The driver of a truck seen in widespread video flipping over during a tornado on a Texas highway is given a new truck thanks to a local car dealer. Riley Leon’s video shows his car being tossed by the strong tornado winds on Monday, before miraculously bouncing back on its wheels. Leon then drives away. The tornado was one of several to hit the region as a result of a strong storm system, which uprooted trees, damaged homes and closed off highways.
Speaking to local news outlets, Leon said he still can’t believe he survived. “When I see the videos I’m like ‘that’s me and I probably couldn’t have been here’. But thank goodness I am,” the 16-year-old told Fox 7†
Leon said he was returning home from a job interview at Whataburger. The teen also said the insurance company had taken the car destroyed by the tornado.
But NBC later a story in which Bruce Lowrie Chevrolet, a car dealership in Fort Worth, announced that it is giving the teen a 2022 Red Chevy Silverado to replace the damaged car.
Leon told the station he didn’t know what to do when the car got stuck in the tornado – “grab the wheel or start praying”.
“In the video it looks like I was driving away, but in reality I didn’t. I landed in the middle of the road and I just drove to get off the road,” he added.
The video spread like wildfire across the internet, with thousands of views within a few hours.
“Was this truck on its side and then flipped upright before driving off after being engulfed in a tornado?” said one Twitter user in his post.
Did this truck flip on its side and then flip upright before driving off after being caught in a tornado? †#txwx#Texas#Tornado
— Marco | Stand with Ukraine ???????? (@nycmarcopolo) March 22, 2022
“Omg… just going through my video. This is a story about a red truck and a tornado… I can’t believe they drove off like that,” said another user.
The NBC The report went on to say that Leon also got the job and will join Whataburger on Monday.