Champaign family gets up-close look at tornado

The News-Gazette has this story of Sunday's round of severe weather in central Illinois:

MATTOON – G. David Frye, his wife L.B, and their three sons were headed for their Champaign home late Sunday afternoon after an Easter celebration in Cape Girardeau, Mo., when dark skies over Coles County caught their attention.

"We stopped north of Mattoon because it looked bad," Frye said, adding their first stop was at a gas station, where they called a friend in Champaign to see what the weather was doing at home.

The report was that things were settling down so after a few minutes' wait, they got back on Interstate 57 and headed north again.

"It looked really bad," he said. His wife was driving and they pulled to the side of the road.

"I happened to see this cloud formation several miles to the west. I'm a pilot. I'd seen pictures of this before," he said.

So he got out a video camera and started taping.

Champaign family gets up-close look at tornado