SELLERSBURG, Ind. (WDRB) -- Sellersburg families are still picking up from Tuesday night's EF-0 tornado. It directly hit the Fields of Perry Crossing neighborhood near New Perry Lane and Lumberfield Lane.

The sirens went off and people had minutes to prepare.

"I was hoping and praying that it would just go over the top of the house but it was a direct hit on the house," Terry Matern, who lives in Clark County, said.

Matern's head had just hit the pillow when the alerts went off on his phone.

"We didn't expect to go through it again this soon," Matern said. "It's probably a couple 100 yards away. And I ran out and told my wife who was on the couch to get to the basement as quickly as possible."

Seconds later, the tornado tore through his home.

"Two panels - ended up over there. One was against the house. The other went through the house. And it's all splintered into pieces inside of the bedroom right now," Matern said.

Next door neighbors woke up the next morning to find whole sections of their roof gone.

"It's a little surreal, right? I mean, you just don't expect the clouds to be doing that," Matthew Vaughn, who also witnessed the storm, said.

And others, like Marty Hope, left with one less tree and a lot of insulation.

"The scary part of it is it felt like it was going to take the house shirt off the foundation. House just started shaking and you could feel the pressure," Hope said.

IMAGES | Southern Indiana residents cleaning up after tornado touchdown Tuesday Night

Residents in southern Indiana are making repairs to homes damaged by a confirmed tornado touchdown in the Sellersburg area in the late evening hours of May 7, 2024. 

The tornado touched down Tuesday. It caused damage in three different neighborhoods near the Covered Bridge Golf Course: The Fields of Perry Crossing, Columbus Lakes, and the Lewis and Clark Neighborhood.

"It took just a few minutes so mean when they say you need to move you need to move seek shelter. It doesn't take long," Matern said.

Hope and Matern said moments after it passed even in the pouring rain neighbors started lending a helping hand.

"We're just very thankful. Thankful to God that nobody was hurt," Matern said. "It means a lot to us."

"It's unbelievable. When he um, sometimes when you're just like you're alone. When something happens like it, you find out who your friends are," Hope said.

Other neighbors said this community went through a similar storm about 10 years ago. They just didn't expect to go through it so soon again.

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