Central New York Driver Shares Terrifying Experience Of Rome Tornado

One local DoorDash delivery driver from Taberg found himself caught in Freedom Plaza of Rome during the terrifying tornado. His truck lifted off the ground, and he walked away safely.

"I was actually doing a DoorDash order," Joey Long recounted, "and as I was coming back, I saw that the weather was getting bad." Long decided to wait out what he thought was a severe thunderstorm in a parking lot next to Denny's. However, the situation quickly escalated.

"The weather just out of nowhere went from zero to a hundred real quick"

Within moments, the tornado's fierce winds began lifting his Dodge Ram 1500 off the ground, spinning it 360 degrees, and relocating it four parking spaces away. He described the chaos:

"It was complete blackout conditions. My truck started lifting up off the ground while I was in the parking lot. I was sitting in the driver's seat and it was pushing my truck up on two side wheels. And then it stopped and it put my truck back down and then instead of pushing it over, it basically pushed my front end, spun me 360 degrees, and then before I realized everything that just happened, I was four spaces over from where I originally pulled over at in the parking lot."

During this ordeal, he could hear debris pelting his truck and feared for his safety. "I actually thought the glass on my driver's side was gonna bust," he recalled, using a towel to shield himself from potential shattering glass. Remarkably, he emerged unscathed, a testament to what he believes was divine protection:

"God protected me in that one. There was no other way that I would have made it through that."

After the tornado passed, he saw extensive damage around him, including a flipped car in a nearby KFC parking lot. Reflecting on the experience, he expressed disbelief at encountering such a severe storm in Upstate New York, despite having lived in tornado-prone areas before.

You can listen to the full interview above.

TORNADO CONFIRMED IN ROME

The National Weather Service confirmed what everyone in Rome already knew. A tornado touched down and it was a doozy. You can read more here.