The tiny northeast Nebraska town of Pilger was struck by two tornadoes on Monday night, killing two people and leaving more than a dozen others injured after roaring through parts of the state, USA Today reported.
Monday night's tornadoes turned 40 or 50 homes into rubble, dessimated the small town's business district and obliterated its fire station, Stanton County Sheriff Mike Unger said.
The town's population (circa 378) was instructed to evacuate their homes on Tuesday morning, with many moving into shelters in nearby towns.
"More than half of the town is gone - absolutely gone," Stanton County Commissioner Jerry Weatherholt said. "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."
The first victim, 5-year-old Calista Dixon, was killed during the storm, but the second death, of 74-year-old David Herout, was attributed to a traffic accident due to the dangerous weather, Unger said.
Sixteen people were reported to be critically injured in the storms, Faith Regional Health Services in Norfolk said.
According to CNN, the severe weather also caused damage in the Nebraska towns of Wisner, Stanton and Pender.
All four communities are within about 40 miles (64 kilometers) of one another, about an hour and a half northwest of Omaha.
More severe storms are forecast from the northern Plains to the Great Lakes, an area of tens of millions of people, for Tuesday afternoon.
Cities such as Minneapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit and New York City could also face severe weather Tuesday afternoon, the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center said.
Some of the storms may produce a brief tornado over the northern tier states but not with the same ferocity that hit near Pilger, according to AccuWeather meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.
Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman, who will tour the storm-damaged areas Tuesday morning, issued a state of emergency, put the National Guard on standby to help if needed.
