The village of Pilger, Nebraska’s motto is “.” Those words are more relevant than ever as Pilger recovers from that tore through eastern parts of the state on Monday evening. The twisters left two dead and dozens injured and leveled significant portions of towns.
Pilger has a population of 346 (as of 2012), and all residents evacuated in advance, despite doubts that a tornado would ever hit the little town. (Resident Becky Hauf that local folklore stipulated Pilger was too close to the Elkhorn River to ever see a tornado.) At one point, however, two twisters were spinning within a mile of each other, and both directly hit Pilger. Meteorologists that it’s rare for two tornadoes to keep going next to each other for as long as these did and at such an intensity.
The damage from these storms reflects that. A five-year-old girl was killed in her mobile home, and one person died in a traffic accident. The most recent reports say that 19 people were critically injured. According to Stanton County Commissioner Jerry Weatherholt, “” Stanton County Sheriff Mike Unger said that about 50 homes have been reduced to rubble.
A severe thunderstorm risk remains today as rescue efforts continue. In the meantime, stormchasers and local residents have been posting videos of the rare storms showing just how massive these twisters were. Take a look:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=53pgZJnXrL4