This Tornado Had The Power Of 8 Atomic Bombs & All Of It Was Caught On Camera

Added: 2026-05-16

[00:00:04]What's up, guys? It's your boy Zwoki back out with another, of course, scary, terrifying, and creepy video. But this one instead, it's not going to be creepy. It's going to be terrifying.

[00:00:13]It's going to be absolute terror and scariness because people don't like tornadoes. And we are in pretty much prime tornado season between now and pretty much September time frame. Well, at least where I'm at. But we're going to be watching 39 of the uh minutes of terror with the strongest and deadliest tornadoes in history from the Underworld channel. So, grab a chair, grab some popcorn, and don't forget to also subscribe to my YouTube channel by hitting that whiteboard icon that says subscribe, of course. Please hit the bell icon next to it so when I do post videos like this one, you guys will get that little ring notification that I've posted that video and then you guys can watch, comment, like, and share. And again, thank you so very much for the love and support that you guys do show on my channel. And then show that same love over at the underworld channel.

[00:01:02]He's getting closer to 2 million. And of course, we are on our way still to getting to 100K. So tell your friends and tell your family. But let's get into the scares.

[00:01:13]Speeds upwards of 210 mph.

[00:01:16]>> 272 above our heads to the right. The raw destructive power of 600 atomic bombs.

[00:01:23]>> Kind of. You're not going to believe what I'm seeing. And I'm just >> a stormchaser desperate to reach his family.

[00:01:29]>> Mom, take cover now. Take cover now.

[00:01:31]There's a big There's a large tornado coming towards you. Go get in the cellar. GO GET IN THE CELLAR. IT'S GOING THROUGH MY TOWN, MAN.

[00:01:40]>> On May 3rd of 1999, a powerful EF5 tornado nearly destroyed the city of Moore, Oklahoma. 14 years later, history repeated itself. This is the story of the two, >> not the Jack in the Box, >> 2013 Moore tornado and the brave souls who chased it. From on duty police officers and local stormchasers to those caught in the middle there. This is an EF what they say, EF5. I think we had an EF one or two like a month and a half ago. Um, you guys, I had it on my live if you guys want to take a look at that.

[00:02:16]But this is a doozy.

[00:02:18]>> Air footage helped document one of the most destructive EF5 tornadoes in American history.

[00:02:28]It began shortly after lunchtime on May 20th of 2013 when the Storm Prediction Center placed 2/3 of Oklahoma under tornado watch. They'd been tracking a storm network for several days that was capable of forming tornadoes and dropping baseball-sized hailstones on the area. Locals were advised to keep their eyes on the weather forecast and be ready to act at a moment's notice. A local stormchaser named Michael Lynn was parked outside of the Halo Animal Hospital on 32nd Street in Newcastle, Oklahoma. His handheld camera was rolling as the storm developed to the east near the Newcastle Casino.

[00:03:05]Meanwhile, and it wasn't this, it was one of those big huge DINOSAUR THING. OH MY GOSH.

[00:03:14]>> His car radio kept him up to date with all the latest information.

[00:03:17]>> Let's talk to Reed Timmer. We got to get an update to the folks down south. Reed, tell us what you see. Where are you?

[00:03:23]>> Hey, right now we are in Bradley, Oklahoma. We can stop the radio. Uh we can see the north side of it right now.

[00:03:31]possibly some war on south and gain visible. We're still north of very mature super.

[00:03:40]>> Despite warnings to seek shelter, Michael began driving toward the heart of the storm.

[00:03:52]>> People see dark clouds like this and hunker down.

[00:03:56]>> This guy's like, I'm going in.

[00:03:59]Get out of the way.

[00:04:00]>> Yeah.

[00:04:02]>> Yeah.

[00:04:03]>> I have to go that way. I have to go that way.

[00:04:07]>> Fire trucks and radio warnings weren't about to stop him. He wants to chase the storm, but he also needs to get home to protect his family. Meanwhile, the twister is preparing to touch down beyond the tree line. Let's just say Michael was in the right place at the right time.

[00:04:23]>> Okay, I got a tornado on the ground. We have a tornado on the ground. I'm southwest. I am west of Oklahoma City.

