Tornado damage to one Nebraska farm estimated at $25 million

UEHLING, Neb. (KLKN) — As more and more sun came out Tuesday, more was literally and figuratively brought into the light about Friday’s tornado outbreak.

The National Weather Service has now confirmed that seven tornadoes touched down in Burt and Dodge Counties.

As of Tuesday, 24 tornadoes have been confirmed in Nebraska, with the bulk of them in the northeast part of the state.

In one cluster of twisters, an EF-0 tornado, the weakest on the rating scale, came between two EF-2 tornadoes.

SEE ALSO: ‘It’s gone’: Eastern Nebraska farmers describe tornado’s destruction

Two fifth-generation farm families were hit in Dodge County, including Scott Wagner, who said the losses go further than what is seen on the surface.

He said Tuesday that his poultry housing sustained $800,000 to $1 million in damage.

“What happens is the roof stretches, and you lose the seals on the rubber,” Wagner said. “Then you can have roof leaks, and you just have more damage that you just aren’t aware of.”

The twister struck a spot toward the end of the building, where young birds were not present.

Just 10 days old, they had not been allowed to roam to the end of the building yet.

“Those birds were actually in the middle of the barns, not where the actual damage was at,” Wagner said. “We’re really, really fortunate. We’re definitely mild in comparison to some others.”

SEE ALSO: Three tornadoes confirmed in Stanton County in northeast Nebraska

Wagner was thinking of Jon Weitzenkamp and his cattle company up the road.

His best guess was that his friend lost many millions of dollars, including many head of cattle.

“He had a large indoor confinement for his finishing cattle, commodity sheds that were ripped off, grain legs and bins that were destroyed,” Wagner said. “He’s got machine sheds that were destroyed with equipment inside that was damaged.”

He estimated the damage to the Weitzenkamp ranch at $25 million.

SEE ALSO: ‘It’s really nice to see’: Neighbors help neighbors in the aftermath of tornadoes in Dodge County

Weitzenkamp’s daughter, Katie, said it’s heartbreaking to see her dad, grandpa and brothers go through all of this — something they’ve worked so hard for, broken.

But if they weren’t away at the time when the storm hit, Katie said she thinks there would have been a worse ending.

“Every storm, they always just head out to the farm and want to get to work, do something,” Katie Weitzenkamp said. “So they might not have survived.”

PHOTOS: Record-breaking number of tornado warnings issued in Nebraska