‘Praying for God to save my life’: Lincoln man survived tornado hitting Garner Industries

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – A Lincoln man lived to tell the terrifying tale of being trapped in Garner Industries as it was hit by a tornado on Friday.

“The power shuts off and then like two or three minutes later, the air pressure changes completely,” said Nate Hutchison, an employee at the industrial building on Highway 6 between Lincoln and Waverly.

Hutchison said it was just before 3 p.m. when his supervisor told him it was time to take shelter.

From there, Hutchison said it was only a matter of minutes.

Seventy people hunkered down in the building while an EF-3 tornado tore it apart.

“You can hear things are just shaking,” he said. “And everything just came down on top of us, just instantly.”

Pieces of the ceiling barely missed his head as they toppled down, while all that was going through his head was a plea for his life.

“There’s nothing I can do right now except literally just pray to God that I don’t die because I’m not in control of anything at this point,” he said. “It’s just hopefully I don’t get crushed.”

Some of his coworkers weren’t as lucky.

Officials say three people were injured, though none of them were life-threatening.

Hutchison had to call 911.

“The one that seemed the scariest, the dude’s face was covered in blood, but he was up and moving around,” he said.

Hutchison’s windshield was destroyed by debris in the parking lot, but he managed to make it back home, safe and sound, to his wife and newborn daughter.

One day later, he kept the same t-shirt on that he was wearing as he survived the tornado, which holds a new meaning to him now.

“This is a band called Rufus Du Sol and they have a song called, ‘At Least I’m Alive,’ and I thought that was just fantastic,” he said. “Sitting there praying for God to save my life, and then I’m here, untouched.”