15 years later, Hallam residents recall devastating tornado

In 2004, an F-4 tornado, the second largest tornado in history reaching 2 ½ miles wide, came through the town of Hallam and wiped out most of the city.

Now many residents look back on that terrible day and remember what they went through.

“It was the darkest night I’ve ever experienced, I mean you couldn’t even see the cloud it was so black,” Richard Hollman a Hallam resident said.

The tornado completely leveled most of Hallam with winds reaching 200 miles per hour, and being on the ground for over 52 miles.

The residents now just try to look at the bright side that it brought just years after.

“You think you look at what’s the positive of everything if you can and the positive of a tornado like that is that you get a new town out of it, it’s just a lot of hard work to do it, but it does come around and it does work out,” Hollman said.

Now because of all of the reconstruction, the town of Hallam looks new and improved.

“It’s completely different because look at the building, you don’t see the old 100-year-old buildings that are wooden structures side by side it’s not it doesn’t’ look like an old town it looks like a new town like this town was established in 2004,” Hollman said.

These Hallam residents look at that day as a moment which made them all come together and make the town that much stronger.

“We’re doing great and it makes everyone come together like they do with all disasters in Nebraska like the flood that’s up north too. It’s tough but in the long run it will be better,” Hollman said.