Mayflower/ Vilonia Arkansas tornado 4/25/2011

This is footage of storm crossing Arkansas River before it went into Vilonia and Killed 4.

[@winchestermodel7044]

When you zoomed in at 1:54 the actual tornado was to the left of where you zoomed in at. The tornado was rain wrapped and it becomes more visible as it gets closer. It appears that you had no idea that the tornado had formed until it was already over the body of water and fairly close to your house by that point. This is a perfect example of why HP supercells are very dangerous because to a lot of people they just think a rain shaft is approaching when in reality the tornado is in there, hidden by the rain.

[@cduby1424]

Yeh you could hear that rain wrapped tornado and I think at one point he realized where the tornado actually was and all things came into play.

[@Minotaur92]

I was near the villionia/mayflower tornado in 2014 chasing... AR holds a special place in my heart :D

[@ericpigg2689]

I watched this tornado pass over the river just south of us before it hit Palarm. I could not tell it was a tornado until it got over the water, then it turned solid white for about 15 seconds. I regret that I did not have a cell phone that would take video back then, because it was one of the most awe inspiring things I have ever seen. From my vantage point, the tornado looked relatively small/weak here, but by the time it made it to Vilonia, it was totally different story.

[@apachified3682]

I remember this storm. It was brutal. This storm was so big that it literally covered almost the entire state. In school, I remember looking outside before we were about to leave and it was dark. It was like 2 PM and it looked like it was 9 PM. When I got home, the power cut off for the rest of the day and then there was no school the next day. I was eight. I'm fifteen now.

[@Scammer434]

Apachified yeah that thing was just producing tornado after tornado

[@RikkiSpanish]

What an incredible video! The lightning and thunder were quite chilling. I saw the redness in the clouds too. I love thunderstorms and am fascinated by tornado weather, so not a lot scares me when it comes these types of situations... but that odd lightning/cloud hue was quite unsettling. You guys had an excellent view. I've never been to Arkansas, but it looks like a beautiful area. You live in a beautiful neighborhood. Hopefully neither you guys nor your neighbors were hurt or suffered any damage. I know this was a particularly deadly tornado, so it was like adding insult to injury on an astronomical level when Vilonia was pummeled again a few years later. Anyway, thank you so much for sharing your experience with us.

[@cduby1424]

The red was in the tornado itself such power, energy . That's not the first time I've seen the lightning right inside the tornado itself, I've also seen lightning in volcanos.

[@bdunk914]

I believe those were power flashes

[@grapeape1965]

@@cduby1424that wasn’t lightning, those were power flashes from transformers blowing. That was one way he should have known there was already a tornado on the ground and known where it was at in that rain wrapped mess. It still took him another 2 minutes to finally stop watching the satellite trying to form in the inflow band and see the monster that took up the rest of the entire horizon

[@suckmyballs6374]

I am watching this 9 years later and, it still gives me the chills. This was posted one day after my birthday though. :/ But in 2011, I was 6..I am 15 now..🥺🥺🥺

[@vanhouten64]

During the great tornado outbreak of April 25-28, 2011 this was the second tornado to cause fatalities, and the first to cause multiple deaths (4). Those killed were David and Katherine Talley, a married couple in their forties, who sought shelter inside a tractor trailer which was thrown into a pond, and Craig Garvin (age 63) and Charles Mitchell (55), who were inside mobile homes when the tornado struck.

[@Owlshadow.]

2014

[@vanhouten64]

Yes, Mayflower and Vilonia were also hit by a tornado on April 27, 2014, but this video is from the April 25, 2011 event (unless mislabeled by OP). From wikipedia (referencing the 2014 event): "Shortly before 7:50 p.m. (0050 UTC), the tornado moved into the town of Vilonia at high-end EF4 strength,[14] a town which was struck by an EF2 tornado that killed four people on April 25, 2011, three years and two days prior." The 2011 tornado caused four fatalities, while the 2014 storm caused 16 deaths.

[@dalebechtel8904]

The best view of the tornado

[@ATamandua]

Around 1:21 - hitting the tall main power lines which cross the Arkansas River northeast of Pinnacle Mountain? 3:50 - sucking up water from the Arkansas River itself (an event which rarely seems to get caught on video, although later in 2011 there was some very good footage from a multistory building of the Springfield, MA tornado over a river). What's also sobering is that this event pretty much began the generational 2011 Alabama (Tuscaloosa and many other places)/Mississippi/Georgia outbreak of two days later, with the strongest, deadliest storm of them all to come not quite a month later in Joplin, Missouri 200 miles northwest. Teamed with the terrible Japan tsunami and big Chile volcano eruption later, that was an unforgettable seismic/meteorological year. I hate to ask, but is this the nice (Plantation?) subdivision north of Palarm Park which got hit by the big EF-4 in 2014? Great video on this, sir, BTW.

[@Og-Judy]

Tornado over water just becomes a waterfront at the game no matter the body of water. We rarely see tornadoes in Wisconsin but there are water spouts on Lake Michigan often.

[@arkansas9802]

You are a brave person for filming the storm!!!!!

[@GuntersvilleLakeFishing]

wow wicked supercell, reminds me of april 27, 2011 i'm from alabama, suppose to hit here tmrw and tuesday, 60% chance of tornado's here tmrw into tuesday evening

[@GathererThompson]

Lived in Vilonia every day of my life, til this storm. Things still aren't right.

[@forgaven3346]

What a brutal thunderstorm !!!

[@brian8556]

And that's happening again right now. :(

[@SwaggQueen24]

Scarey looking video .. Hope you guys were alright n safe

[@notgabe1752]

This was on 3/23/16 so I live in Northwest Arkansas near Greenland we got a Tornado Warning so we went in my brother closet we brought our dogs pillows and blankets my dad was sleeping he said it will be fine so he wouldn't go in the closet because we had a huge mountain at least 10,000 or 9000 feet away from our house it started hailing I went to look out the window everything was quiet for a second then bang 80+ mph winds the mountain weakened the tornado it stayed in the sky for a few minutes but the tornado almost touched down but it stayed in the sky then 10 or 15 minutes later it finally touched down but we were all ok and did in mension this it was my brothers 19th birthday

[@Scammer434]

Not Gabe this was in 2011

[@ShaneConnerly]

I was filming on the other side of the storm in Chenal past Wal-Mart looking your direction...There posted if you want to check it out!

[@SwaggQueen24]

It's getting real dark scarey

[@notgabe1752]

I'm not to sure if it hit the mountain though it might have stayed on the ground but was near us that's most likely what happened cause it got on the eastern side of Fayetteville so it may have stayed on the ground and got near us there was a supercell too

[@jimons7322]

The 2 boys thag died that time were my best friends i am a vilonia person! My school was dystroyd

[@Scammer434]

jimons7 I am a vilonia person as well I witnessed both the 2011 one In the 2014 one House was ripped off my foundation on the second one and two people died on my street :(

[@13_cmi]

I am very sad to be from a state where kpop fans reside

[@mariestick6636]

😢😢😢

[@nikoflow_fm9541]

1.66 mile wide EF2...

[@aungoo9700]

@@13_cmi That one you are talking about happened in 2014, this was in 2011.

[@epicskieswithjake5680]

Scariest tornado video I’ve seen

[@mariestick6636]

😮😮😮

[@kmc897]

Hi Tanarah! I'm not sure if you still check this KZbin page, but figured I'd try reaching out. I am a producer on a documentary tv series and I'm working on an episode of our show that is sharing some personal stories from Vilonia. Would you be open to us using some of this video you shot in our episode? Please let me know! I'd be happy to give you more details if you can reach out to me at [e-mail] Thank you!