In an effort to fulfill his dream of chasing tornadoes, Mark Monis of Gaithersburg, Maryland captures the powerful storm on his phone from his car, risking his life. News4’s Jackie Bensen reports.
A man decided to skip watching Wednesday's storm from his home to drive out in the middle of it to pursue his dream of being a tornado chaser.
Resident Mark Monis saw the storm happen in real-time while filming from his car in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
"I had this dream of chasing tornadoes when I was younger and I took this opportunity," Monis said.
He said he was watching Storm Team4's Doug Kammerer when the meteorologist said the tornado would be near Gaithersburg High School. That's when he decided to go out and see the tornado for himself.
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Monis was near the intersection of South Frederick Avenue and South Summit Avenue when he saw trees shaking while branches started hitting his car, describing the scene as "earth-shaking."
In the video, the skies are dark and you can hear the debris hitting his car.
While filming, Monis said he saw what he thought was a power transformer blowout.
"You see all the debris flying up in the air and I was like, this is probably it right here," Monis said.
Monis said that the situation could have been worse.
"Thank God it was probably just an F0 or F1," Monis said.
Monis said that if the tornado was stronger, it probably would've picked up his truck and he "probably would have been dead."
