--- title: Fortnite Teen Not Fazed By Greensboro Tornado description: In the midst of the Greensboro tornado, one teen was too preoccupied with his Fortnite game to pay much attention to the encroaching storm. canonical: https://time.com/5243188/fortnite-teen-greensboro-tornado/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-04-17T16:41:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:52:14.754Z og:title: Gamer Teen Unfazed by Tornado Blowing Roof Off Neighbor's House og:description: "Honestly, I was thinking about the game" og:url: https://time.com/5243188/fortnite-teen-greensboro-tornado/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte813f7e7a0d519d3/69892dd98fd2ee4e5035b54b/screen-shot-2018-04-17-at-12-12-10-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1204 og:image:height: 677 og:image:alt: Fortnite-Teen-Tornado og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Gamer Teen Unfazed by Tornado Blowing Roof Off Neighbor's House twitter:description: "Honestly, I was thinking about the game" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte813f7e7a0d519d3/69892dd98fd2ee4e5035b54b/screen-shot-2018-04-17-at-12-12-10-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Gamer Teen Unfazed by Tornado That Blew Roof Off Neighbor's House > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=7ed8778b-ff03-458e-b415-183ec289636f&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Apr 17, 2018 4:41 PM UTC  WXII 12  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Apr 17, 2018 4:41 PM UTC As a [tornado](http://time.com/5232050/tornado-alley-oklahoma-texas-kansas/) savaged [Greensboro, N.C.](http://time.com/national-school-walkout-gun-control-photos/), on Sunday night, one teen was too preoccupied with his [Fortnite](http://time.com/5237213/fortnite-ios-iphone-downloads-clash-of-clans-candy-crush-and-pokemon-go/) game to pay much attention to the encroaching storm. Anton Williams was in the middle of a round of the hugely popular video game when the tornado blew through his neighborhood. However, he apparently didn’t even notice the powerful EF2 twister until it began ripping the roofs off of his neighbor’s homes. “I was sitting at home and I was playing Fortnite, and all of sudden, I hear a bunch of noise. I look out the window and I started seeing the roof come off the houses in front of me,” Williams told [WXII 12](http://www.wxii12.com/article/as-strong-storms-barrel-through-greensboro-neighborhood-man-recalls-his-video-game-being-disrupted/19829500) on Monday. “I sit back down because I only have a couple people left in my game, and I was going to try to finish the game. But then it started getting worse and I started to see the power lines come down, so I told my sister and my nephew to come to the bathroom.” But in the midst of ensuring his family’s safety, Williams said his mind was still mostly in Fortnite survival mode. “Honestly, I was thinking about the game, but I was hoping everybody was OK around me,” he said. > [](https://twitter.com/WXII/status/985987352198877185) Naturally, the Internet had a lot of thoughts on Williams’ priorities. “I want to show some love to that kid who was playing Fortnite when the Tornado hit his house in Greensboro,” wrote one Twitter user. “Got his family to safety and still got a Top 12\. A real hero.” > [](https://twitter.com/iamcIine/status/985960112912261121) See more reactions below. > [](https://twitter.com/RickAshayz/status/986018158250258432) > [](https://twitter.com/TheRealJbeamer/status/986002074608590848) > [](https://twitter.com/KEEMSTAR/status/986056735239688192) > [](https://twitter.com/flc/status/985980356712165376) > [](https://twitter.com/SeanOzment/status/986014361813565440) > [](https://twitter.com/mergelgarchia/status/985940825887698944) > [](https://twitter.com/Vahn16/status/985933646262517760) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5243188/fortnite-teen-greensboro-tornado/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5243188/fortnite-teen-greensboro-tornado/"},"headline":"Gamer Teen Unfazed by Tornado That Blew Roof Off Neighbor's House","datePublished":"2018-04-17T16:41:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:52:14.754Z","description":"\"Honestly, I was thinking about the game\"","url":"https://time.com/5243188/fortnite-teen-greensboro-tornado/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Video Games","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte813f7e7a0d519d3/69892dd98fd2ee4e5035b54b/screen-shot-2018-04-17-at-12-12-10-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte813f7e7a0d519d3/69892dd98fd2ee4e5035b54b/screen-shot-2018-04-17-at-12-12-10-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Fortnite-Teen-Tornado","caption":"","creditText":"WXII 12","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5243188/fortnite-teen-greensboro-tornado/","name":"Gamer Teen Unfazed by Tornado That Blew Roof Off Neighbor's House"}}]}] ```