Raleigh Downtown Tornado as seen from RBC Plaza (26th Floor) 4/16/11

Tornado that strolled through downtown Raleigh. Taken from 26th floor of RBC Plaza by a VERY amateur videographer using a digital camera. (As seen on the National Geographic channel's Witness: Tornado Storm 2011)

[@nakita3642]

I was on the CAT bus that day with my sis and neighbor going back home. this tornado literally lifted the bus a couple feet in the air and plopped it back down..we were trying to stay calm for the sake of our neighbor since she was younger than us...but it was frightening.

[@KingGOJ12034]

I was walking home from a friend's house when I noticed all the birds stopped chirping. His dog even started to get nervous and actually hid away before the storm hit.

[@6705Shelby]

My daughter (who was 5 at the time) and I were home when it hit. We were on Sue Ln and right in its path. My dog knew it was coming. That was the single most terrifying moment in my life and I had to remain calm, I did not want to freak out my daughter any more than she already was. We were lucky that my sisters house didn't have mch damage. We lost 5 huge oak trees that also tore up her driveway and somehow they all missed the house. We had to climb through and over trees to get out and to my fiances truck. He had to park on New Hope because Sue Ln was covered with trees and power lines. My daughter still has nightmares from it and gets scared when storms with high winds hit. Honestly I get scared too. This is the first video I watched since it happened and to see it like this and know we were in it sends shivers down my spine. Great video and I am happy you were out of harms way.

[@BlondysChannel]

We had just gotten home from the Downtown Raleigh SPCA Dog walk at Moore Square when it hit Lake Wheeler and was traveling 401 where I live prior to heading to Downtown Raleigh. It was a crazy afternoon and I was so glad I had gotten home in time. I kept wondering and praying that everyone at the dog walk got done and out in time.

[@CenzozneC]

The reports said EF3 down to EF1 on its journey until right before downtown and then it strengthened to EF2.

[@wavy5516]

I am so sorry to those people that had to go through this. I was very close to being hit by this tornado. Debris was everywhere in my neighborhood. Shingles were scattered in our yard. Metal from somebody’s shed landed in our driveway. I will not forget about this day.

[@TheLowCodist]

Nice catch, Vince. What a unique vantage point. That thing is seriously rain-wrapped. Did you know it was a tornado while you were filming?

[@Lex5576]

This was a bad day for North Carolina. One of the rare "super outbreaks" that occur once every two to three decades, usually in the eastern part of the state where the terrain is flat and there's convection from the Atlantic to feed instability into the storms. The storms killed 24 people across the state on this day, half of them in Bertie County by a strong EF3-EF4 tornado.

[@CenzozneC]

@Lex5576 Our building has a wind current that comes up the building that shields it from debris. As you can see in the video, not 1 piece of debris touches the glass. Also, the glass is very very thick and rated to well over the wind speeds that this tornado had.

[@rcktman0127]

1:49 CREEPY lights flickered on and off

[@kristinawashington1773]

Wonderful work. Thanks a bunch. :D

[@arcturysprime8462]

Severe weather doesn't normally bother me too much, but I don't think I could handle being in a highrise while watching a tornado roll on by, especially not after watching The Day After Tomorrow. I know it's just a movie, but I'm not really sure how much damage a tornado could actually do to a skyscraper. I'm already a little uneasy with heights; the thought of being sucked out of the 26th floor of a building doesn't do much to keep my acid reflux in check.

[@missyglittervlogs3543]

Arcturys Prime I couldn't live in a high rise building either! I'd leave most definitely! 😢😭

[@AreDoWeSheIt]

Tornadoes do not rip an high rise out of its place,They are designed to handle high winds or even a EF3.These megastructures are just as safe as your grandmas concrete basement.

[@stonewall01]

Can you imagine of something the size and power of the 2013 El Reno tornado hitting a major urban area???

[@user-gr4ku2kh5k]

I was at a Golden Corral and we lost power at the time

[@wilhelminaindermaur3009]

I remember that day.. so many houses around my high school were hit.

[@thenorgalofthehills5688]

5 years ago today, Mother Nature declared war on North Carolina, and caused total destruction to my home state. At least 24 North Carolinians died that day, But I think the total death toll for the whole outbreak was 45. (Though I could be wrong) The day this happened, I remember we were trying to go to a resturaunt in Snow Hill, and 5 minutes before we arrived, a tornado had slashed down on Snow Hill. I remember seeing the damage caused by the storm the next day.

[@The_AbereOfficial]

I was only 6 at the time of this 😦

[@spiorad._]

I was only 8 when this happened and I was used to only regular thunderstorms at the time.

