HARRISON (KFSM) - The National Weather Service in Little Rock confirmed an EF-1 tornado touched down north of Harrison early on Friday morning (April 3), damaging several buildings at the Arkansas Baptist Boys Ranch.
"When it hit, it was loud and not really traumatizing, but it was scary, I'm holding onto my bed, the house is shaking, I don't know how to take it," 16-year-old Cameron Kinzer said.
He lives at the ranch, and is originally from Arizona. He said he's never experienced a tornado before.
"It's only an F-1 and just imagine what people go through on F-5's it's traumatizing, I'm really just grateful that my Lord was there to protect all of us and no one got hurt," Kinzer said.
The tornado touched down northeast of Green Forest in Carroll County and continued onward north of Harrison in Boone County, according to the National Weather Service. The twister uprooted more than a dozen trees, and destoyed nearly every building on the property.
"You're just looking around and saying 'well that's gone and where's that barn that used to be there,' it's a bit overwhelming," Director David Perry said.
Perry said the only building with minimal damage was the chapel. He estimates the damage to the property to be hundreds of thousands of dollars, and said he will have the exact number sometime on Saturday (April 4).
"God's at the top of our ministry and he helped us through this experience today, and so it's at the right place, just to look at it still standing is an encouraging thing," Perry said.
Sixteen-year-old Jordun Oller also lives at the ranch. He said he was overwhelmed to see the community come to their aid. Perry said they received calls all day Friday from area churches, asking what they could do to help.
"This happened happened overnight, and then the next morning people are out here and they were working before we even got to school and by the time we got back it was mostly cleaned up and it was all looking back to almost what it was," Oller said.
Twenty-seven boys and seven staff members were at the camp at the time, but no injuries were reported. Both boys agreed that it was a blessing.
"A building can be rebuilt, you can't take back a life," Kinzer said.
Perry said two of the buildings will have to be rebuilt from the ground up, and said they will be cleaning up the damage for weeks. For more information on the National Weather Service's report, click here.