LONGWOOD, Fla. — Cleanup efforts are progressing in Seminole County one week after an EF-2 tornado damaged several homes in the Longwood area.

County officials say they’ve cleaned up about 4,000 cubic yards of debris and plan to finish in the next few weeks.

Resident Keith Melick spent the morning watching crews clean up his property.

“It’s going to take a good while to get this house back in normal condition,” Melick said.

The Air Force veteran was home when the tornado touched down.

“The tornado hit … I didn’t have time to even move,” Melick said.

He knew in that moment what he had to do.

“I got on the phone immediately and called the insurance company, called my roofer that actually put the roof on the house to start with and I got tarps put on it immediately,” Melick said.

Now the process of rebuilding begins.

“They tore off the east end of our house, the trust supports. They’re all torn to pieces. The ceiling is stained, and warped, and torn out of place, and the carpet of course is all wet,” Melick said.

Nearby, Dennis Seidel with Southern Solutions Fence and Outdoors and his team are repairing a fence.

They can get a job like this done in a day.

“The old fence here. It’s beat up, it’s old. It’s probably 20 years old, so I think it served the customer well,” Seidel said.

This is Seidel’s first time in the area and he’s glad he could help with rebuilding efforts.

“It’s crazy. I mean, the house across the street got torn down, but this one got minimal damage. It’s kind of surprising that the differences in areas where a tornado can hit,” Seidel said.

As for Melick, he’s doing what he can to try and get his home fixed up, but wants to move out of Florida to be closer to family.

“I’m too old to have much of a future involved. But we are planning on if we have a chance, we’re planning on moving to Tennessee,” Melick said.