HENRYVILLE, Ind. (WTHR) - Five years ago today, hundreds of childrens’ lives were in danger with a monster EF4 tornado about to rip through Henryville, right at the end of the school day.
But Henryville’s administrators, teachers and students have of some the most incredible stories of survival and recovery.
When the storm hit on March 2, 2012, what happened at Henryville Elementary and at the adjoining Junior/Senior High School is nothing short of remarkable.
1300 students.
130 staff members.
Nobody hurt.
And despite total destruction, the kids were back in the schools five months later.
A memory wall in Henryville Elementary captures the emotions of the 2012 tornado, through the artistic eyes of students and teachers.
Colorful tiles, created by those who were in school that day, form a heart and put forth a lesson in resilience.
"There's one that says we are strong and it has a picture of the tornado," pointed out Henryville Principal Troy Albert.
"The symbol's still there. 'Our hearts are full of Hornet pride'."
Those same words were put up on a sign outside the shell of their school in 2012.
They're now etched inside the hallway as a reminder of an incredible recovery.
"We were strong that day. We held it together," Albert said. "That's the theme that has carried on for the last five years."
This is what Henryville had to hold together, what they had to stare down, then salvage.
The schools took a direct hit from an EF4 tornado on March 2nd, 2012. Two storm cells, about ten minutes apart, tore the place to shreds.
Clayton Smith, now a senior, was in 7th grade at the time. He rode out the tornado in the school office, hunkered down near the nurse's station, with a couple dozen students and staff.
"We all just rushed in the office and not but 20 seconds later, it hit," Smith recalled. "Pretty central area, so glad I was here. It was the deepest rumbling sound you could imagine like maybe two or three trains running overhead over you."
"And no one was hurt, not even a scratch," Albert said.
School leaders knew something bad was coming that day. Just as the buses readied for dismissal, it got really bad.
"At about 2:25, we knew that the tornado was in a path to hit the center of our town," Albert said. "Well, we are the center of the town."
That's when school leaders made what turned out to be a life-saving decision: send the buses, get students home.
Not long after, most of the school was gone.
"This whole area was down to the concrete," Albert said, gesturing to the entire back of the Elementary School.
"Usually I get the vision when I was walking outside the school finally, after the fire marshal came and let us out. Everything was just... disappeared," Smith recalled. "The whole wall was missing so I'm like, 'whoa, that's not what I'm used to seeing'."
Smith, Mr. Albert and the 85 people who remained inside the schools during the storm stayed safe because of where they chose to shelter.
They crouched down in concrete offices, bathrooms and locker rooms.
No hallways.
No windows.
It's part of the continuing plan to keep students protected from any future storm.
In the 2012 tornado, they avoided the most significant damage - Henryville's gym, which took the first hit that day.
"This is the most famous part of the tornado," Albert said, walking into the now-pristine gymnasium.
Security cameras captured its destruction in real time.
Walls collapsed.
The roof dropped 60 feet and slammed into the floor.
"You can imagine how much that roof weighs, to hit this floor, you're dropping 60 feet, it's going to make an impact," Albert said. "After you saw it, you thought wow...and the thing is, if kids were in here, you'd have really been in trouble."
But they weren't.
And even right after the storm, Principal Albert says there were signs that survival was just the start.
"The baskets were still hanging. The rafters were still solid and the biggest thing I can tell you is the American flag was still hanging right where it is right now," Albert said.
Henryville Schools rebuilt and reopened for the following school year.
It was a massive, $54 million dollar project, with round-the-clock work by Belfor Construction.
Students spent a few months in temporary classrooms in Scott County during that time.
But they also spent a lot of time outside of school, helping neighbors recover.
That is the legacy that lingers five years later.
Because in the hallways and classrooms, things are normal again.
Students say they don't feel defined by the storm anymore.
But what happened here changed them, just like it changed Henryville.
"It did solidify the whole close-knit community in general, not just the students, but the whole small town itself," Smith said. "They were really brought together by it."