[@spiorad._]

This storm made me cry so much

[@tomaterjuice5095]

I was 7 😣

[@MrL1mey]

I've lived near Raleigh ten years now and every year something seems to happen that doesn't happen but for 10-15 years normally, like the ice storms, the heat waves and now the groups of tornadoes. This was part of a supercell of 86 confirmed tornadoes in NC that day alone.

[@xXSCAR117Xx]

My sister lives in Raleigh but by god she lived with not a single scratch from the twister on her house.Glad you lived though.

[@ashleyjones8058]

I was in freaking Raleigh that day trying to find my car an ended up in the Marriott when I heard about a tornado coming. I thought it was just a bad storm! Glad my butt got inside!

[@geekymetalhead5112]

Dude, that Tornado was insane.

[@salty-spitoon]

I remember this day like it was yesterday. We had been watching that movie 2012 with all the disasters and stuff. I was freaked out about it and my mom told me something like that would never happen (ironic, right?). So when I left the room early, deciding to skip out on the rest of the movie because I'm not really a fan of violence and death), I looked out the front window. At that time I had a terrible fear of thunderstorms, so I could feel something coming. Not really consciously. I just felt something in the pit of my stomach. I knew something was coming, but I didn't know what. I instinctively went upstairs and checked that new iControl Doppler thing the news station had just introduced. The Doppler has a feature where you can see and track storms cells. So for about an hour I watched tornado after tornado pop up and disappear on the screen. Luckily none had popped up near Holly Springs, where I lived at the time. I finally saw one pop up near us, its path going straight toward us. The first thing I said was "oh shit." The second thing I said was "dad, we need to take cover now." After the whole ordeal had ended, we were left untouched, but we were definitely lucky that the tornado only ran a short distance, or our house would have been damaged (not too severely though; it was a weak tornado). All I know was that it was a terrible experience. I since then have gotten over my fear of thunderstorms, but I am sure the feelings that I have towards tornadoes will forever remain the same.

[@Mightywarrior25]

Luckily I was away at the time, I had left to go to the beach in SC on the same day; luckily it didn't hit my house, since the house was probably 1-2 miles away from it.

[@rbarclay01]

We got so lucky during this... It didn't even touch our house apart from rain, but our friends lost their home...

[@CenzozneC]

I did not know. I'm from up north. Not used to tornados.

[@Tayfromnc]

I was at times an F3 during most of it's "life" an F2. Before downtown and after it was an F3

[@Crimson9724]

What was it rated on the Fujita scale? Do you know?

[@NINJUNK00]

I remember this day well, my father was a police officer for Wakemed Raleigh campus And was on patrol I was with his girlfriend cleaning out their old house and I noticed the rain but didn’t think much of it.My father soon showed up in his patrol vehicle a 2005 Dodge Durango and he had warned us about the storm and soon enough we had to take shelter and the day after he showed us videos of the storm

[@orestesdd]

Does anyone know how wide this tornado was? Does this happen very often in Raleigh? I ask these questions, for I now live in Raleigh NC. Thanks for this video

[@motherfuckerjones3854]

We lived in Cary on Nottingham drive at the time, it almost hit us! Pretty sweet B-)

[@rachelandjolanda]

My sister was getting picked up from college that day in Raleigh, it was crazy!

[@CathyDyer]

V - next time bring your patio furniture inside. You're lucky it didn't blow away or come through your window!

[@TheHelghast1138]

Nerves of Steel dude!

[@goose_loose]

That was sooo scary! I live in morrisville And I hid under my table (I was only 5) I ended up getting stuck under a chair 😕

[@perfidiouss]

OMG SAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@perfidiouss]

But I just moved to morrisville

[@perfidiouss]

I lived In raleigh

[@RaGaZzAcCiO23]

Damn dude if i were you i would have gotten the hell out of that penthouse and into the parking garage where its safe!

[@Anubis4815162342]

Damn that building in front of you has one hell of a fast starting generator.

[@Remousamavi]

That tornado came soooo close to where I live... And I saw that tree in Moore Square tunnel, too :o

[@Lex5576]

Good video, but I wouldn't be standing anywhere near that glass. We caught these storms just as they were forming near Lexington and Salisbury, so we got off lucky. But I remember the radar imagery just as the tornado passed over Raleigh, and there was a huge "debris ball" at the bottom corner of the supercell. This particular storm wasn't as strong as the one in Wilson. There was just so much light debris being picked up inside the city and lifted into the air that it looked huge on radar.

[@gagereiswig2229]

I was at marbles museum when it hit you could hear it go over the building they made us go to the ground level

[@EliteAmericans]

was that th ing rain wrapped or behind it?

[@CenzozneC]

@Gn0m13 The glass windows were rated much higher than the highest wind speed of the tornado and the building itself was rated even higher than that. Plus, being rain wrapped, I wasn't sure that it was truly a tornado and not a windy rain storm

[@Gn0m13]

Can i ask a question? Was that a suicide mission?

