ELKHORN, Neb. (KMTV) — Dump trucks are cycling through Ramblewood in Elkhorn. 3 News Now watched crews fill one truck roughly every 15 minutes on Wednesday.
Mary Nelson spoke to a neighbor whose home was damaged - but not destroyed - unlike many others.
- Dick Parcher, 80, took cover with his wife, Cheryl, on Friday as an EF3 tornado passed over their home.
- Afterward, he said "we came outside and we just could not believe what we were able to see then. Utter destruction."
- Parcher said offers to help are appreciated, and added that if those hit the hardest don't say "yes," it may be because they don't know or don't need that form of support right away. He asks that people who want to help continue to reach out.
Continue to reading for the expanded version of the story:
To see it is one thing. To live it is another.
I met Dick Parcher by chance as he covered his blown-out truck window with rain falling in Elkhorn.
"It's a shock. You see it in other states, other cities that have been hit by tornadoes, but when it's in your backyard, it's really different then," he shared with Mary Nelson.
He's lived in his neighborhood for 18 years. Dick and his wife, Cheryl, took cover together on Friday.
"We could hear the debris hitting the side of the house and it was just a loud thud, bang and whatnot. And it was a sudden decompression when the tornado must've been over us cause both our ears popped and then about 30 seconds later, it was just dead silence then. And then, we waited a few minutes and came up from the lower level and immediately I saw a hole knocked in the side of the house from debris."
"And then, we came outside and we just could not believe what we were able to see then. Utter destruction," he recalled.
The homes across the street are gone. But Dick, a former chaplain, reminds us of the miracle that everyone in Ramblewood survived.
The Parchers did suffer thousands of dollars in damage, but they can repair and stay in their home. Dick doesn't know whether his neighbors will rebuild or start over somewhere else.
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