A tornado surprised one Horry County community Wednesday. The small twister ripped through a neighborhood just off of Highway 378 right outside of Conway, leaving people to pick up the pieces Thursday.

The National Weather Service says the tornado's maximum speed reached 80 mph, and its path lasted just more than one mile. It was quick, but it was forceful.

"Just like that, that's how quick it happens," said Barry Watson, whose home was damaged on Marigold Road Wednesday when the tornado passed through.

Marigold Road is just off of Highway 378, about six miles west of Conway. The twister sliced through trees, leaving them scattered throughout the neighborhood. It toppled structures, reducing several barns to piles of wood and debris, and damaged several homes.

Watson recalled what happened.

"When I got here and turned in off of (Highway) 378, I noticed the roads were just flooded at that point in time. Then I got closer and said, 'Well,' I started seeing some limbs, and I said, 'Well, we've got some tree damage.' So, when I got closer I started seeing my porch sag a little bit... what (the tornado) did was lift up the porch, and it just kind of took the first five posts, and it kind of folded them this way, and it caused the porch to sag," recalled Watson.

That was just the outside.

"As soon as I started about middle ways of the hallway all it was was slush, slush, it was water. So we had a lot of water damage. It was in our hall, our bedroom -- it was completely just saturated with water, and our bathroom was totally just water," said Watson.

Then the twister continued its track.

"As it goes on down Marigold here, it must have kind of went back up a little bit because there was no damage here, but then it got a couple of barns down, just a little ways down the road here, and then it got a tree top on top of a home on Hampton Road which is right at the stop sign. So, it was just hit and miss through here," continued Watson.

NewsChannel 15's First Alert Chief Meteorologist Ed Piotrowski noted, "Typically when we think of tornadoes, we think of these large funnels on the ground creating a lot of damage for a lengthy amount of time. Most tornadoes we get around here are small and short lived, but those that do touch down typically do create a lot of damage."

But Watson admits, there was at least some good news Wednesday.

"Luckily nobody was hurt, and that's all that counts. As long as nobody was hurt, you know structure damage can be repaired, and that's the main thing," he said.