VIDEO: Rare twin tornadoes barreled through the northeast Nebraska town of Pilger seven years ago today, killing two people, injuring 20 more and forever changing the lives of the nearly 350 people who called the town home.
Pilger, a Stanton County village, is 80 miles northwest of Omaha.
The storm destroyed or heavily damaged an estimated three-fourths of Pilger, including the middle school, Midwest Bank, the co-op, a convenience store, the post office, numerous houses, city hall, the firehouse and St. John Lutheran Church.
The National Weather Service rated the larger tornado that tore through Pilger an EF4, capable of causing devastating damage with winds of 166 to 200 mph. The parallel twister was an EF2.
Two deaths were attributed to the tornadoes.
Calista Dixon, 5, died after suffering injuries inside a mobile home on Main Street in Pilger.