Rare twin tornadoes barreled through the northeast Nebraska town of Pilger seven years ago today, killing two people, injuring 20 more and forever changing the lives of the nearly 350 people who called the town home.
Pilger, a Stanton County village, is 80 miles northwest of Omaha.
The storm destroyed or heavily damaged an estimated three-fourths of Pilger, including the middle school, Midwest Bank, the co-op, a convenience store, the post office, numerous houses, city hall, the firehouse and St. John Lutheran Church.
The National Weather Service rated the larger tornado that tore through Pilger an EF4, capable of causing devastating damage with winds of 166 to 200 mph. The parallel twister was an EF2.
Two deaths were attributed to the tornadoes.
Calista Dixon, 5, died after suffering injuries inside a mobile home on Main Street in Pilger.
David Herout, 74, of Clarkson, Nebraska, died when his vehicle left County Road S about 4:50 p.m. as the storms moved through. He was ejected from his vehicle, Cuming County officials said. Herout, a retired postal worker who had worked at post offices in Clarkson and Columbus, was making deliveries for an agricultural company.
Sanford Goshorn, the Stanton County emergency management official, said two twisters merged south of town over the Elkhorn River before tearing toward the village Monday afternoon. The weather service alerted residents at 3:41 p.m. that a tornado was headed toward Pilger. The storm hit about 4:18 p.m.
Cars were flipped and trees stripped of leaves. Center-pivot irrigation systems were overturned. Hundreds or thousands of animals — cattle, hogs and poultry — were injured or killed across the region.
Stanton County Sheriff Mike Unger said 45 to 50 homes were destroyed in Pilger.
“It was like God dragged two fingernails across the land,” said Gregg Moeller of nearby Wisner.
On the left is the main tornado as it hits Pilger, Nebraska, on June 16, 2014. On the right is an anti9cyclonic tornado. The photo was taken south of Pilger.