On January 24th, a powerful tornado struck the Houston, Texas area, leaving a path of destruction in its wake. Irma Cantu and her daughter were caught in the storm when they picked up her 18-year-old grandson from school. Dashcam footage of the incident captured Cantu’s close encounter with the tornado as they rode out the storm in their SUV.
“I looked around, there was nowhere that we could go,” Cantu said in an interview with the local station KHOU. “So I just put my car in park, I put the emergency brake on.”
The dashcam showed intense rain, wind, and debris flying by on the other side of the windshield. Cantu said that she could feel objects hitting her car repeatedly, but she was able to remain calm despite the terrifying situation. Her daughter began to pray as the tornado got closer and the footage got darker and noisier as the wind picked up.
“I could feel objects hitting my car repeatedly,” she said. “It was terrifying.”
The Cantu family was thankfully uninjured, but the tornado did cause significant damage to their SUV. Footage after the storm showed the car with dents and broken windows, a reminder of the family’s close encounter with the tornado.
The tornado left an 18-mile path of destruction across the Houston metro area, from Pasadena to Deer Park, Baytown, and beyond. The National Weather Service reported that it caused “catastrophic damage” in the area.
Luckily, Irma Cantu and her family were unharmed and their vehicle was able to protect them from the storm. Still, it is a reminder of the power of extreme weather and the importance of being prepared.
“I guess you’re either going to panic or you’re not,” Cantu said of being able to stay calm. “No matter what happened, I knew we would be okay, regardless of what did happen.”
In an interview after the incident, Cantu said that if she were ever caught in another tornado, she would listen to the tornado warnings and not leave the house.
