HARNETT COUNTY, N.C. — Several homeowners in Harnett County lost all their material possessions after a tornado touched down Thursday, but they escaped alive.

Steve Green said he was about to sit down to eat dinner with his daughter when he saw it was getting dark outside. He told her to run to the center of the house, but the tornado made quick work of his home.

"I thought I was dead at first," he said. "I was hurting so bad. I was numb. I just figured it was not real."

Green and his daughter were buried in the wreckage of their house before someone came to dig them out. A mile away from Green's home, a senior center was heavily damaged by the storm's path.

"[I'm] just grateful that everybody is still alive. Buildings can be replaced, but lives cannot," said Margaret Speed, a member of the senior center.

Emergency crews are working to prepare themselves for the next wave as severe weather from Hurricane Charley is expected to hit the area this weekend.