When an Illinois Man Videoed Himself Get Slammed by EF4 Twister

One of the most famous tornado videos in history comes from an elderly Illinois man and his video is known for all the wrong reasons. It's a textbook example of why you don't endanger yourself when a tornado approaches. He nearly videoed his own death as he and his home took a direct hit from the twister which did end up being tragic.

It was the early evening hours of April 9, 2015 when a monster vortex struck Rochelle and Fairdale, Illinois. The tornado touched down at 6:39pm. Clem Schultz was upstairs in his home looking for lanterns as he expected the incoming storm to cause a loss of power. It sadly did so much more. He saw the tornado from the front porch of his home.

He reportedly thought the twister would go south of his home when he pulled out his cell phone to begin recording what he was seeing. In a matter of minutes, he realized the tornado was coming straight at him.

By the time Clem Shultz finally realized he was directly in the tornado's path, it was too late.

As the video goes black and all you can hear are sounds, the tornado is tragically taking the life of Clem's wife Geraldine "Geri" Schultz  and their neighbor, Jacklyn Klosa. Wikipedia says Clem suffered compressed broken vertebra, but he survived. They found his dog Missy and his phone unharmed after the twister had passed.

The Rochelle-Fairdale, Illinois tornado was officially rated an EF4 by the National Weather Service. It did $19 million dollars worth of damage, but the lessons learned by Clem's video were invaluable. The value of the lives lost in that one tornado are immeasurable and never worth grabbing a cell phone for.