Dozens of twisters bash Nebraska

By Kevin O'Hanlon
The Associated Press

KEN BLACKBIRD / LINCOLN (NEB.) JOURNAL STAR A man stands before a house and what remains of the farm around it west of Hallam, Neb., yesterday. Several tornadoes swept over southern Nebraska on Saturday.

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"The wife told me, 'Let's get under the stairs,' " Richard Raley said.

Raley and his wife, Karleen, huddled beneath the basement steps Saturday as a tornado ripped away their house and much of the rest of the village of Hallam.

In all, more than a dozen tornadoes swept across southern Nebraska, killing at least one person and prompting Gov. Mike Johanns to declare a state of emergency.

The twisters came in three days of severe weather that knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people from Nebraska to Michigan to West Virginia. Most power was restored yesterday.

Johanns confirmed the death of a 73-year-old Hallam woman, identified as Elaine Focken, who was killed by flying debris while trying to reach her basement.

In the town of 276 people, every home was damaged or destroyed, vehicles were flipped, and splintered trees and downed power lines lay in the streets. Several railcars were knocked off their tracks, with the remains of a 50-foot silo draped over them.

Residents were evacuated 25 miles north to Lincoln overnight. Downed power lines and leaking propane tanks littered the town, prompting the Nebraska National Guard to surround Hallam yesterday to keep people from entering.

Pat O'Brien, a commander with the Volunteer Hallam Rescue team, said it was unclear whether more than one tornado had hit Hallam. "If it was one tornado, it was a pretty big one," O'Brien said.

In Iowa, meanwhile, Gov. Tom Vilsack planned to ask President Bush to declare 16 counties federal disaster areas.

Seventeen tornadoes hit the state Saturday — after a tornado on Friday destroyed most of the tiny town of Bradgate — and flooding and other damage from the storms were widespread. One death was confirmed yesterday.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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