Keith County enters recovery stage

LAKE McCONAUGHY -- Tornadoes struck the North Shore area of Lake McConaughy May 23, destroying homes in the area.

First responders from several departments responded to the scene.

"We got called to I want to say a series of tornadoes that struck the north side of Lake Mac, and the Sandy Beach and North Shore area. We had several homes destroyed, and several trailers and motor homes damaged," said Keith County Emergency Manager David Kling at the command center Thursday night.

Kling said the preliminary count was about 100 homes damaged or destroyed in the storm.

As of 9 p.m. Thursday night, Kling said they had not received any reports of injuries. 

He said there were 60 firefighters responding, plus law enforcement including Nebraska State Patrol and Keith County Sheriff's Office, Nebraska Game & Parks helping do search and rescue. Keith County EMS was also at the scene, and several fire departments. The Women's Auxiliary of the fire department responded with food.

Keystone-Lemoyne Fire Chief Ralph Moul said he was the first on the scene at Lake View Estates.

"We had reports of people trapped. We didn't know if we had any injuries. We had a hard time accessing that area because of the power lines being down," Moul said.

The area was without power as a result of the storm. Chief Moul said the area would be barricading area through the night.

This morning, Kling said there were "quite a few" homes totally destroyed, many pole barns were damaged and the Bay Side Golf Course was hit as well. As of this morning, there is one known injury; a man transported to Sidney. He said many of the homes damaged are vacation homes and unoccupied at the time.

He said one family was sheltered Thursday night. The Red Cross is en route to assess the situation.

King added officials are looking for places to dump broken trees and branches.