Homes and barns destroyed, roofs blown off, and cars damaged in Richland and Crawford counties, where National Weather Service surveyors now say a tornado touched down late Monday.
"I think it was the loudest sound I've ever heard, that combined with the glass? Horrific," John Cooper told News 5.
Cooper's home saw some of the very worst damage- pieces of insulation cover their van, toys, equipment, everything they own scattered on the lawn.
"Pretty much gutted...you don't think it's going to happen to you, it did," he said.
But with so much up in the air, Cooper told News 5 there is one thing he's sure of; "miracles do happen," he said, with last nights winds still ringing in his ears.
"You think you're going to get that gust and it's going to stop, but it didn't."
He said he grabbed his son, and tried to grab his wife and daughter, but before he could clear the mess to get in that room, he heard a knock on the back door.
It was them. After they were taken by the storm and thrown more than 30 feet.
"The storm had picked them up. They flew off the mattress," he described.
Thankfully, both of them made it out with only a couple scratches; "They went to the hospital and they checked out ok."
Richland County Emergency Management Deputy Director Rick Evans told News 5 it was the worst they has been hit in a long time.
"We have our severe weather sirens throughout the county. This came up so fast we didn't have a chance to activate that," he explained.
Evans spent some time on Cooper's street, Hook Road, and told News 5 the bore the brunt of the damage.
John Cooper looked the state of his home and told our Tara Molina he has one thing to say; "We survived. Everything else can be replaced."
