A storm chaser and video journalist captured the moment a man was rescued following devastating tornadoes that battered communities in Illinois on Thursday.
Scott Lasker was filming the path of destruction when he heard the desperate screams.
“Hey! Hey!” she shrieked from the distance as Lasker’s lens panned across the wreckage.
Lasker followed the cries to a collapsed house, where he found a man pinned beneath a mountain of storage crates and heavy rubble.
“I think I broke my leg,” the man told Lasker.
Lasker quickly handed the woman his camera began to help the debris off the man.
“To actually be a part of a dramatic situation — that’s a new one for me,” Lasker told FOX32 Chicago, noting that he usually films twisters as they dance across empty fields.
“You don’t like to see when property is damaged, let alone when people are trapped,” Lasker continued.
Police arrived and pulled the man from the ruins before rushing him to a nearby hospital. Lasker expects the survivor to make a steady recovery.
At least three tornadoes touched down in Indiana and Illinois on Thursday, leaving 500,000 people without power, according to FOX Weather.
The tornado in Streator was an EF-3, with winds reaching 136 mph, capable of toppling cars, overturning trains and uprooting trees, according to the National Weather Service.
A reunification center was set up in Streator for displaced residents and the Red Cross operated a shelter for the injured.
Streator Mayor Tara Bedei said there were no reported fatalities.
“We are incredibly grateful for the safety of our residents and the quick action of emergency personnel,” she said in a statement.
With Post Wires
