AUTRYVILLE, N.C. – Several homes in the town of Autryville took a devastating blow during Tuesday's tornado in Sampson County.
An EF-1 funnel cloud touched down packing winds over 100 miles per hour.
"I said ‘Lord have mercy.’ She pointed and I looked and seen debris flying in the air and all and I went in the house and everything and it was over just that quick," said Autryville resident David Faircloth.
The fire department took a direct hit.
"We're looking at probably a million or two million dollars’ worth of damage from property to apparatus,” said Autryville Area Fire Chief Andrew Hawkins.
As many as eight people were in the station when the tornado hit. They took cover by lying underneath a fire truck.
No one was injured in the fire department and Hawkins says thanks to volunteers from departments in neighboring counties the station was only out of service and unable to take calls for about 30 minutes on Tuesday.
Volunteers are donating food and water, and crews have worked around the clock to help restore power to the area.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, the fire department was the community hub. Now, the tables have turned.
"We were who everyone walked to to charge phones, to get coffee, to do anything, and so for that role to be completely flipped and for us to have to reach our hands out for that, our community has lifted us up higher than I ever thought they would have done,” said Hawkins.