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EARLSBORO, Okla. (KFOR) – An Oklahoma man is lucky to be alive after a tornado destroyed the shop he was inside during the storm.

On Wednesday evening, meteorologists began tracking a severe storm moving through Pottawatomie County.

“We were waiting for the tornado to come. We were originally in a 12×30 portable building for a workshop where a buddy was living. We kept discussing the tornadoes and how these little tiny buildings fly around real easy. So we decided to go into a shop that was a safer bet,” said Wayne Hardin, an Earlsboro resident.

Hardin and his friend took shelter in the shop and waited.

“So we went inside this shop, watched from both ends, went to that end down there and was watching it. And then the wind died down. So my buddy ran down to this end to see what was going on. And we spotted the tornado outside the back here and we watched some debris fly around,” he said. “We watched it go by us. It seemed to miss all of us, and we kinda calmed down and joked and talked about it.”

Moments later, everything changed.

“And then a few minutes later, we stepped about 25 foot in front of the barn. And said it was coming back, so we ran inside,” Hardin said.

“My buddy was talking to his dad, and I had to jerk him inside the shop, and I slammed the door and everybody was trying to run to the center of the building. By that time, the high winds done hit the main garage door that goes up and down. My buddy grabbed the hold, the doors slammed into him and knocked him about 30 to 40 foot inside the middle of the shop,” he said.

“But we were up here at the front of it, and they got knocked about the middle of the ways. This second half that you see that’s leaning up, I’m about 25, 10, 15 foot in, there’s a second shop room. As the front shop door blew through and knocked him through, I thought about my safety, and I better get somewhere safer than I was ’cause I didn’t know how long the front door was gonna hold,” Hardin said.

While looking at where the shop stood, all that is left is a pile of rubble.

“Well, remnants of the shop. It was a 40×100. So, ain’t much left of it now,” he said.

As the tornado moved through, the building collapsed on top of them.

“The building partly fell on my back, but I’m fine. I’ll be alright, and everybody else made it,” he said.

Hardin says that one of his friends was taken to the hospital after complaining about rib pain.