Summer Storm

About 7:30 p.m. Monday evening, as severe storm hit northeast Nebraska. I was at home, while my daughters and son-in-law were at Applebee’s. We knew a storm was coming, but were shocked at its intensity. I waited until the last minute to bring Tess in from her outside pen. The storm hit so fast that by the time I got there, the wind had gotten under a tarp I had on it for shade and lifted the pen off the ground. Luckily, the pen and the tarp had been tethered to a fence.

Tree branches lay in every street in town. Severe storm warning sirens were going off the entire time.

I wish they would reserve the sirens for tornado warnings, as we can all see there is a storm – but do we need to seek tornado shelter is the question.

Here are some photos of the worst of the local damage.

As you can see, both of these trees were rotten before they broke.

Pierce County seemed to get the worst of it, with unconfirmed small tornados taking out grain bins and steel buildings and an unoccupied house.

One man was seriously injured when he was driving down the road and hit a grain bin that had been picked up by the wind and moved 300 ft, landing it in the middle of a the road.

The farmhouse stood firm, but there was a large limb that fell from the tree and landed next to the chicken coop. Once again we were lucky in that it just missed the coop. This was our second close call with a fallen limb.

The poor little girl goats must have thought the big bad wolf had come to blow their house down. The wind pushed and lifted the little shed they sleep in, and when the wind let go, the building dropped back down onto a board, preventing it from settling back on the ground. The goats luckily had a truck topper to run and hide under. They would not go back into the shed. Can you blame them?

The boy goats, and all the chicks and chickens were fine. I am very thankful. Normally I would have been at the farm, and storms are much more frightening there.

The girls watched the storm from Applebee’s and send me this photo as a joke about the wind inside Applebee's blowing over tables.

Sometimes I get the feeling we are as vulnerable as a bunch of ants on a playground.  Don't you?

Other than the man in the car, I have not heard of anyone else hurt in this storm.  Very thankful for that.


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