GASTONIA, N.C. -- Forty to 50 people in Gastonia are wondering what will happen to their jobs after a tornado ripped through the Union Commons Business Park.

Shannon Benton cried as she hugged a friend. They stood arm-in-arm in what's left of her salon in building 1566. The roof was sheared off by the tornado-driven winds that swept through shortly after 2 a.m. Friday.

Benton said, "It's just a building. It's just a building, but it hurts."

She and her husband worked for five and a half years to groom Your Choice Hair Salon. From the outside it looked as if the building was crushed by debris. Inside only one room was destroyed.

"I'm blessed,” Benton said.

Her upstairs neighbors were not so lucky. John Lowery's insurance offices were rocked by the twister. He stored some items in an attic, and when the roof was ripped off they were scattered everywhere.

"It's just unbelievable the force of nature," he said.

His wife's office next door had a wall ripped off. The winds blew her door off the hinges and split it in half. A large piece of wood was ripped from the roof and lodged into the roof of a home about 120 yards away.

The owner of the building said it's good that the tornado happened when it did instead of at 3 p.m. He said the business park would be teaming with people then. He said one of the three damaged buildings will probably have to be torn down, but it can be rebuilt.

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