Rod Hollman of rural Martell came home from a wedding Sunday night to find his century-old barn had collapsed, a result of that evening’s wind storm.

Strong winds blew off the barn's roof, and the walls crumpled, Hollman said. The barn was a total loss, he said Tuesday. He hadn’t yet assessed damage to the barn’s contents. 

A calf was trapped inside the building, he said, but he was able to free it. A horse inside the barn was also fine. 

Hollman, who also lost a metal calf shelter in the storm, said many of his neighbors also sustained building damage Sunday night.

“This is about the most building damage I’ve seen in a long time,” said Hollman, who has lived at his farmstead — nine miles straight north of Hallam  — for 32 years.

He and his neighbors also lost trees in the storm.

Hollman said the damage came at a busy time: he’ll have to finish planting before he’ll have time to bulldoze the barn.

But Hollman said he’s come to expect the occasional spring windstorm.

“The wind seems to always blow,” he said, “(but) maybe not that strong.”

— Cara Pesek

Cemetery caretaker: worst damage he’s seen

Jeff Bogue spent Tuesday at College View Cemetery, 70th Street and Pioneers Boulevard, chainsaw in hand, cutting up the seven old trees and numerous branches the cemetery lost to weekend windstorms.

Bogue, the cemetery’s caretaker, said he had been working at the cemetery since Saturday morning and didn’t expect to finish clean-up for another week.

Bogue estimated that many of the trees at the cemetery, which was established in the 1800s, are close to 100 years old. Some were rotten or diseased, he said, which made them vulnerable to the high winds which swept through Lincoln Saturday morning and Sunday evening.

In the eight years Bogue has spent as cemetery caretaker, other windstorms have wreaked havoc on the tree-lined grounds, but “nothing like this.”

The cemetery didn’t have a formal Memorial Day service, Bogue said, but he still scrambled to remove as many fallen limbs and trees before Monday. 

No buildings or headstones were harmed in the storm, he said, though some flowers and wreaths were knocked over or blown away in the storm.

 — Cara Pesek

Palmyra: worst tree damage in 22 years

In Palmyra Sunday night, the powerful winds uprooted century-old trees and left damage to perhaps half of the houses in town, said Teri Edwards, board chairwoman in the community of 550 people about 18 miles east of Lincoln.

“It’s the worst tree damage I’ve ever seen and I’ve been here 22 years,” Edwards said Tuesday. “We lost a lot of nice trees, which is always sad; you hate to see those go.”

The storm hit about 7:15 p.m., she said.

The Rosewood Cemetery on the north edge of town reported nearly 30 mature trees with extensive damage, she said. Falling limbs apparently damaged some headstones and the wind twisted flag poles set out to honor veterans.

Dozens of volunteers spent their Memorial Day running chainsaws and hauling tree debris, she said. They were able to clean up everything but the cemetery.

“The whole town came together and pulled together,” she said. “It was pretty amazing.”

— Joe Duggan

Wind tosses pole shed atop Unadilla house

East of Unadilla, at the Arlin and Nina Rohlfs farm, the storm destroyed an outbuilding and damaged their home.

The wind was strong enough to lift a 440-square-foot metal pole shed and throw it atop the house, Arlin Rohlfs said. Yet the tractor and camper in the shed were undamaged.

The couple came home to discover the mess and five holes in their roof. One of the holes was made by a piece of lumber driven through the roof and into the kitchen ceiling, Rohlfs said.

— Joe Duggan

Weeping Water auditorium takes a hit

Sunday’s storm demonstrated why community leaders want to renovate Weeping Water’s old auditorium.

Construction work on the $1 million project had not yet begun Sunday when strong gusts blew about one-quarter of the roof onto the town’s main street.

“We just feel fortunate nobody was hurt and no other property was damaged,” said City Clerk Kay Gerdes.

The storm, with winds reported possibly as high as 70 mph, hit about 6 p.m. Sunday. It not only blew part of the roof onto Eldora Avenue, it also buckled and shifted the rest of the roof structure, Gerdes said Tuesday.

The peak-style roof was actually built above the auditorium's original flat roof, she explained.  She was hopeful the original roof might help reduce water damage.

The 22,500-square-foot building was built in 1939; for nearly 30 years, it hosted the Cass County Fair. It also was used for community events, dances and receptions before falling into disrepair.

The Weeping Water Community Building Foundation wants to renovate the auditorium into a new community center. It has raised about $250,000 in donations and contributions from local sales tax revenue. The foundation also won a $250,000 Community Development Block Grant, which it will receive at the end of June.

Project supporters were waiting for an insurance adjuster to view the damage Tuesday before doing temporary repairs, Gerdes said.

— Joe Duggan

Lincoln Electric will bury your power line

Lincoln Electric System has continued to respond to power outages, predominantly at individual homes, since the Saturday morning and Sunday evening storms, spokesman Russ Reno said.

LES will bury power lines at no charge to the customer, Reno said. Homeowners only need to hire an electrician to change the meter entrance to their home so it will accept a connection to an underground line.

“We started this policy after the October 1997 (snow) storm when some people were out (of power) as long as eight days,” Reno said. “Thousands of homes had the problem.

“(Burying lines) saves us a lot of time and gets the customers back on quickly.”

If you are interested in having LES bury your power lines, call 467-7519.

If you have a power outage, call 888-365-2412.

— Hilary Kindschuh