[00:04:33]>> We've got this thing on the ground. It's going towards Newcastle right now.

[00:04:37]>> I am all over it. I've got video of it.

[00:04:40]>> Uh this thing's going in towards >> This thing's going in towards more.

[00:04:47]>> Yeah, it's on the ground. I've got it on the ground. I was going to say it's got a rope on the bottom of it.

[00:04:55]>> Yep. There it goes.

[00:04:56]Yeah, we got a major tornado on the ground.

[00:05:00]>> Uh they're saying that Newcastle Casino is on target. They are absolutely right.

[00:05:06]This thing is on target for Newcastle Casino. Okay, we've got damage. We've got damage.

[00:05:15]>> Okay, I'm watching you.

[00:05:16]>> Oh my god. We got damage.

[00:05:19]>> Yeah, I'm all over this.

[00:05:21]>> We got power flashes. We got a major major tornado.

[00:05:26]>> Further down 32nd Street, a local police officer watched the storm from the opposite side. The storm from the opposite side. His cruiser's dash cam recorded as the tornado crossed the road heading toward more >> guarantee the power is out in that town.

[00:05:49]It's just a little south of southwest 156th Street.

[00:05:57]So, >> this was 27 years ago.

[00:06:06]What direction this thing moving?

[00:06:08]>> The storm ultimately missed the Newcastle Casino. It tracked northeast across 32nd Street where it impacted a new semi-ural subdivision. Several homes were struck with two sustaining >> It just keeps getting bigger.

[00:06:22]>> EF4 intensity damage. According to damage assessments, one of the newly built homes was ripped clean off its concrete slab. Meanwhile, Michael was still following in his car. As a stormchaser and local weather enthusiast, the sight of this monster, >> look at that thing.

[00:06:42]>> Quickly dredged up memories.

[00:06:45]>> I've got this thing. I'm west of this tornado. This thing is huge. It's taking the May 3rd path. It's going right into Moore. This tornado looks like May 3rd.

[00:06:56]Is taking on is taking on We've getting major major damage. Major damage.

[00:07:05]Okay, I've got to make some phone calls here.

[00:07:07]>> In Moore, Oklahoma, May 3rd of 1999 is a date that lives in infamy. On that day, a deadly tornado outbreak spawned an EF5 twister that tracked a 38-mile path of destruction across Oklahoma. When the skies finally settled, 46 people >> Oh, the EF5 happened at 1999. And then 14 years later, that E5 or whatever that new one happened >> were dead. 800 others were injured and over 8,000 homes were damaged or destroyed. Property losses exceeded $1.5 billion in damages. Damages that some were still recovering from when this storm touched down 14 years later. May 3rd was all Michael could think about as he tracked the tornado. Knowing how much damage it could cause, he called his loved ones to ensure they were okay.

[00:07:59]>> Mom, take cover now. Take cover now.

[00:08:02]There's a big There's a large tornado coming towards you. Take cover. Okay, bye. This thing is doing major damage.

[00:08:10]>> It's doing major damage.

[00:08:13]>> It's going towards more. It's going towards southwest Oklahoma City.

[00:08:18]>> Okay. Our power lines just snapped in half.

[00:08:21]>> I just went through some. This is terrible. This is terrible. This thing is here. This here. This thing is here.

[00:08:28]I'm going to have to stop.

[00:08:29]>> I mean, ghosts are another thing. I mean, it'll definitely scare you, but they they can't kill you. This can't.

[00:08:35]>> I can't see. Michael continued east on 32nd past a row of fast food restaurants as the storm >> This will turn you into a ghost prepared to cross I44. It's at this point that the tornado grew rapidly in size over 2 minutes. The ropeshaped funnel ballooned into a large stone crack shape before reaching its final wedge form.

[00:08:59]>> This is a major Oh my god.

[00:09:01]>> Gravy.

[00:09:02]>> Oh my god.

[00:09:05]Oh my god. Mocha moa. It's taking a right turn. It's taking a right turn.

[00:09:18]>> We're great. Moogly boogly.

[00:09:21]Holy.

