Tornadoes are nothing new to us. Growing up in Nebraska, unfortunately, it is a reality. We learned at an early age when the watches were issued, we kept an eye on the weather. When a warning was issued, it was time to get to the basement for shelter.

June 16 happened to be one of those days.

When we heard the warning issued for our county, we grabbed our ‘tornado kit’ and headed to our basement. My dad called to warn us of many spotted tornadoes in our area and to be sure we were taking cover. A few minutes later we lost power. So we stood in the dark with one flashlight on and our little radio… waiting and listening to the moment by moment updates. They announced the one thing you don’t want to hear, “confirmed tornado on the ground.”

There are often storms that are capable of producing a tornado, but once it has actually put one down, you know it is for real. The radio reporting was intense. They were yelling for people to take cover, that the tornado was hitting rural homes. Then they started sighting multiple tornadoes. As they gave directions, miles and estimated tracks of them, we were trying to quickly sort out in our minds where each one was and where they were moving. The information put the storm west of us moving east toward the small town of Pilger that is four miles away.

We seemed to be directly in the path it was moving. Tears filled my eyes. We have never been this close to the path of a tornado. All we could do at this point was pray.

It was strangely quiet. Normally we would be hearing heavy rain or hail, but we weren’t. We then heard a sound we have never heard before, kind of like driving fast with open windows. We looked at each other and thought this was it; we were waiting for it to hit.

It didn’t hit.

Right then my brother called and said radar looked like it had just passed us. We stayed in the basement a few more minutes to be sure it was safe to come out. That is when we heard Pilger took a direct hit.

Our hearts broke. Tears steamed down. Twin tornadoes. A rare occurrence of two strong tornadoes down at the same time. We knew it would have to be bad. Really bad. And it was. People emerged to see the town destroyed around them. People were trapped, people were injured. As we stood on our porch looking east at one of the few things left standing, the white Pilger water tower, emergency vehicles began streaming by our home. We just prayed.

Once our power was restored, we began to see the images, the unbelievable images of devastation. We were so grateful to be okay. We were so heartbroken for all the loss around us. To our west, to our east. Lives were lost. Homes, farms, livestock and businesses were lost. Forever changed by this day. (In the image above, by the group of what is left of trees, once stood a beautiful home.)

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. {Philippians 4:7}

So now people lean on their faith in God to move forward. These are events that we will never understand, but we know we must trust God, lean on Him and gain strength from Him. To help those affected, I will be donating a portion of all sales in my shop this month directly to disaster relief for Stanton County. Our sweet country home, Stanton County.

Someone else’s loss is our heartache, too.

Please keep the special people of Stanton County, as well as other parts of Nebraska affected by these tornadoes, in your prayers.

By Jennifer at StudioJRU.

{Top photo by jhoc.}

Leave a Comment