Henryville principal recalls moment when school was hit by tornado

Henryville High School Principal Troy Albert said he is without a school building, but not without a school family.

Albert, a staff member and eleven students rode out the storm together Friday afternoon. They huddled in the nurse's office of the high school while the building took a direct hit from the twister.

The school dismissed students early and most made it home just in time to find shelter.

"We got the buses out of here and I’m so thankful that we did as you see from the building it is just, there would have been a lot of injuries,” said Principal Albert. “And the ones that were left in the building, we got in a safe spot we with the two storms that went through. We had two hits and the hail storm then we walked down to the community center as a group but 85 people walked out of that building and not a scratch on us.”

One bus turned around after the bus driver feared they could not make it to safety in time. Inside the school, Albert said he and the students found a sense of calm in one another.

"I saw the bus come in and we rushed the kids and the bus driver into the office and my personal secretary Martha Thomas just did a wonderful job of getting them in there, and I do remember going in there and it was kinda like unstable there for a minute and I said ‘Hey look, we're all in this together, we're gonna all get out of this together," he said.

Henryville schools will remain closed for the rest of the week.

Indiana Superintendent Tony Bennett said Monday he was already in contact with Henryville school officials about the rebuilding process. He said several districts around Indiana are offering up supplies to donate.