[00:09:25]>> Yep. That's an E5 now.

[00:09:30]>> Jenna.

[00:09:32]>> Jenna, go get in the cellar. Go get in the cellar.

[00:09:36]>> Okay. Okay.

[00:09:38]>> Okay. I'm You're safe. This thing is taking the May 3rd 19. It's taking a May 3rd path. It's taking a right hand turn.

[00:09:47]It's an F5. I know it's it's huge. I'm watching it right now. I've never seen any.

[00:09:53]>> You can hear the worry in Michael's voice. Based on its current trajectory, the tornado is on a direct collision course with Moore. Stuck on the highway.

[00:10:02]All he could do was watch as the storm moved.

[00:10:05]>> Have you seen what tornadoes do to like 2x4s and tree limbs? They throw them like supersonic missiles >> away from him >> into walls.

[00:10:14]>> Yeah. Stay where you're at. Just stay where you're at.

[00:10:19]>> Hope and pray. Hope and pray it doesn't hit our house cuz I'm telling you, it's going right towards our area. It's taking more of a southerntherly track.

[00:10:29]Hopefully, it won't hit our house.

[00:10:30]Michael took the next exit onto 149th Street, putting him right behind the storm as it tracked toward Moore.

[00:10:38]>> Oh, look at the antenna.

[00:10:41]>> Yeah, we're going straight into Westmore.

[00:10:44]>> This thing looks like it's >> I smell electricity.

[00:10:51]>> You can smell it.

[00:10:52]>> This thing is taking us This is taking a more high school or This is taking May 3rd. I've got it.

[00:11:00]I've got it. I'm right in behind it.

[00:11:04]It looks like it's taking a It's taking a path straight east. It's going straight east. I'm I pray to God it doesn't go north.

[00:11:15]People have got to I just I feel so bad for the people that are in path of this.

[00:11:21]>> The further down 149th he went, the worse the devastation became. Telephone poles were bent and trees were snapped in half. Michael could only hope and pray that the twister missed his home, but he was starting to fear the worst.

[00:11:35]You feel so powerless is taking everything out in his path. I I don't know what else to say. I'm just sitting behind a I'm sitting behind an F5 going through my town.

[00:11:47]And it is it's going it's going through my town, man.

[00:11:52]And uh it's going to hurt some people.

[00:11:55]It's going to hurt some people bad.

[00:11:57]>> Things got dicey at the intersection of 149th and South May Avenue. Downed power lines, damaged traffic lights, and chunks of twisted metal cover.

[00:12:06]>> Oh, and it's going right into >> the street. If the damage persists like this, Michael's tornado adventure might be cut short.

[00:12:16]>> This is unreal.

[00:12:17]>> Oh, power lines everywhere. It's dangerous. Very dangerous for me.

[00:12:22]>> Oh gosh.

[00:12:23]>> To be here.

[00:12:25]>> You're not careful. I smell nothing but >> I smell nothing but lumber. You're not going to believe what I'm seeing. And I'm just praying to God it don't go.

[00:12:34]It's taking it through. It's taking a line >> straight east along 134th. And it's I'm telling you it's a deadly I mean it's incredible.

[00:12:44]>> I'm following the horses are still there. I don't know how I keep getting to go, but I keep getting to go. And looks like I got to stop now. Yep, I got to stop. The trees are down. I can't get through. Jenna, I can't tell you. I can't stress to you enough. Stay in the cellar. All right.

[00:13:02]>> With his route blocked just beyond Thornhill Drive, Michael doubled back on 149th as first responders raced toward him. Then he turned north on South May as the tornado continued east toward Moore. He was finally able to turn down 37th Street, putting him parallel to the tornado's path. What looks like a giant cloud ahead of him is actually a twomile wall of wind.

[00:13:28]>> This is the biggest tornado I've ever seen. I've never seen one this big.

[00:13:33]This is southass hill. The debris ball is slightly over 2 miles.

[00:13:39]>> It's just it's just crossed I5.

[00:13:45]>> It's going towards more high school right now.

[00:13:49]>> Kids are probably going to be like the path of this. You have to be out of it or storm or basement.

