KOKOMO, Ind. (WTHR) - The folks who live in Kokomo's Cedar Crest neighborhood are no strangers to how devastating a tornado can be.
Many lost homes here three years ago when a tornado came through this same neighborhood. Now, here they are again, facing the same kind of devastation.
As much as this is a story about loss, it's also a story of resilience and Hoosiers pulling together.
"I'm tired, but it will be okay," said Theresa Sefton outside her Kokomo home, the roof missing from her front bedroom.
Sefton hasn't cried yet, even when she looks at what's left of her bedroom.
She can't cry. She's got too much work to do still - and too much for which to be thankful.
"We're alive. I'm happy, we're alive," said Sefton. "It could have been so much worse."
Sefton and her son were at work when Wednesday's tornado swept through their Cedar Crest neighborhood. Sefton's house sits right across the street from the Starbucks that was destroyed.
"Somebody showed me the picture of Starbucks on their phone and I knew then that chances were this house was hit," Sefton said.
When she got home, Sefton's worst fears were confirmed.
[article_tokens:carousel]
She wasn't alone. Dozens of residents in the same neighborhood saw their homes destroyed or severely damaged.
Many spent Thursday picking up the pieces of their lives.
"There you go. Take 'em," Kylie Wright said, handing cookies to one of the people clearing away downed tree branches.
Wright's t-shirt, with "Kokomo Strong" printed on the front, said it all.
"I decided that today was my chance to give back," said Wright.
In the tornado here three years ago, her work place was destroyed while she and co-workers took cover inside. This time, Wright and her friends are the ones helping, delivering food and water to people cleaning up.
"People just always band together to help others and it's just a wonderful thing to be part of it," said Amy Edwards who helped Wright deliver the food, pulling a wagon through the neighborhood.
Wonderful, too, for people like Theresa Sefton.
"Their generosity is overwhelming," said Sefton of the all people offering their help with food, water or an extra pair of hands in the clean-up efforts.
These might be some of the hardest days of Sefton's life, but as the sun set on Thursday, it was one of Sefton's proudest day as a Hoosier.
"This will work out. It's okay," said Sefton.