Henryville resident worked to evacuate neighbors following tornado

Just before the tornado hit downtown Henryville, Ind., it struck a group of homes on rural Broadway Street.

"Worst thing you can imagine is the best way I can describe it," said Jeremy Sweeney.

Sweeney's cell phone video describes the tornado best, but what you can't see are the neighbors he helped evacuate, a decision that would turn out to be heroic.

"This house here is the one where I got the woman and the daughter out of, and they went with us. And you can see what they've got left. Their foundation is still standing but this is their house and it moved, what, 60 or 70 feet?"

A man just one street down died, but everyone on Broadway survived. Ever since, Sweeney has been checking in with his neighbors.

"I'm still looking for my mailbox Jeremy," said Penny Cleveland, who lives a few houses down.

"I just found mine today out in the middle of my barn," Sweeney said. "It's amazing how it just places things here and there you know?"

Cleveland and her husband know exactly what he means.

"My neighbor's goat made it because it was in my backyard," said Cleveland. "She's kind of skittish but she made it. His house? It's everywhere. It's just a pile over there."

Though Cleveland's home is standing, it's a total loss. Still she said she's not complaining, especially since she was gone when the tornado came and her son narrowly escaped.

"When it took the roof off a tree limb come through the house, or a part of a tree, come through the house and where it came, he would have been sitting and it went right through and stuck into the wall."

With so many close calls with death, the neighbors said they consider themselves lucky.

"Once I looked down the road and saw how many people don't have a home at all, or anything at all, I mean, I'm lucky," said Sweeney.

Since Sweeney has a generator, he's elected to stay at his home.

"I'm not leaving here. I'm afraid people are going to loot. I mean, I'm kind of the singlehanded neighborhood watch program."