Audrey and Rodney Bosworth and their seven children were busy with the activities of a normal weekday when a tornado struck their house on Autauga County 68 Thursday afternoon.

“Some were at school. Some were at work. We were kind of scattered everywhere,” Audrey Bosworth said.

Belle Bosworth, 17, a senior at Marbury High School, was the only one at home. Belle was out from school because she was not feeling well.

She heard about the approaching storm on the news and took cover in the underground shelter behind the house.

“It was very scary. I opened the storm shelter and then I looked out and I saw the tornado and I was crying,” Belle said.

Belle stayed on the phone with her father throughout the ordeal. When the twister passed, her father asked her to look outside and assess the damage. Belle spotted the family dog, Diesel, in the swimming pool, pushed in by some storm debris.

“And then I looked this way (toward the house) and everything was gone,” Belle said. “It was very devastating. I don’t ever want to experience it again.”

The Bosworths live near the intersection of Autauga County 68 and U.S. 31, one of the areas hardest hit by the tornado that caused a confirmed seven deaths in the county.

Snapped trees, splintered lumber, crumpled sheet metal and other debris littered both sides of the road, left by a twister that carved about a path of destruction across the county.

“Never seen anything like this,” Audrey Boswell said. The family has lived in the home about 15 years.

After the storm, Rodney Bosworth made it home from his job with the city of Prattville in about a half-hour, he said, although Belle said the wait seemed closer to an hour.

“He just wanted grab our daughter to make sure that she’s OK,” Audrey Bosworth said. “He just wanted to lay eyes on her. When he pulled up to our home and we had nothing left, he was extremely devastated. But what was more important was that Belle was safe. God had his hand of protection on her.”

Audrey Bosworth, who drives a bus for Autauga County schools, said she would keep her focus on what the family did not lose and the outpouring of support.

“We’ve lost everything but we are alive and we have a place to go,” she said. “Our home and our belongings are materialistic and I’m just thankful that we’re all OK and safe that I have my kids and my husband. God is good.”

She said the family with stay with her mother, who lives about seven miles from their home, for the time being.

“I’m just so thankful for our community and our family and our friends that have come together to help us and to donate,” she said. “And we cannot thank them enough for all that everyone has done.”

She said Diesel, the dog, is fine. She is proud of the way Belle is handling the devastation that she saw before the rest of the family.

“I know that she is sad,” Audrey said. “She was scared. She was devastated. But she has been a real trooper and we’re just so thankful that she’s safe.”