But a few facts were clear late Saturday. Several tornados wreaked havoc across the Tri-County Area in a two-hour period.
And two of those tornados touched down in Elmwood within four minutes, creating what witnesses on the scene afterward called a war zone.
“We saw a tornado swirling and took off at a dead run for (my daughter-in-law’s house), and we just made it,” said Georgia Stevens, who was in the Palace Theatre when the tornado touched down. “It was very noisy, and then it got very still. We looked out, and the neighborhood was gone.”
Despite the number of twisters spotted, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Lincoln called the storm system average for the season.
“It is very common for this time of year,” said Llyle Barker. “The peak time is the last week of May and the beginning part of June.”
As many as 15 tornados were reported to the National Weather Service, but some of those may turn out to be the same twisters reported from different places at different times, Barker added.
He confirmed that Elmwood was the worst hit in the area.
A 30-foot hole was ripped in the roof of the Palace Theatre there, and a number of other downtown businesses were badly damaged. Stevens said City Hall was “toast.”
Mark Meyer, owner of Basil’s Harvest, a business on Elmwood’s Main Street, said the storm caused extensive damage to his building, as well.
Those who saw the twisters invade the town were in awe later in the night.
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