Video shows car launching into the air as road buckles, splits open reportedly due to extreme heat

A video shows the moment a vehicle was launched into the air as a heat wave reportedly caused the road to buckle in Missouri, a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It was captured by Cape Girardeau resident Albert Blackwell on June 22, with temperatures that day reaching 92 degrees Fahrenheit, or nearly 34 degrees Celcius, according to the National Weather Service .

Road buckles a second before this car hits sending car in the air. #mowx #weather #heatwave #what #wxtwitter pic.twitter.com/QJ6mXYBYDa— Albert Blackwell (@WeatherAlbee) June 22, 2025

“Everyone was in shock, myself included,” said Blackwell to National Post over email on Tuesday. “I’ve seen small buckles, but never anything like this. Just two seconds later and that car probably would have been rolled.” Blackwell, who runs a local weather page, said he had previously taken a video of the initial buckle in the road and noticed cars scraping their front ends. While he was in the area, he had about 20 minutes before he had to pick his daughter up from work, so he decided to go back to get a better view. “I had no idea the road was about to buckle even more,” he said. “I wasn’t filming long when the road popped sending the car airborne. I then stopped recording and called it in to authorities to get the road closed.” The driver of the vehicle had pulled over and Blackwell said he went to check on its occupants. Crews in the area worked to repair the damage, local news station KFVS 12 reported . The driver was “understandably shaken,” said Blackwell. “She had no chance to stop. Her car looked brand new before this. The landing did some damage to her vehicle,” he said, adding that the full extent of the damage would need to assessed. There was a passenger in the car as well who was also confused by the event, said Blackwell, although the passenger remained “very calm.” “You get the moisture underground, and everything kind of comes together. It’s just, everything swells up and has nowhere to go but up,” assistant director for the Cape Girardeau Public Works Department Brock Davis told KFVS. As of Tuesday morning, a heat advisory is still in place for many cities in the state, with daily heat index values of 100 to 107 degrees Farenheit, or nearly 38 to nearly 42 degrees Celcius. The advisory is expected to remain in effect until Friday evening. Roads in other states also reportedly suffered from the heat. Around 50 incidents of “pavement buckling due to extreme heat” were reported over the weekend in Wisconsin, per local news station WISN 12 . There were also reports of roads buckling in South Dakota, Colorado and Nebraska, according to Fox 8 News . In general, extreme heat warnings and heat advisories have been issued in many parts of the eastern U.S., per the National Weather Service. “When temperatures rise to certain values, the physical composure of many items will naturally start to break down or change,” the Weather Network reported . Meanwhile, in Canada, some provinces are also feeling the heat . Ontario Provincial Police closed down part of Highway 402 in the Plympton-Wyoming area, east of Sarnia, due to “unsafe road surface conditions,” it said in a post on X on June 22.

ROAD CLOSURE: #Hwy402 westbound is closed between Oil Heritage Rd and Mandaumin Rd in Plympton-Wyoming due to due to unsafe road surface conditions. Westbound motorists exit at Oil Heritage Rd and take London Line to Mandaumin Rd to re-enter the highway. #LambtonOPP on scene.^pia pic.twitter.com/zHoGfux7sT— OPPCommunicationsWR (@OPP_COMM_WR) June 23, 2025

Environment Canada has issued heat warnings for parts of Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec as of Tuesday morning. In cities such as Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, the weather agency says humidex values of 40 to 45 degrees Celcius are expected.

• This Canadian man's home was assessed at just $2 due to landslide risk
• Andrew Richter: Carney fiddles as Canada literally burns

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.