Florida Trucker Slammed by Waterspout Thought He 'Was in Hell'
The tornadic event knocked over and lifted Randall Leaver's 18-wheeler.
— -- A tornadic waterspout traveling on shore in Florida knocked over and lifted an 18-wheeler in Florida, leaving the driver thankful to be alive.
The incident happened Saturday as Randall Leaver was crossing the Sunshine Skyway Bridge near Tampa in his U.S. Postal Service truck.
The swirling winds of the waterspout -- an intense, non-supercell tornado that develops over large bodies of water -- knocked the tractor trailer on its side, then back onto its wheels.
“All of a sudden I felt a gust of wind and I thought, 'Is this what I think it is?’” Leaver said. “I’ve never been to Hell. I thought I was in Hell.”
Leaver suffered from minor bumps and bruises, but was otherwise uninjured.
The incident left him humbled, and thankful.
“The first thing I did when I got home; I hugged my son,” he said. “God was definitely watching over me.”