When an Indiana Deputy Suddenly Realized He Was Inside a Tornado

During the historic tornado outbreak on Friday, March 31, 2023, a sheriff's deputy in Indiana suddenly realized he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. His dashcam video captured the moment he found himself inside of an intense tornado that was lashing his windshield with debris.

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The Allen County Sheriff's Department in Fort Wayne, Indiana shared this harrowing video on their Facebook page. The deputy is out on patrol monitoring severe weather when he is driving down a dark road. He approaches a park and can see in the lights that the wind is becoming more intense. What he doesn't know is there's a monster lurking beyond those trees. It's an EF-2 twister that's about to cross the road nearly right on top of him.

The National Weather Service shows this tornado was indeed an EF-2 that touched down at 11:36pm and had a maximum wind speed of around 120 mph and was 400 yards wide at its most intense.

The tornado outbreak that struck many Midwestern states on March 31, 2023 dropped at least 13 confirmed tornadoes which was the most on a single day in the northern Indiana in 7 years.

There are few things more dangerous than monitoring tornadic storms at night where visibility is limited which is made worse when a tornado is rain-wrapped. This Indiana sheriff's deputy was very fortunate he stopped when he did. What was an unbelievable close call could have been much worse. Fortunately, he was not injured and has a story to tell for years.