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'It looked just like the movies' Randolph County woman took shelter in the backseat of her truck during a tornado

Her truck was stuck in the mud with nowhere to go as an EF-1 tornado blew through Liberty.

RANDOLPH COUNTY, N.C. — Heavy rain was pouring over the Triad when one woman found herself no one wants to be.

"I saw the big funnel come through and limbs, huge limbs were flying at my windshield," said Tabitha Herndon Turner. 

Turner was leaving her dad's property when she saw the tornado from a distance. 

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A tornado warning lit up her phone right as she saw the funnel cloud but she says she knew it was too late to seek shelter anywhere else.

"My truck was the only place I could go so I crawled in the backseat and put my head in the floorboard," said Turner.

Moments later the twister passed but she said the destruction was everywhere.

"After I got on the street, you know, the powerlines were flying everywhere and I was just thankful that I was safe in my truck," said Turner.

Broken trees and twisted metal littered the ground as neighbors cleaned up Friday.

"For a wintertime storm, this had an incredible amount of energy and an incredible amount of warmth to work with too," said Nick Petro, a Warning Coordination Meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

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Jared Byrd with Randolph County Emergency Management said even after the storm passed, strong winds caused concerns.

"We've been getting calls all morning. More trees down with all the wet weather, the saturated ground, the trees have been falling. We constantly field calls about powerlines down and trees down," said Byrd.

Despite the damage all over Liberty, neighbors said they're glad no one was hurt during the tornado.

"I've never seen anything like it before and I hope I never see anything like it again. I'm just grateful, I mean houses were messed up and trees were down but no one was hurt," said Debbie Smith.

RELATED: Tornado with 100 mph winds touched down in Randolph County, National Weather Service confirms

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