Watch: Tourist family in shock as Oklahoma tornado rips roof off their hotel
A family from Brazil was visiting Bartlesville, Oklahoma, when their hotel was hit by a tornado, and they had no idea what the loud sirens meant.
The family told Tulsa's Fox23 they were only in Oklahoma a few days, and this was their first night in the United States. The roof of their Hampton Inn hotel was torn off and thrown across the parking lot, the anchor said in the report.
The family's video shows lights flashing behind them in the lobby as the tornado sirens blare. The camera begins to shake as loud destruction is heard.
The city had a college golf tournament, so the hotel was full of people.
Before the tornado hit Bartlesville, it grazed the small town of Barnsdall, where a nursing home took a direct impact. Law enforcement officials say they are searching for injuries and deaths, and thus far, there are two people unaccounted for and one dead, KTUL reported Tuesday morning.
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The National Weather Service warned of a "potentially dangerous situation" in the state with a 95 percent chance of strong tornadoes.
KWTV meteorologist David Payne told his audience Monday night that, given the advance notice, scientists and "hobbyist storm chasers" have been flooding into the state.
He went on to explain that the roads were "jam packed" with "foreigners from literally all over the world" who "hire these chase companies that are chasing [tornadoes] and they're everywhere they do make our job a little bit harder as we're trying to warn people at home. But it is what it is."
KFOR broadcast meteorologist Emily Sutton pointed to an aerial shot from their air team showing a string of headlights on the road leading directly into a rain-wrapped tornado. She feared they were individuals without the skill and equipment necessary to stay safe during the storm.
"The white lights you see here? Likely all storm chasers. There is a powerful, rain-wrapped tornado nearby. Hoping that the storm chasers stay safe and out of the way," Sutton posted on X.
Rain-wrapped tornadoes are particularly dangerous because they can't be seen with the naked eye. The large anvil cloud often seen in storm photos can be so large that the outer part of the storm is raining while the interior part of it is developing a tornado.
Australian news director Daniel Shaw, from Severe Weather AU was among those on the ground taking professional photos and videos of the storm for weather enthusiasts.
Professional storm chaser Mike Olbinski came to Oklahoma from Arizona, where he captured several storms as they developed and moved across the state.
Photographer Shane R. Muckey came to the state from New York to get footage and photos of the storms. He posted on X that he chased six supercells before ending his day in Norman, where transformers were exploding over his car.
See the report from the Brazil family below or at the link here.
Terrified Brazil family caught in tornado during US vacation youtu.be
See other photos and videos of the storm and the aftermath below or at the link here.
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