[00:13:57]>> Okay. Um, >> while Michael catches up with the storm, we'll move to another local police officer who was stationed nearby. His dash cam captured the tornado.

[00:14:05]>> Multiple camera views >> in the distance as it tore the city of Moore to shreds.

[00:14:11]>> So, this is just this just the one strongest tornado in the world or in United States or in history.

[00:14:28]like get home.

[00:14:31]It's going to be close to Fourth Street in Oklahoma City, a little bit west of Santa Fe.

[00:14:36]>> The officer's dash cam was rolling around a quarter 3 in the afternoon. He had no idea what was actually happening in the distance. The tornado had just leveled Brewood Elementary School, which was full of students and teachers at the time. By some miracle, everybody survived when the walls and roof caved in around them. This was thanks to four tornado pods, each capable of holding several classrooms. When it was over, teachers passed children through a tiny opening in the rubble until everyone was out in one piece. From there, the storm claimed its first two lives when it destroyed a home just east of Brierwood.

[00:15:16]Sadly, those inside Plaza Towers Elementary School wouldn't fare as well.

[00:15:20]There were 75 students and teachers inside the building when the storm hit.

[00:15:25]Most of them hid in bathrooms and closets as neither school was equipped with a tornado shelter. Seven fatalities occurred when the walls collapsed around the school's second and third grade classrooms. A pregnant teacher was taking shelter in a hallway with her students when it happened. Sadly, only she and five of her kids made it out.

[00:15:45]Several homes in this area were ripped clean off their foundations. According to reports, none of these homes had adequate base plate connections to their concrete foundations. Similar poor construction practices were found at several sites, many of which were built after 1999. According to damage surveys, the deadliest stretch of the storm occurred in the area around Plaza Towers Elementary. Nine people perished between eight different homes within a/4 mile of the school. The storm continued east toward I35. Meanwhile, at a Jersey Mike's on 19th Street, one customer recorded as debris rained down on the parking lot.

[00:16:25]>> God, this thing just sounds just destructive.

[00:16:28]>> You can hear it.

[00:16:33]>> Oh, look at that flag pole.

[00:16:36]>> Dick Dick sporting good.

[00:16:42]Okay, Grayson. I'm doing this so you guys can see this.

[00:16:50]Whoa.

[00:16:51]>> Whoa. Power flash. Line just went down.

[00:16:54]It's getting pretty windy out here.

[00:16:56]>> I'm surprised none of these like >> Oh. Oh, there goes another one.

[00:17:00]>> All right. I'm heading in.

[00:17:01]>> Next to be hit was the Moore Medical Center, which sustained significant damage as the storm prepared to cross I35. Thankfully, no one inside was injured as staff members moved their patients to other hospitals in the area before the tornado arrived.

[00:17:17]>> Smart people.

[00:17:18]>> We got the rotation above our head.

[00:17:20]>> Look at all the power. These uh stop lightss are gone. Power.

[00:17:25]>> Yeah, I got you.

[00:17:26]>> Holy moly.

[00:17:34]>> So, oh, there goes another power. Oh, there goes another power.

[00:17:38]It's like yanking all the the power cords out.

[00:17:47]>> And if it touches water and you're not grounded.

[00:17:51]>> Now, let's pick things up with Michael Lynn, who's still tailing the tornado as he heads towards I35. Now, he didn't know it, but he was about to drive by the remnants of a 7-Eleven convenience store where three people had just lost their lives.

[00:18:06]We got major damage here in more Oklahoma.

[00:18:13]>> I think it's lifted.

[00:18:14]>> Tornado is physically on the ground just destroying power lines and everything.

[00:18:20]As you can see, >> I'm crossing the path right now.

[00:18:23]>> Continum and this is fixed to get in a bad area because we're coming right back into housing housing conditions and more the residential part of town here. By then, the twister had crossed I35, moving into the subdivisions on the other side of the highway. That's where a local man named Rick captured this next piece of footage. Somehow, he maintained a steady hand as the tornado tore through his neighborhood.

[00:18:49]>> Look at all the power.

[00:18:52]Look at all that down there.

