A small drone shows a tornado in Kansas like you’ve never seen before.
Kansas, famous for its tornadoes since the Wizard of Oz, is no stranger to the devastation caused by the meteorological phenomena. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen drone footage of a tornado quite like this before with large houses pulled right out of the ground and thrown hundreds of feet into the air shown as clear and steady as a Hollywood film…
Drone Tornado Footage from Kansas
The footage comes to us via Reed Timmer, a Drone/Tornado chaser who describes himself as an extreme meteorologist who covers up-close footage of tornadoes, hurricanes/tropical cyclones, winter storms, and other phenomena of extreme nature.
Video updates on the science mission of the Dominator Team are also featured here, while intercepting tornadoes and hurricanes by tank-like armored vehicle and launching trackable meteorological sensors into their strongest winds. Live storm chasing video will also be posted during periods of active severe weather, hurricane landfalls, and even major winter storms, depending on the season.
What’s amazing is that the footage is fascinating, and at the same time, the devastation is so horrifying. What drone was the Dominator team using to film this footage? Was it a $10,000 pro setup? No, it appears they went with the tiny DJI Mavic Air 2?!
Another drone flyer, Zach Peterson, flew his DJI Drone over some of the horrifying destruction aftermath. Below is the YMCA you can see in the background of the original shot:
Other videos show houses torn from their foundations while just a half a block over, other houses look untouched. More here
No lives lost
While the damage is significant, thankfully Kansans know how to deal with tornados and somehow only a few minor injuries were reported, according to the Wichita Eagle:
At midnight, emergency officials talked of “very bad damage” but said they knew of only a few people who had been injured when a tornado barreled through parts of southeast Wichita and Andover on Friday evening.
They asked that people stay away from damaged areas because of downed power lines. More than 6,500 people were without power early Saturday.
Three people in southeast Sedgwick County were injured, one seriously, officials said at a televised news conference. Five people, including two firefighters, had been treated by Butler County EMS for cuts, scratches and falls. One had been taken to the hospital in good condition.
Scott Stueven, deputy chief of Butler County EMS, said the agency was still getting calls for service.
The National Weather Service rated the Andover tornado preliminary damage assessment of EF-3 (Sedgwick and Butler County tornado) with 136 mph to 165 mph winds. According to the local Energy outage map, only 900 homes are still currently without power directly as of this writing, less than 24 hours later.
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