(WSBT) The damage from the tornado is hard to fathom. It’s harder still to imagine when you look at those homes and find out no one was seriously injured or killed.

Crews spent the night and much of the morning going house by house looking for victims.

“And we still did not find the injuries or fatalities — I think everybody took a little bit of a sigh of relief,” said Nappanee Mayor Larry Thompson. “We just have a lot of people out there hugging each other and thanking the good Lord that we’re alive and we can clean up the mess.”

“Eight years and now my whole life’s just one little pile in the front yard,” said Sandy Miller.

Miller and her family are now beginning the long process of cleaning up. The washing machine can be saved precious mementos cannot.

“My mother passed away six years ago and my photographs are gone. And that’s something you can’t replace. Oh gosh,” Miller said.

There’s been quite a few people in the area who have been coming to look at the damage but there have also been a few people who have been stealing — looting from the businesses that have been damaged. So police have stepped up their enforcement and are trying to keep unwanted people out.

“That’s why we’re encouraging residents to stay on their property, do not wander around the city,” said Sgt. Tony Slocum of the Indiana State Police. “Because they are subject to arrest and we don’t want to have anymore of these problems with looting because obviously one person’s already been incarcerated.”

The number of arrests has been minuscule. The pain of many in Nappanee is beyond measure.

“And you just can’t imagine it until it happens to you I guess,” Miller said. “It’s just devastating.”