One year ago on Monday, the National Weather Service confirmed four tornadoes in the Shenandoah Valley.

The strongest was an EF-2 tornado that traveled more than 30 miles packing winds as high as 130 miles per hour.

It tore off roofs, snapped trees, tossed industrial equipment and leveled a poultry house.

One year later, some people are still digging themselves out.

“People have always told me it takes about a year to recover and I'm finding out that's right,” said Maynard Miller, the owner of Sunrise Farms.

The tornado in Stuarts Draft destroyed a portion of Miller's chicken farm and he said at this point, his farm is about 90-percent recovered.

He also said something few people can say about a tornado. It helped his free range farming business.

“Some of the buildings weren't built for this type of thing and then it just made it easier. When we rebuilt, we went back to the way we wanted it.”

Two of the buildings on his farm were completely destroyed and one was damaged.

At the time, Miller said the storm was so short, he didn't think anything was wrong.

“I saw debris flying through the air but I really didn't expect to see what I did when we came outside. Then all of a sudden the rain let up, and that was it.”

He said the storm lasted about 20 seconds. It was so fast, he didn't even get worked up about it.

“The first thought I had was, 'This is yours, Lord. You gave it to me and you can take it away.' I couldn't believe how calm I was.”

To get his farm back to working order, it cost over $125,000 and none of that money went to replacing his livestock or chickens because all of them evaded the tornado.

“Some of them ended up with the neighbors, but we got them back.”

Miller is thankful that rebuilding has been easy for him and he said that it wouldn't have been possible without a higher power.

“The Lord was watching over us. That's all I can say.”

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