Oddly enough, I'm cutting up a palm tree trunk just like that one with the exact same chainsaw model later today....but I'm doing it on the ground.

Thanks Dolbs, that's good to know even if I will almost certainly never encounter a tornado. So, windows rolled up then. After further thought, I think the truck probably is the best idea in this scenario. Belted in and covered with a heavy blanket to protect you from flying glass should the windows break (and it's safety glass anyways) or other small debris, would be the way to go, or just curled up in a ball against the firewall if that's the only option. In the truck, you're insulated from lighting strikes or downed high tension lines, and it would provide reasonable protection from small whirling debris. You also have the mobility option should that need arise.

Granted, the truck could get hit by large missiles such as tree trunks, other cars, fat old ladies, cranes or other heavy machinery, or indeed itself be lofted hundreds of feet into the air. If any of that sort of thing happens, though, you were screwed anyways.

So, when it comes to this, I'm not really sure this is EIA in the truest sense. Given the (apparently) 30 seconds they had to plan, I think they made a reasonable choice among the options available to them. After all, it's definitely a situation where an okay plan now is better than a brilliant plan in five minutes. And yes, they probably should have come up with a plan as soon as they realized they were moving to a trailer park in ND, so a bit of EIA there. At least they kept on top of their priorities and realized the very first item of business was to film it happening, and I commend their presence of mind to hold the phone properly even in such a life-and-death situation.

Of course, since we're betting on the tornado not scoring a direct hit anyways. It could be that under a bed or in a closet in the trailer might have been just as well (losing the mobility, of course). Maybe having a trailer collapse on you is bad.

I dont' know why I find this scenario so fascintating to dissect.

Imagine breaking your leg in a strange world and being taken by a giant insect 1000x your size... who feeds you mashed meat off the end of a tree trunk. Isolated from any one else... kept in confinement... and 'petted' by a giant antenna that could crush you at any moment.

I bet he's screaming for us to let him die.... If only we could hear...

That doesn't look like a tree well. There's no tree trunk close to him or overhanging branches. I think he just found an air pocket. I've been in a couple of large wells and was able to pull myself out by going hand over hand up the branches that created the well. Fortunately both times I was right side up when I stopped falling. I sure wouldn't want to be upside down in one with nobody around to help me out.

11 more comments have been lost in the ether at this killed duplicate.

The lady's voice sounds like Tree Trunks from Adventure Time

Tags for this video have been changed from 'explode, exploding, explosion, tree, trunk, branches, leaves, quick, fast, takedown, plant' to 'explode, exploding, explosion, tree, trunk, supershort, quick, fast, takedown, plant' - edited by gwiz665

During my hiatus year between high school and college, I went on a student trip to Gambia with my jazz class at the (uniquely Scandinavian concept of) folk college I was attending. We stayed mostly in this village by the river Mini Mini Yang Bolong out in the Gambian countryside.

The occasion for the trip was some kind of cultural exchange organized by a Gambian organization who ran a center for foreign students at this village. The center consisted of several plaster and straw huts where we lived, a large pavilion where we ate our meals and a court yard where we received our music and dance lessons, all contained within a high fence in the middle of the village. At the pavilion there was a plaque advertising for a boat trip on the river, and we agreed to try it out. We had surveyed the river earlier and had found a ruin of an old boat house and an abandoned rotten canoe carved out of a tree trunk and wondered what kind of boats would take us on the river trip.

It should be said at this point that the reggae life style is very prominent among the Gambian semi rich, as our caretakers and hosts at the camp exemplified with Ganja, dreads and the works. These were the very hosts who would take us on the boat trip in, you guessed it, hollowed out tree trunks of highly questionable integrity and seaworthiness. This became apparent when we started to embark the two canoes, 4-5 people in each. The canoes sat very deep in the water with only 5-10 centimetres of clearance from the waterline to the rim of the boat. A couple of my classmates chickened out, which on hindsight probably saved our lives; the river was quite fierce and had strong currents.

We started out downstream, in it self a bad idea with only one Ganja smoking Gambian at the stern in each boat wielding a short paddle. It was then we discovered that the boats had started to leak. On top of the water already sploshing over the rim. Our Gambian captains, all calm, started back upstream while we scooped the water out of boats with our hands as best we could. The boats made little headway at first, but when our intoxicated and skillful caretakers paddled our boats along the banks of the river, the going got easier and we eventually reached the village all wet on our shoes, backsides and brows.

More stories from Gambia upon request...

Years ago I was sitting in line at the bank drive-thru when I noticed a dog dangling from a tree across the street. Initially I thought he was hanging, having gotten his leash caught on a branch, but withing a few seconds he dropped to the ground. He would then jump onto the tree trunk and then jump off and snag a branch that was probably 6-7' high and hang from it, by his teeth, for as long as he could. I was in line for probably 20 minutes and he repeated this the entire time. I wish I could have gotten it recorded or something.

De Alto Cedro voy para Marcan
Llego a Cueto, voy para Mayar

El cario que te tengo
No te lo puedo negar
Se me sale la babita
Yo no lo puedo evitar

Cuando Juanica y Chan Chan
En el mar cernan arena
Como sacuda el jibe
A Chan Chan le daba pena

Limpia el camino de paja
Que yo me quiero sentar
En aqul tronco que veo
Y as no puedo llegar

De alto Cedro voy para Marcan
Lleg a Cueto voy para Mayar


ENGLISH:

From Alto Cedro, I go to Marcan
I arrive in CUeto, and then I go towards Mayar.

The love I have for you
is something I cannot deny
I drool all over
I cannot help it.

When Juanica and Chan Chan
sifted sand at the beach
...
Chan Chan felt sorry/shame

Clean the path of straw
cause I want to sit down
on that tree trunk I see
and that way I'm never going to arrive

From Alto Cedro, I go to Marcan
I arrive in CUeto, and then I go towards Mayar.

You know from the size of the tree trunks where I live, that nothing here is older than about 50 years old. That means that almost everything at some time has been cleared. In some ways,this realization offers some consolation, because to look at, you wouldn't think we live in a barren wasteland.

There's quite a lot of greenery and trees, so it shows that nature can regenerate and regrow. You only have to look at some old photos of the timber-getting days to realise however, that this greenery is but a sad shadow of what used to exist. Trees with trunks so thick 5 men couldn't touch arms around it, were everywhere, then. There's nothing like that anywhere, now.

There's no majesty in nature here, now. Just a struggling attempt at regrowth that gets knocked down every few months with each new housing development that our corrupt and immoral government allows with its stamp of approval.

Kinda off topic but ...

At Niargra falls the squirrels are so use to being hand fed that they hang from tree trunks and swipe at tourists / tourist food. They often hang around hot dog carts and wait for people to leave. I had one jump onto my backpack and attempt to take my sweet sweet pizza hot dog away from me.

Hmmm, well it's how they title it originally and given the cat is smart enough to hide in a tree trunk and not blunder in, (ahem unlike in the final clip of course) I thought the title was ok.

Of course clever is not the same as being successful...