Rural Tekamah residents are adjusting back to normal life after being evacuated for days.
An anhydrous ammonia leak near Highway 75 and County Road P in Burt County killed a farmer last week who was rushing to check on the emergency and kept more than three dozen people out of their homes.
Almost everybody is back.
One of the couples back home is George and Sandra Kahlandt. They feed their ducks, geese, donkeys, cattle, chickens, roosters and their pot-belly named Boo. It’s a chore the Kahlandts do everyday, but for most of last week that daily schedule was interrupted having to stay at a motel, waiting it out for the all-clear was given to them last Friday afternoon.
“Worried about the animals, everybody's livestock,” said Sandra Kahlandt.
But now the Kahlandts are back at home on the farm, no longer evacuated.
“It's wonderful sleeping in your own bed, we really missed it,” said George Kahlandt.
One concern George had when away was the effects the anhydrous ammonia could have on this animals but so far that worry has vanished, “So far we've seen no affects.”
While the Kahlandt's feel safe and sound, they know coming back home isn't like it was when they left it.
“I don't know if it's ever completed normalcy without Phil.
59-year-old Phil Hennig died driving into an ammonia cloud that death startled this community.
“We've seen a lot of love, we've seen a lot of people in pain, wanting to do something,” said Hennig’s neighbor Patty Olson.
Something this community can do is harvest Hennig's corn crop.
“We all have our own combines and that's something we can do,” said Olson.
Right now the farmers are putting in long days behind on their own harvest and making up for lost time.
“Everybody is working really hard right now there's a lot of hours being put in,” said Olson.
Currently Highway 75 is open, just a portion of County Road P is still blocked off by Hennig’s house. Olson projects over 70 people will try and help harvest Hennig’s corn crop.