[@deenski08]

"This is not safe" (continues filming)

[@mizukomars2438]

A tornado is a huge massive of air that peforms gravity in this insane weather if i see this huge tornado out of the town can torn out off of whenever something happens i was 10.8 miles in greensville when a funnel torn in it was a big tornado i cant capture it cause its cloudy weather people will be unliked in this tornado.

[@CenzozneC]

It was reported to have been 1 mile wide I believe. They happen roughly every 12 years in Raleigh.

[@tomaterjuice5095]

Vince Frederico Holy sh*t

[@zabrinatheteacher]

I remember being at a mall in downtown Raleigh N.C. when this happened. My mom and I had no clue to what was going on. We are from NYC.

[@neiljones3016]

+Zibby Zee the locals in the mall probably didn't either. we rarely get tornadoes here.

[@zabrinatheteacher]

Neil Jones Wow.

[@thenorgalofthehills5688]

+Neil Jones We do get our fair share of Tornadoes actually, We get a Tornado threat every now and then. We've even gotten some damage from a few of em. But we hardly ever get them that strong. We usually just get F0s and F1s.

[@CenzozneC]

@Jessiepie221 You should see some of the other peoples videos. A bunch of ours were shown in a TV show tonight on the National Geographic channel. Witness: Tornado Swarm 2011. It will be replaying all of June. Was a decent show. They didn't really use the good parts of my video but at least it got on tv, which was cool.

[@ethanpowell6999]

omg i remember that!!!!!!! the bad part was that me and my dad live ont he top floor of our apartment in the middle of downtown

[@AllThatGlitters1214]

i cant believe that i didnt know there was a tornado going on and i took a drive down to walmart that day!! i figured there was something going on when the lights went out in wal mart.. but didnt find out it was a tornado till i started driving back home and saw all the damage

[@waelo246]

I remember this ahh the good ol' days

[@emma.st0ne]

You shouldn't be up high during a tornado.

[@judithmelchreit1486]

glad your safe

[@keithjohnson20988]

did anyone see the lighting and that tornado got to be at least 2-3 miles wide

[@yukiculkin]

@mtbfan101 Oh goodness!! On the awful off-chance you're ever in the same position again, you might want to avoid bridges and overpasses. Those are like wind tunnels and increase the wind speed. Still, I'm really glad that you got through it okay!

[@julius923]

Would have been much better with a water proof camera placed on tornado proof tripod. Still a good video though.

[@shipsinker432]

i live in Pantego NC and i saw a twister hthen i saw 2 i said it was a multiple vortex it didnt hit here though it was near Creswell

[@TrexsterInNC]

I see that the Progress Energy generators kicked in after the power went off and got the lights back on in their two buildings. I guess the power company always needs to have lights.

[@DGAF_AK87]

the stanford one was a bitch because it was an EF3 and newton grove right off 40 i used to live there, we never got warning untill after it went through

[@sh4673r]

great video but that was dangerous

[@geayh]

How come I here no sirens ??....

[@CenzozneC]

+geayh No tornado sirens in Raleigh.

[@geayh]

They really need to get some...Mother nature is off her meds lately....

[@alexisweber2616]

We don't have tornado sirens, but we do have sirens (I think they are flood sirens, mostly because they are located near our dams), not sure why they are not set up to be used for multiple purposes though. We are in S. Raleigh, and have one close to our home, It scares the crap out of me every time they test it (it plays Westminster Chimes for the test, have never heard it go off as an actual siren though, even with the flooding from Fran and Floyd)

[@xfalloutgirlx1901]

Vince Frederico A tornado worser than this one hit my city Greensboro and there were no sirens too

[@conorjamesmahoney5941]

Looks huge.

[@cutething21]

I was theree but it wasn't bad in rolesville though i was in the bassment

[@CenzozneC]

@EliteAmericans Rain wrapped.

[@rosthabos]

This thing is like huge. it doesnt really have a shape. It kinda is more a microburst. but idk

[@thecoolj45221]

do you actually have a fear of death man?

[@CenzozneC]

Alive and well. :-)

[@jahunaj]

I rember this i was filming to

[@MeteoAlmennoSS]

Bel video!!!

[@eDL713]

U can see some of the power go out @1:26

[@CenzozneC]

About every 12 years or so.

[@wizard101isawesome12]

@davidlee110 that is so epic!

[@CenzozneC]

@Flam3z1220 Stil alive. :-)

[@repticooo]

WOW 0:43

[@00MsTada00]

Insane bahh:-))

[@123candybieber]

wowwww

[@Namerifrats]

@CenzozneC Hope you got paid for it

[@Utonian21]

go outside! XD