A Fiat Chrysler-affiliated dealership in Texas was hit by a tornado Saturday night, suffering catastrophic damage to its showroom, service center, and inventory. If you’ve ever wondered how your oversized truck would stack up against the awesome power of Mother Nature, look no further than the scattered and overturned vehicles that once occupied Interstate 20 Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram of Canton’s parking lot.
Thankfully, employees left the dealership well before the twister’s arrival — a wise decision, as the majority of it was obliterated by the storm. According to NBC Channel 5 in Dallas-Fort Worth, the general manager made the decision to abandon the building only minutes before the tornado ripped it apart. Overhead footage obtained in the aftermath shows dozens of mangled vehicles thrown hundreds of feet.
Tragically, the dealership destruction was not an isolated incident. At least four tornadoes landed in the surrounding counties on Saturday. Canton Mayor Lou Ann Everett said on Sunday evening four people had been killed in the storm.
“We won’t know what exactly we are dealing with until the sun comes up,” Everett said Saturday. “We have no power. We have three major transmission stations that are damaged.”
[Image captures: KXAS-TV Dallas-Fort Worth]
that will buff right out :)
Must have been a trailer park next door or Mother Nature Pointing out the fact that the Dodge Ram in Twister wasn’t all that tough ;)
REVENGE IS MINE!
It’s basically out in the middle of nowhere, on the I-20 service road at FM (Farm-to-Market) 17. There is a self storage place close by.
A co-worker here has a friend (technician) that had just started working at I-20 CJDR. He’d left a dealership in Amarillo, where they got snow this weekend.
The only bright spot is that if they had any Darts, 200s, or Fiats, they don’t have to worry about trying to get rid of those; the tornado did it for them.
A total of six tornadoes confirmed by the NWS. I was glued to Twitter Saturday night (following the Texas Storm Chasers), to make sure we weren’t going to be in the line of fire (we were volunteering at a HS band function, Night of Jazz).
The quote at the end of the article is from Sunday afternoon but what article? Wondering if they’ve updated it since then, assuming the sun indeed rose this morning. Or was it from a live broadcast or something.
That was Saturday night. Canton got nailed by two of the six tornadoes, one to their west, and one to their east (this one, an EF-3). Three or four electrical transmission were pulled down.
So “Twister” really sort of led us on?
here you can see progress. back in the ’90 you wouldn’t have been able to tell the damaged fiats from the goot ones.
I see lots of good parts here.
That’s one way to clear an inventory glut.
I bet the first thing Sergio said was “how many Darts and 200s did we get rid of?”
Sergio: “I appreciate your enthusiasm to move the metal, guys, but when I said ‘weekend blow-out sale’, this ISN’T what I meant!”
Dusty we’ve got debris.
DEBRIS?!?!?
OUCH .
.
Glad only a few were killed, better if none had been .
.
Dodge has lots more pickups to replace these, lives are a different matter .
.
-Nate
The saddest case was the rancher (former Marine) out checking on his cows, when his truck was picked up and then thrown down, a couple hundred feet off of Texas Highway 64. One of the guys that rushed to see about him was also an ex-Marine, who stayed with him the last few minutes before he passed away.
Dammit ;
.
I lived on a small, rural Dairy Farm in the mid 1960’s and death was every where .
.
Most Farmers over 35 years old had damaged of missing fingers, limbs and so on, not from their Military Service .
.
Who will tend his Family now ? .
.
-Nate
CLAIMS ADJUSTER (looking at smashed Darts everywhere): “137 Hellcats totaled? They look bigger in the commercials.”
DEALER: “Ones in the commercials are, uh, pre-tornado Hellcats.”
I wonder how many of these trucks/cars will show up with clean carfaxes elsewhere?
Not as many as you’d think. Tornados are pretty good at completely trashing vehicles. The truck in the lead photo will likely go through Copart and become a parts truck. Even if you got it for free it would cost too much to put it back on the road.
or in the land of Oz.
The Wicked Witch of the West gets crushed by a Ram, Dorothy has to tear out of there in a HELLCAT.
Really. My old Leaf ended up on a used car lot with a clean Carfax after a $4000 body/frame repair at a Nissan-approved shop.
Carfax is a joke.
“Cow.” “Another cow.” “Actually, I think that was the same one.”
“Honey, I gotta go, we got cows!”
In all seriousness, I’m glad the people there were okay. Mother Nature is psycho sometimes.
Jackpot for the dealer. Insurance will probably pay every single one at full sticker. Dealership wins again.
Except for the rebuilding part, and the insurance deductible. And the employees who are now out of work.
I bet their insurance covers lost business and will give them plenty of money to rebuild even after the deductible. I said the dealership wins, salespeople…yeah…that’s rough.
Looks my co-worker was right, when he said the place was brand new – Google Maps Street View shows their showroom still under construction, in January of this year.
https://goo.gl/maps/PiTw17GXQEJ2
The pictures show why cars don’t provide much protection from tornadoes. Cars and lots of other heavy objects fly through the air in a moderately strong EF3 tornado. The strongest tornadoes throw trains through the air. https://extremeplanet.me/2013/03/17/fascinating-and-accurate-tornado-records-the-deadliest-the-fastest-the-rarest/
The 2011 Joplin tornado threw concrete bumpers from parking lots through the air. https://extremeplanet.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/2011-joplin-tornado-concrete-parking-stops.png?w=768&h=509