BELMONT, N.C. -- The Baxter Harriss warehouse in Belmont took a beating at the hands of an early morning tornado. The building on Oaks Parkway is still there, but the metal roof is gone.

Owner Baxter Harriss said the damage total could be as high as $500,000. But he said he’s grateful no lives were lost.

"It's good that it happened when it did," he said.

The F2 tornado that wound its way across seven miles in Gaston County struck the warehouse, which is mostly filled with manufacturing products, around 2:10 a.m. while the dozens of employees who usually work inside were at home.

"There were two truck drivers asleep in their trucks last night. They were a bit shaken by it, but unharmed, completely unharmed," Harriss said.

Harriss estimates that even when they’re empty, the truck trailers weigh close to 14,000 pounds. One trailer, however, was tossed across the parking lot by the storm's powerful winds.

“It is amazing to see," Harriss said.

A block away, Eyewitness News found pieces of foam insulation from the Baxter Harriss warehouse roof lodged in trees.

As cleanup crews began removing the debris the tornado left behind, neighbors came to see the destruction up close.

Sissy Conner said it looked eerily familiar.

"Crazy, it looks like (Hurricane) Hugo, just more condensed to this area. That's what it brings back to mind,” she said.

The Baxter Harriss company specializes in transportation for other industries.

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