HENRYVILLE, Ind. (WTHR) - Five years ago this week, a destructive and deadly tornado outbreak tore through southern Indiana.
It caused nearly $2 billion in damage and hit hardest in Henryville in Clark County.
But return to Henryville five years later, and you'll find those who experienced the worst kind of weather used courage in crisis to survive and now, thrive.
You can see the difference just driving into town. The view of Henryville from the exit off of I-65 now is perfection, compared to the catastrophic scene in 2012.
Five years ago, on March 2, police described it as chaos.
"We are dealing with complete destruction," an officer said that evening.
"I could actually feel the wind sucking at me. It was a roar. A loud roar," added resident Ernie Hall, who survived the storm by covering his family with a mattress. "I mean stuff up in the attic was just beating and pounding all over the place."
The tornado outbreak that hit southeastern Indiana killed 14 people in several counties. It destroyed more than 200 homes and damaged at least 2,900.
In hard-hit Henryville, a powerful EF-4 monster tornado that ate up nearly everything in its path.
For people who don't live in Henryville, that storm often brings to mind two iconic images: the high school gym, captured on security camera being ripped apart and flattened, and the school bus that 200 mile per hour winds wedged right into a restaurant.
The restaurant on North Ferguson Street is now re-named "Budroe's Bus Stop." Sherman Sykes and his wife, Maureen, own it. They work side by side in a tiny kitchen, cranking out dinners in a diner that now draws customers from across the country.
Many just want to see pictures and hear the story of that bus.
"This is where it made its dead stop," Maureen pointed out, gesturing to the middle of the restaurant. "People really do come from all over to see it."
"We get 'em from North Carolina, Alabama, California, Mississippi," Sherman said. "They come here and they eat and they look at the pictures and they all go, 'You wasn't here'. Oh yes we was. We had nine people in here and they can't believe it."
That day, a Friday, they heard the warnings on the radio and the television in the corner of the diner.
Maureen says even that morning, things just didn't feel right.
"It was cloudy and the flag over at the school just hung. It didn't move all day long and I just kept getting more and more nervous because I thought that's not a good sign. And it wasn't," she said.
"Then it come across the radio, it said 'Henryville, take cover immediately. Pekin - gone.' Pekin, Indiana. And at that time, I looked outside and seen the roof of the school go up in the air," Sherman recalled. "I said basement now."
The nine people inside scrambled down the stairs to safety in that dark basement. They got there just in time.
"I heard this huge, huge, I don't know what it was," Maureen said. "I was the only one that spoke. Nobody would answer me. I said 'what the **** was that?!' When we went upstairs, that's what it was. It was the bus come through."
"Now you can imagine in your own mind, you go down and chairs and people was in here out. Then you come back up in a few minutes and a bus! I mean it just freaked you out. I've been all over this world. I never seen nothing like that," Sherman said. "Never."
That's why five years later, that bus is still such a part of this place. There are photos on every wall, school bus napkin holders and the sign on the door - a replica of the back of a bus.
It's to show customers what they survived. But it's also a reminder for locals of just how far they've come.
"Yeah. This is what happened to us and look at us now," Maureen said. "We're flying high."
"You stand here and look out. You don't believe there ever been a tornado here," Sherman added.
The recovery has been remarkable.
Henryville High School came back first. Belfor Construction rebuilt it in just five months, by working around the clock. Belfor repaired Budroe's restaurant too, after using it as a makeshift office while fixing the school.
Then came the homes.
"Pine Street up here was gone. And now, all the homes are up there and people are living," Sherman said. "Just about all done there. They are done! Everybody grouped together here and said, 'Let's go, let's go, let's go!' They never stopped. They worked 24 hours a day."
"They rebuilt the gas station, the Marathon. We got a Dollar Store now and the school is looking really good," Maureen said. "Everybody helped everybody."
It did take time.
And work.
And money.
Many had to really fight for insurance to recover. Some didn't get much. Others, never recovered at all. They lost everything and had to leave town.
But for most people, life in Henryville is back to normal.
Sherman Sykes says this community came back so strong, because it's full of heroes who had the tenacity to heal themselves.
"They got hearts that big in Henryville. I ain't kidding you," he said, getting tears in his eyes. "That's the way they are here. Everybody wanted to help and everybody did help. There was nobody sitting down. They all kept going. This community here is just the greatest people in the world."
That's why Sykes keeps the bus pictures up. To show everyone that people can bounce back from anything.
