Firefighter Josh Pate was on duty Saturday when a tornado tore through his home, where his wife and children prayed for safe passage through the terrifying storm.

WINTERBORO, Ala. ( WIAT) — An EF-2 tornado tore through the community of Winterboro on Saturday night. The tornado destroyed a high school gymnasium and severely damaged other buildings. Just feet off the path of that tornado is a cemetery. One man who has a reason in the face of all this destruction to be thankful.

Tuscaloosa firefighter Josh Pate was at work during the storms when a tornado tore through his house in Gordo, AL with his wife and children inside. Fortunately the family was in their tornado shelter and were unharmed.

At least seven tornadoes hit Alabama on Saturday, and that number will likely climb even higher later today. The National Weather Service plans to continue looking at storm damage and has several areas that will be visited by storm survey teams today (Monday).

Drone video shows the power of a tornado's 120 mph winds in Alabama where a school bus was lofted onto a high school gymnasium.