FOUR FORKS, La. – From watching a tornado roll a truck back in March to capturing a massive tornado in Louisiana Tuesday evening, storm chaser Brian Emfinger is no stranger to capturing insane tornado videos.
Dozens of tornado warnings were issued Tuesday as a strong system spawned several tornadoes from Texas to Louisiana.
Emfinger followed at least one of the storms this evening that produced a tornado that moved through Four Forks, Louisiana.
He says he was able to capture the moments the tornado started to form until it dissipated.
And it was all captured on his drone.
“I was flying it in the path of the tornado,” Emfinger said about his drone. “There’s a sweet spot right in front of the hook.”
He could barely see the storm from his vantage point inside his car.
“It was just trees everywhere,” Emfinger said.
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Once he knew the tornado was imminent, he put his drone into the air.
“When I’m flying a drone around a tornado, which I’ve done many times,” Emfinger explained. “There’s a good chance I’m going to lose it. But this time, I did not.”
He watched as the tornado spun for 10 minutes.
While the tornado hit a small town, he said it could have been much worse.
“That storm was on a track to Shreveport,” he explained. “So, I was worried there for a little while.”
Emfinger went to help search and rescue efforts where the tornado struck.
“The homes have been completely blown away,” he said. “Which really made my heart sink.”
Debris from the mobile homes was littered along the streets of the Louisiana town.
And with nights like these, Emfinger says that getting to your safe spot is crucial.
“It does not take a very strong tornado to do major damage to mobile homes. And that’s, you know, that’s why we tell everybody, you know, do not try to ride it out in a mobile home.”