Twin tornadoes touched down near the farming town of Pilger, in northeast Nebraska on Monday, crashing through part of the hamlet killing two people and destroying homes, businesses and a fire station. Sixteen people are reported to have been left in a critical condition by the twisters.
The rare meteorological event, in which the two tornadoes touched down within a mile of each other, forced the town's 350 residents to evacuate, while State Patrol closed all the roads surrounding the affected area.
"More than half of the town is gone — absolutely gone," Stanton County Commissioner Jerry Weatherholt told AP. "The co-op is gone, the grain bins are gone, and it looks like almost every house in town has some damage. It's a complete mess."