Monster Tornado Rips Up Fields as Drivers Race Past on Chile Highway

A tornado churned up a towering column of dust beside a highway in central Chile on Monday, October 26, as a powerful storm swept through the O’Higgins region.

X user Alexandra Lopez Hevia filmed the twister from a moving car just past Rancagua, as the swirling funnel kicked up debris over fields next to the road while trucks, cars and a bus kept driving by. “Passing Rancagua right now,” she wrote.

The tornado struck at about 5:30 p.m., hitting the town of Requínoa hardest. Chile’s weather service classified it as an EF-2, with winds of between 179 and 218 km/h.

The national disaster agency SENAPRED declared a red alert for Requínoa. More than 70 homes were damaged, mostly by roofs being torn off, along with a school gym, and one person suffered a minor injury, officials said. Fallen poles cut power to thousands of customers and forced the suspension of train services between Rancagua and San Fernando.