The driver of a red pickup truck seen in a widely-circulated video flipping over on Highway 290 during a tornado in Elgin says the twister hit "out of nowhere" and adds he's "blessed to live another day."
"It just happened fast," said 16-year-old Riley Leon.
Leon said he was on his way home from Whataburger where he had gone for a job interview when he was caught by the tornado.
"I actually called my friend. I was like, 'I got the job!'" Leon said. "Everything was going good."
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Then, he suddenly found himself in the middle of a tornado.
"I honestly didn't know what to do, to grab onto the steering wheel or to start praying," the 11th grader said.
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The tornado pushed his Silverado on its side, then bounced it back upright, before he appeared to simply drive on.
"On the video, it looks like I drove off but in reality I didn't," he said. "I landed in the center of the road and I was just driving to get off the road."
He stopped. Police checked on him.
Leon called his mother.
"I didn't know whether to laugh or cry," his mother Sylvia Leon said in Spanish. "Thank God he's OK. The rest doesn't matter."
Riley said his truck is banged up and not really drivable.
"It still turns on but it doesn't drive very good," he said.
Riley said he's just grateful to be alive.
"I'm actually blessed to live another day," he said.
