US FedEx driver survives tornado by holding onto vending machine

A locked hardware store door has saved the life of a US FedEx driver after the building was swiftly demolished by a tornado.

Surveillance footage taken last week from True Value Hardware in Louisiana shows deliver driver Kyra Johnson desperately trying to access the store for shelter from an oncoming tornado, as reported by Fox13.

Unable to open the doors, she braces for cover behind a nearby vending machine just as the tornado reaches the store.

The CCTV camera shows the storm decimate the hardware store, leaving only a pile of rubble in its wake.

Johnson and the vending machine remarkably survive the ordeal.

The Paincourtville tornado reportedly destroyed 45 homes.