TUSCALOOSA, Alabama -- When Ever Duarte Jr. saw a tornado headed toward his neighborhood on

, he did what many Tuscaloosa residents did. He grabbed a video camera and started recording. It's unlikely that he realized, though, just how close that tornado would come.

In a video posted to YouTube, Duarte narrates in Spanish the proximity of the tornado, which seems to descend almost directly upon his home. Translated, his description of the video reads: "Moments of terror felt while watching the coming tornado."

In the video, you can hear Duarte repeatedly asking his wife and children to get into the closet. However, despite dropping to the ground a couple times, seemingly to take cover himself, Duarte kept recording as tree branches and other debris flew swiftly by in the swirling wind.

Throughout filming, Duarte was also on the phone, relaying details to his brother on the other end.

After the tornado passes by, Duarte comments numerous times about the magnitude of the damage left in its wake. "Thank God these buildings are made of bricks and steel... otherwise we will be in trouble," he says in the video.



Hernan Prado of ¡Hola Alabama! contributed to this report.