[00:18:57]Listen to it.

[00:19:08]That's scary.

[00:19:21]The storm continued through Rick's area and further into eastern Moore. Despite narrowing, it still caused EF4 damage to several neighborhoods. One person lost their life while seeking shelter in a business east of the interstate. Then the last fatality occurred when the storm destroyed a home between Eastern Avenue and Bryant Avenue. The tornado lasted eight more harrowing minutes, causing mostly EF2 damage with some isolated pockets of E4. That's likely because the housing density on the east side of I35 was significantly less than the west side. Finally, at 3:33 p.m., the storm lifted. It was on the ground for 39 minutes, tracing a 14-m scar across the cities of Newcastle and more.

[00:20:08]By the time it was over, more than >> Holy buckets. You see the path of it?

[00:20:16]4,000 structures had been damaged or destroyed. More than 200 people were injured and 24 others had passed away, 10 of whom were children. More than 300 homes along the tornado's path experienced EF4 or EF5 damage. When it was over, rescue workers descended upon a post-apocalyptic hellscape. In some places, it looked like a nuclear bomb had gone off. That's because one basically did. From a pure energy standpoint, the 2013 Moore tornado was more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb.

[00:20:52]Some say it was only eight times more powerful, while other experts claim it was over 600 times stronger. Either way, the destructive power was enough to change the landscape of Moore, Oklahoma forever. But that wasn't going to keep them down. The rebuild began immediately. A year after the deadly twister, Moore became the only city in Oklahoma to adopt new residential building codes, ensuring that all projects are strong enough to survive an EF2 tornado. Homes built after these new laws are designed to withstand winds of up to 135 mph. They do this thanks to hurricane clips that prevent roofs from flying off. As the name suggests, you'll typically see them in Gulf Coast homes where hurricanes are common. New homes also come with heavyduty bolts that hold the frame to the foundation. They also feature more durable garage doors, which are typically the weakest part of a home during a tornado. When the garage goes, pressure from tornatic winds can quickly fill a home and destroy it from the inside out. School districts across the state also updated their building codes.

[00:22:01]Post more, many new school buildings were built with tornado shelters and safe rooms. However, this isn't mandatory as school buildings are generally funded through local property taxes and voterapproved bond issues.

[00:22:15]That means local school boards and voting bodies determined whether to install storm shelters in their schools, not the government. Thankfully, the people of Moore voted to protect their kids. According to a 2018 report, all 35 buildings and any new buildings within the city's public school district will have FEMA rated storm shelters once all current and future construction is complete. As of 2026, places like Moore, Oklahoma are still one of the most active tornado locations. In fact, April of 2026 saw nearly twice as many tornadoes as expected for the month. Of course, the people of Moore know all too well that May is the month to be worried about. It used to be May 3rd of 1999, 14 years later. May 20th of 2013 took its place. Now we are 16 years removed from the last major event. At this point, Mother Nature is bound to repeat.

[00:23:12]>> Say it sounds like they're due for another one. Hopefully, it doesn't >> any day now. If you enjoyed this video and want to see more.

[00:23:18]>> Wow. Well, that was definitely a different one. Obviously, it was just one tornado, but it was a devastating, deadly, horrific tornado that I mean, Oklahomaians, how do you It's not motans, but Oklahomaians, I don't know how you would say it, but I think and a lot of people also do think that tornadoes are even worse and scares and terror because they can actually cause death. Ghosts, they're not causing death. So, let me know about your stories and so forth when it comes to tornadoes. We just literally had one like a month and a half ago. We had one in town here where I am at and then there was one outside of town about 20 miles away that touched down roughly between an F2 and F3. Um, but they were definitely doozies and I uh had one on my live um that I posted not too long ago. So, check that one out. Um, don't forget to subscribe, comment, like, and share. If you have a tornado story, put it down below. I'd love to hear it. Um, and everybody else loves to hear it. And we will see you guys in the next video.

[00:24:24]Take care. God bless. Be safe. Always tell your loved ones and friends that you love them because you never know when the last day is going to happen.

[00:24:32]And keep nerding on. And we will see you guys next time. Peace.