(CNN) — A group of men who devoted their lives to hunting powerful storms died in the middle of the chase.
Tim Samaras, his son Paul Samaras and Carl Young were killed Friday while following a tornado in El Reno, Oklahoma, relatives told CNN on Sunday. Their work tracking tornadoes was featured on the former Discovery Channel show “Storm Chasers.”
They were among at least nine people that state officials reported killed in storms that struck Oklahoma on Friday night….
At the intersection where authorities said the three storm chasers were killed, crews hauled away a mangled white truck Sunday that had been crushed like a tin can. The metal frame of their storm-chasing vehicle was twisted almost beyond recognition. The windows had been smashed to bits.
Canadian County Undersheriff Chris West confirmed that three storm chasers had been killed but declined to provide additional details about the circumstances of their deaths….
Friday’s tornado took a sudden turn that surprised many observers, CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said.
“It was a wobbler. And it was big. … I think the left-hand turn made a big difference on how this thing was chased as well and why people were killed and why people were injured in their vehicles,” he said. “A vehicle is not a place to be in any tornado, especially a big one like that, and those men doing their job, those field scientists out there doing their jobs, were killed in the process.”
- CNN
June 4, 2013 5:49 AM
