Canada Tornado: Man Who Mowed Lawn With Tornado Behind Him Says He Was 'Fully Aware' But 'Not Worried'

A photo of a Canadian man casually mowing his lawn while a massive tornado loomed behind him Friday has gone viral on social media.

Theunis Wessels, a resident of Three Hills, Alberta, a province in Western Canada, said he was “fully aware” of the menacing tornado that hit the province Friday. Wessel’s wife Cecilia told BBC News that he “wasn't worried at all.” Cecilia was the one to take her husband’s photo and post it on social media with the caption that read:“My beast mowing the lawn with a breeze in his hair.”

Read: Tornadoes In US: At Least 14 Dead In South And Midwest, Arkansas, Oklahoma Issue State Of Emergency

Cecilia told BBC the tornado was almost 2 kilometers (1.25 miles) away from their house. Although the tornado appeared pretty close to the man in the photograph, it was much further away as Cecilia said.

The twister caused damage to property but did not report any loss to human life. Cecilia added that the twister disappeared quickly.

“I literally took the picture to show my mom and dad in South Africa, 'Look there's a tornado,' and now everyone is like, ‘Why is your husband mowing the lawn?’” Cecilia Wessels told CBC News on Saturday.

“Our whole street, everyone was on their back patios taking pictures,” she added.

Cecilia said that she was woken up by her concerned nine-year-old daughter who was worried that her father did not hide inside from the tornado but was mowing the lawn instead.

“My daughter was the most upset, saying 'Mum, what we gonna do?'”Cecilia said.

After her daughter seemed worried, Cecilia came outside to check on her husband, who continued mowing with a tornado behind him.

He said “Everything is ok,” and he looked “calm, in control,” she recalled.

Wessels told CBC News that he had some knowledge about tornadoes as he had recently watched a TV program on storm chasers. His wife also told BBC that he attended a seminar recently conducted by a storm chasing association.

“It looks much closer if you look in the photo, but it was really far away. Well, not really far, far away, but it was far away from us,” Wessels said. “I was keeping an eye on it,” he added.

Cecilia said her mother was worried about her son-in-law and asked, “Why are you letting him outside? Please stay safe.”

Other residents were also taking photographs of the tornado, Cecilia said recalling how she decided to post the picture she clicked on social media. “This is the craziest picture! Lol. I'm glad that the tornado didn't come down to your house," one of the users commented on her picture. Another user described Cecilia’s husband as “the Chuck Norris of lawn mowers!,” according to BBC.

Cecilia told BBC that her husband’s photo had already been shared 3,500 times in just two days and she received 256 friend requests after posting it.

On Friday, Environment Canada, the agency responsible for sending out weather alerts, declared that the tornado was produced by a thunderstorm, CTV reported.

Environment Canada had issued a warning for parts of the Kneehill County area in Alberta around 5 p.m. EDT Friday citing an “eyewitness report” of a possible tornado. According to them, by 5:27 p.m. EDT, the storm had already produced a tornado.

Soon after the tornado touched down on a highway near the area, Environment Canada said the twister had since lifted and that “the threat of a future tornado is no longer imminent.”

According to Canada's Global News, Alberta generally experiences about 15 tornadoes every year, typically between the months of April and September.