ABC13 Chief Forecaster David Tillman storm chases in Texas into Louisiana

ALEXANDRIA, Louisiana (KTRK) -- ABC13's Chief Forecaster David Tillman and photographer Noe Cumplido hit the road Saturday morning to chase storms after reporting a severe weather risk for parts of Texas and Louisiana.

The two took ABC13's new high profile truck to Alexandria, where David said would have possibly seen some of the worst of the system.
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While on the road, David confirmed that a large tornado touched down in Hearne, Texas, around 11 a.m.


STORM CHASING TIMELINE



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During the chase near Alexandria, David said things got a bit interesting.

"At one point, there was a storm that was right near us that had a tornado warning on it," said David. "It did have some rotation. We decided to try to chase the storm but the storm was moving pretty fast to the east at about 50 miles an hour and it basically outran us."



After several hours, David said the storm outran them.




"This is the one storm we intercepted that had a tornado warning on it. It was in Pineville, Louisiana just north of Alexandria. Those dark clouds in the background were rotating but they didn't drop a tornado. We chased that storm but couldn't catch it because it was moving away at 50 mph. Then we lost cellular coverage so we couldn't follow it on radar. It was intense and scary when it passed over us. We survived!"