EF-3 Tornado In Nebraska Destroys Family 'Dream Home' They Just Moved Into Three Weeks Ago

[Music] you want next look at how it's just chy right there oh look at [Music] that Holy you just don't know what it's doing right there Eerie sounds coupled with the voice of army vet Jason day who was on his front lawn capturing the tornado in the distance and you can see it there it looks relatively far away but moments later after Jason and his wife hunkered down in their down downstairs bathroom it took a turn for the worst after moving into their dream home less than a month ago Jason and his family uh family's newly built house it was Rook to shreds and you can see the before and after in these images on the screen just a horrifying experience and Jason joins us now from elorn and Jason we do appreciate you for taking the time to speak with us our heart goes out to you after such an event walk us through what was going through your mind in those moments you're on your lawn you're recording a tornado in the distance what happened next you know when we were watching it my wife Emily was filming that and obviously you hear me in the background it's it's amazing to watch you know mother nature and Twisters I think we're all kind of weirdly intrigued by them but as it got closer and closer um it became clear that we were were right in its path and then it got more scary and then you know it goes from intriguing to can you please you know turn and go somewhere else so it was extremely scary um the winds picked up the the like that Freight Train sound that rolling thunder coming through is very eerie and you never think it's going to happen to you and that's that's the hard part is is you see it all the time I saw your videos of Sulfur Oklahoma and my heart goes out to them and my prayer but it happens a lot in the midwest you just never think it's quite going to happen to you that video Jason that your wife took I I think it was your voice you said I just don't know what it's doing there it it was it was one of those things where a bit of uncertainty you were watching it from a safe distance you were able to see um give us a layout of of of your home what was was once your home um now that it's destroyed did it have a basement is that where you guys went when when you saw it moving in your direction I imagine that's when you and your wife made the decision to go inside did did you get down to the lowest floor the most interior room where'd you go yes we it was a it was a ranch style home so we had the the main floor and then we had the basement 3,800 Square ft as you can see there it pretty much wiped everything out but um my wife was upset um she was rightfully upset I I cut it a little too close she she cut the camera off and ran downstairs and I waited just a little bit longer and that house in the Forefront once that exploded I ran downstairs and it wasn't 15 seconds later that that it hited us I had went downstairs I looked at her right in the eyes I said we have to start praying it's going to hit us it was very imminent at that point once that house I liken it to someone taking crumbs and like chewing them off a counter that's exactly what happened to that framed home right there in front of us I mean it just completely wiped it to the to the to the ground and at that point I was like it's it's coming right for us and that's that's relatively close to you I want to ask you too Jason in the pictures we're looking at I just really want people to understand the one where you and your wife are taking the selfie and you're standing there that is and was the inside of your home correct the walls are completely gone this one right here yes that was the after the cleanup stages there I mean look at we had over 50 volunteers just in our home alone and see look at the rubble there from the day of the tornado and then the amazing work the Vol the elorn community volunteers did family and friends came out the camaraderie of the the town was so amazing the churches bringing in food and water you really see not only Americans and Nebraskans but just the local community coming together it was just there's a lot to take a lot of positives to take out of a tragedy and that's one of the things that you can look at and say wow look at the fellowship and and the coming together of people and Jason you also had a daughter that was in this she was in high she's in high school she was at elorn high school from from my understanding you and your wife are in the midst of this tornado your ears as as your witness account described your ears were popping that pressure so low um were you in communication with your daughter H how did how did she weather this storm uh my wife was texting her right after um I'm very thankful that she was not there because this this memory is going to live rentree in my my mind for quite a while and you know the elorn high school had them safe and they were in the basement there but she couldn't get to us for over 4 hours because of you know the down power lines in the neighborhood so I think we felt that disconnect as well as she did we just wanted to hug her even though she wasn't there so that was that was tough but at the same time we're we're very thankful that she wasn't there well it's scary I think anytime your kids go to school go your concern is well if I'm not there are they going to be okay so you know Lord willing she was okay I want to ask you too so the community of elorn um this was a new home for you and it looks like a lot of the homes throughout elorn were relatively new um in terms of the community in the layout just to familiarize us and also viewers um do you think that played a role maybe in also protecting so many of the folks that were finding Refuge inside their home well yes we are in a brand new subdivision in the far northwest corner um called karosa East um I think one of the reasons why you didn't hear of any injuries or any fatalities at least to my knowledge is much like Fox Weather the the news stations we knew about this the more in the morning on Friday like hey it it's it could be a it could be a gnarly day and I was at my office 25 minutes away and I heard there's a there's a tornado touchdown in Waverly Nebraska I got in my truck right then and I started heading toward my house of course every Omaha person thought the same thing got a little bit of a traffic jam but I was able to be home with my wife hunkered down with her during the storm because of the preparation of the weather teams and the sirens were going off so it was everybody was really prepared for this moment and I think that's what contributed to everybody just being safe is because of the uh alertness of the weathermen and the weather channels and and the weather women getting all of the notice out to everyone it was wild an average lead time with a tornado warning Jason's about 13 minutes and there were some towns in Western Iowa that had a 30-minute lead time coming out of of Nebraska moving into Iowa So speaking to that lead time is incredible before we let you go you've served our country uh and and we can't thank you enough for that now now you're faced with this daunting task of of picking up are you going to rebuild where where your home was has that decision maybe not been made yet have you talked to your wife about that uh yes in fact I'm meeting with lindsy Warren today she's the owner of Citadel homes and I said I want to be the first one on the list we're going to rebuild the same exact home same fixtures same footprint we want a carbon copy of that home right on that piece of land and let's get it going you only had three weeks to live in it and that's what's it's devastating but man your spirit your spirit's contagious yeah yeah well praise God that everyone's safe and you know praise the Lord there's a lot of positives to take out of tragedies you just have to step back a little bit and open your mind well it's been incredible speaking to you our heart is with you though as you continue to push forward the positive attitude in the midst of such Devastation um it's an honorable one so thank you so much Jason best of luck to you and your family and again glad everybody is safe [Music]

Channel: FOX Weather

Views: 51,704

Keywords: tornado nebraska, elkhorn nebraska, nebraska tornado, elkhorn tornado, nebraska tornadoes, fox weather, severe weather, tornado, nebraska tornadoes 4/26/24, nebraska tornado aftermath, nebraska tornado april 26, nebraska tornado footage, nebraska

Id: McSoeuK-FNM

Length: 8min 7sec (487 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 30 2024