TROUSDALE COUNTY, Tenn. (WZTV) — Heavy winds in Middle Tennessee flipped a school bus over with the driver still inside.

Don Robinson lives on a farm in Trousdale County along Old Highway 25. Monday morning, he went to warm up his school bus and prepare for his route.

Robinson noticed the bus starting to shake. The next thing he knew, strong winds flipped it over with a large camper landing on top of it.

“It just all of a sudden, the rain come real hard and then the wind, then the bus started shaking right then, and I just thought well you know it’s just shaking a little bit. It went on and rolled over and I said, well I can ride it,” Robinson remembered.

Trapped inside, Robinson says he immediately called his friend and told him he could not get out of the bus.

“I said, ‘Yeah, I’m in the bus and I can’t get out.’ My grandson lives with me and he had to get me out of the rooftop. They pulled me out,” Robinson said. “I didn’t realize it, the bus had turned over but it had flipped north and south also. I park it east and west.”

Robinson compared the school bus being tossed in the wind to a county fair ride, saying he just held on and waited until the action was over.

“It’s like riding one of these rides at a fair, you know it slings you out and you just ride it,” Robinson commented. “It wasn’t bad. I’ve been in a wreck before. I just rode it. That’s all I could do.”

It wasn’t until the driver was pulled from the school bus that he saw the sweeping storm damage to his land. Horses on his farm died in the storms, the siding of his house was torn off and split trees are now scattered around his property.

With major storm cleanup in his future, Robinson is choosing to focus on the positive: that no children were on the bus and that he’s still here.

“I thank the good Lord for being here. I lost a couple of my horses died. I got a lot of damage around. It’s just what it is. It’s just part of life I guess. I just thank the good Lord I’m still here.”

Trousdale County Schools are closed Monday for officials to evaluate storm damage. FOX 17 News was in a Code Red Weather Alert as strong to severe storms tracked through Middle Tennessee and southern Kentucky.

Written by Caitlyn Shelton