, a small town near Fort Worth. Abbott described the damage he saw as “horrific.”

When day broke in Elgin, more than 75 percent of the town still didn’t have electricity.

Meanwhile, the storm continued its trek eastward across the southern portion of the country.