BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Although the western Kentucky tornado is over, the lasting impact it has on people will stay for far longer. 

On Highway 79, outside of Guthrie, scraps of trash, trees and metal litter the area after the recent western Kentucky tornado. But one family got hit hard. 

Ernie Schmidt, his wife and his daughter were out of the house when the tornado first hit. The family was celebrating its nephew’s achievement of getting their bachelor's degree.

When they got back, they were happy to see their dogs, along with most of their house remaining intact. But their barn turned into a pile of wood. It was originally a staple of their community and their family. 

“People worked on this farm, put tobacco in it; a lot of people knew this barn," Schmidt said. 

Their window that was once part of their 4-year-old’s room is now smashed. The tornado hit around the time she would have been taking a nap. 

Schmidt added he was “thanking the good lord above that she was with us and we were not here.”

Two of the four poles on his front porch also collapsed, and the porch's roof is now held up by a piece of wood. His shed, which once housed his tools, is nothing but a memory.

"We had a gazebo; the gazebo was lying on top of it," Schmidt said. "I'm assuming the gazebo hit it and took it right over." 

Schmidt's camper also toppled over, which is now saturated through the street. Some pieces are 200 feet away from its original place. 

Despite his property facing an uncertain future, Schmidt said he considers himself and his family blessed. 

“In life, it’s family that you need to worry about," he said. "But this? Eh, we’ve got equipment to fix it.”

The National Weather Service (NWS) team based out of Paducah surveyed the damage in Todd County. They found the tornado’s path was 13.2 miles and peak winds were 125 miles per hour, destroying dozens of buildings such as barns, sheds and garages.