ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – As the clean up winds down and the dust begins to settle, tornado victims are reflecting on little miracles that helped them survive through the thick of the storm.

“It was terrifying. It was terrifying,” Betty Dunn says.

“It’s something I don’t ever want to have happen again, I can tell you that,” says Nicole Chevrie.

Each person has a different story to tell.

“The wind was like horrendous, like it was so loud it sounded like a locomotive,” Shelton Turner says. “It got real quiet for a split second and that’s when we heard that loud crash, and we came around, and that’s when we found the holes in the ceiling.”

“Yanked my awning off my house, my fence is gone, it just mangled my barbecue grill,” Don Stamper says.

But if you listen closely, you’ll find one thing in common.

“My wife and I were just coming out of our bedroom and we just stopped. We just stood still and heard that big crash,” Turner says. “It’s a good thing we stopped, that’s what I was thinking.”

Turner describes a close call with a 2×12 piece of lumber that came through the roof.

“God evidently said, ‘Hey, be still, you know, stay where you are,’ because that wood was going ’round and ’round over the house, and it decided to come down. It had to come down somewhere, and this is where it came,” he says.

April Chevrie recalls the fire department showing up in just minutes to pry her family out of their home.

“Fireman came and busted this window out right here, and we had a table right there that we could step on the table and step over it,” she says.

Betty Dunn says they were fortunate their chimney fell one way instead of the other.

“Just didn’t take the roof off, but it knocked the chimney off,” she says. “You know, I’m glad it blew it this way instead of blowing it inside of the house.”

These victims are all finding miracles in the midst of devastation.

“Unbelievable we just thank God that we’re still here,” Turner says.

But for Don Stamper, just a simple helping hand from a stranger is his miracle.

“Thirty minutes after it happened, this place was just full of people helping, just jumped on it that quick and that many people it just goes to my heart man,” Stamper says. “I am so proud of this town, the way they jumped in and helped everybody. Way to go Abilene.”