Sucked Up Into a Tornado, Trucker Lives to Tell about It

Teresa Neumann : May 18, 2010
Dana Hertneky - KSN News

"About that time I just felt it (his truck) lift up. I knew it was going over. I started talking to Jesus pretty serious."

(Wichita, Kansas)—There's something about tornado survival stories; being from the Midwest, I must confess there's something about tornadoes, period. The stuff of legends, they feature prominently in many movies and books, such as the iconic Wizard of Oz and Leif Enger's, Peace Like a River. Ranking up there with some of the most terrifying and devastating natural disasters, tornadoes come out of nowhere and produce some of the most bizarre phenomena known to man.

My father used to say, "When you see the sky turn green and you feel the hair on your neck stand up, run like the dickens to a safe spot." That "safe spot" was usually the southwest corner of our basement when I was home. If a severe storm came up and I wasn't home, well, a ditch—and a lot of prayer—is about all I could count on.

Thankfully, I was never put in that situation.

Not so a Kansas man, David Harville, who was driving north on I-35 near Oklahoma City last week when a tornado picked up the semi-truck he was driving about 20 feet in the air and then slammed it back down on its side. His survival was a miracle. (Photo: KSN News)

Sharing his story with KSN News, Harville said he saw a plowed field explode like a bomb, the dirt going up in the air vertically 200 feet.

"About that time I just felt it (his truck) lift up," he said. "I knew it was going over. I started talking to Jesus pretty serious." (Photo: TornadoVideos.net)

Later, Harville was able to unbuckle himself and walk away. "I spent a little bit of time giving thanks for that," he said drily.

His wife, Marie, said, "We've said that to each other over and over that it was just a miracle."

Click on the link provided to watch a video of Harville giving his survival testimony.