NEW BERN, N.C. (WNCT) – Some residents are recovering after a possible tornado had touched down in parts of the New Bern area Monday night, leaving some of its destruction behind.

Residents told 9OYS they were very scared and, despite the significant damage the storm caused in the areas impacted, they’re grateful they and their loved ones weren’t hurt. Storm experts from the National Weather Service in Morehead City and Newport were in the areas impacted in Craven County on Tuesday to access the damage and to determine if a tornado touched down.

Tuesday evening, just after 5 p.m., the NWS confirmed an EF-1 tornado with winds estimated at between 80-90 mph touched down in the west-northwest area of New Bern at 8:20 p.m. It ended a minute later.

“But I noticed the clouds started rolling in, they were looking mighty dark. I felt something was coming on and something was about to happen” stated Clyde Kinsey Jr., a Colony Estates resident. “Like it happened so fast.”

Kinsey said he was at the store when he got the alert of the approaching storm. He is a resident of Colony Estates in New Bern, where some of the storm damage was reported.

“But when I got back, when I was on my way back, I saw a lot of debris, wind blowing, and everything, and when I got here to the house, everything was just chaos,” Kinsey Jr. said “Everywhere you know. And my flag pole over there was down.”

Storm damage was also reported on Hyman Road just outside of New Bern.

Kimberly Phiefer, a resident on Hyman Road, had discovered a few minutes after the storm that a huge tree fell in her yard. That tree has been around for 15 years, she said.

“We were sitting inside the house, the rain started coming down, next thing you know, the trailer started shaking, it was really scary and next thing you know, we hear the wind howling,” Phiefer said. “I look outside and I see trees going sideways so we started running into the bathroom, into the tub, and we were just scared.”

She said she’s just thankful that nobody in the house was hurt during the storm.

“I’m just so glad because there were kids inside the house and I’d be … it would be just traumatic,” Phiefer said.

Phiefer also said while nobody in her house was hurt, her aunt’s yard in Colony Estates was completely destroyed.