VALLEY VIEW, Texas — Valenia Gill and her best friend Brenda Procter Dance were hoping to have a girls night over the weekend.
Massive music fans, their goal was to take in a couple of shows on Saturday night. First, they took in a country show at the Old Timer Entertainment and Music Hall in Valley View. Then they planned to drive across the region and make it to Royse City in time to catch a late show from rising country performer Hayden Haddock at the music venue Southern Junction.
It was an ambitious plan, perhaps, but the pair was all in. Gill, after all, sports a tattoo of Haddock's logo on her chest.
So, it's safe to say, the friends' minds were elsewhere when, shortly after 10:30 p.m., they were on the road from one concert to the other and they started hearing warnings about tornadic activity on the radio.
By that point, however, it was too late. They were already in the storm's path, driving south along I-35 at FM 3002 just as a confirmed EF-3 tornado was bearing down on the nearby AP Travel Center.
They quickly pulled onto the service road, but panic started to set in.
Cell phone video the pair recorded, along with dashcam footage from Gill's car, showed the chaos the friends experienced in that moment.
"The car is shaking!" Gill says as swirling rains can be seen engulfing the car through its windshield. "It's got my car!"
Next, their minds understandably went to what measures they could take to stay safe.
"We're right in the middle of the tornado, Brenda!" Gill shouts in the footage "What to do I do?"
Experts say there are three things drivers should do in such a moment.
What to do if you're driving and find yourself in or near a tornado:
- drive to the closest shelter
- abandon your car and seek shelter in a low-lying area such as a ditch
- get down in your car and cover your head
That last option is what Gill and Dance settled on -- in part because it was their only option.
"We couldn't get the doors open at all because the wind was so bad," Dance said the next day.
So they hunkered down in place.
"The car was rocking," Dance said of that moment. "It was shaking."
Added Gill: "I thought we were coming off the ground."
In the end, Gill's car experienced some damage -- the driver's side window was cracked and her rearview mirror was broken -- but the pair mostly walked away from their face-to-face experience with a tornado unscathed.
Mostly, they're just grateful they were able to walk away from that frightening moment alive.
"Thank you, Jesus!" Dance said.
Added Gill: "Thank you, God!"