(NewsNation) — Bryce Kneeland, of Nebraska, was able to ride out a recent tornado in his laundry room — but when he emerged, he saw destruction in every direction.
“I just heard our patio glass shatter as the storm went past,” Kneeland recalled in an interview Monday on “NewsNation Now.” As he took shelter in the laundry room, Kneeland said he heard what sounded like a train going by overhead.
“I just thought, ‘maybe we’re going to have to replace a window, may have to replace a few windows’ — but then when I finally was able to get upstairs and see what actually happened, was I like ‘Oh, I don’t have a living room anymore,'” Kneeland said.
Dozens of tornados caused widespread destruction across the Great Plains over the weekend. One person died in Iowa, as did four in Oklahoma, including an infant.
Tornado damage, according to the Associated Press, began Friday afternoon when an industrial building in Lancaster County, Nebraska, was hit. The building collapsed with 70 people inside, though authorities said everyone was evacuated and there were no life-threatening injuries.
The tornado that hit Elkhorn, where Kneeland is from, was categorized as an EF-3 storm.
“It’s total destruction,” Kneeland said, describing his property. “There’s no roof over three-quarters of the house, the main level is leaning towards the front of the house super hard…you don’t even want to stand in there, it’s leaning so bad.”
The front corner of Kneeland’s living room was blown completely out, he said, while the back corner of the master bedroom was blown in.
“There was a chunk of plywood thrown through our back wall,” Kneeland said. “It pierced the to the mirror and our master bedroom bath. It’s crazy.”
Kneeland said he and his wife are staying with her parents for now, and they have personal items that were able to be saved in a storage unit.
Even through such a hard time, Kneeland says, the community’s response has been “absolutely incredible.” Family members have come to the area to help out, while a local church set up what Kneeland described as a whole “warehouse’s worth” of supplies in its parking lot.
“Anyone and everyone is out there trying to lend a hand,” he said.
NewsNation national correspondent Emily Finn and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
