Chaotic videos show Florida cruise passengers hit with chairs, debris during severe weather while in port
Videos show people running for shelter as the chaotic scene unfolded aboard Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas.
Wild weather causes chaos on cruise ship
FOX 35 in Orlando spoke with cruise ship passengers who were onboard Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas in Port Canaveral, Florida, when wild weather moved in.
PORT CANAVERAL, Fla. – Passengers say they were caught off guard by severe weather as they were boarding their cruise ship at Port Canaveral in Florida last week.
According to a report from FOX 35 in Orlando, cruisers weren’t even out of the port on Friday when the thunderstorm moved in quickly. People were running to seek shelter as the chaotic scene unfolded aboard Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas.
Jenn Stancil captured video of the storm moving in – completely covering another cruise ship in the water as people ran to safety. The passengers can be seen scrambling to get out of the pouring rain as deck chairs were flying through the air, even hitting some people.
Watch: Intense storm sends deck chairs flying, knocks down cruise ship passengers
Video recorded on Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas shows deck chairs flying through the air and passengers being knocked to the ground when a severe thunderstorm blew through Port Canaveral, Florida.
Those who witnessed the mayhem told FOX 35 News that they had never seen anything like that on the water or even on land.
"It just turned crazy. It looked like a scene from the movie ‘Twister’ is exactly what I thought because you see these chairs flying up in the air," she said.
Lucas Sparrow was on board with his family when the chaos unfolded.
"People were getting blown, losing their hats, towels," said Sparrow.
The entire video one passenger shared with us was only four minutes long, showing how fast weather can move in and the need for warnings to make sure passengers are safe.
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Watch: Florida cruise ship passengers scramble for safety during severe thunderstorm
Video shows cruise passengers scrambling for safety as heavy rain and gusty winds battered Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas ship as it prepared to leave Port Canaveral, Florida.
FOX 35 News reached out to Royal Caribbean about the rough weather, and they asked about their protocol in such as situation.
FOX 35 received the following response Wednesday morning:
"On Friday, June 16, while departing from Port Canaveral, Independence of the Seas encountered a sudden gust of high winds. This lasted for a brief period and there were no serious injuries to our guests or crew. Independence of the Seas continued its regularly scheduled 3-night itinerary, arriving to Perfect Day at CocoCay in The Bahamas, on Saturday morning, as scheduled."