The storm reduced a building across the road from Maskenthine Lake near Stanton to debris.

Unger, the Stanton County sheriff, said five people had to be rescued from a rural home day care northwest of Stanton. That home was hit just before the storm moved into Pilger.

Tranquil fishing trip changes quickly

Before the storm hit the Stanton area, Darin Schneider had thought it was a perfect day for fishing on the lake.

But a phone call from his wife, a sudden ominous quiet and the appearance of rolling dark clouds changed all that.

"It was blue skies," Schneider said. "Then my wife called, and 10 seconds later, everything went quiet."

He quickly took shelter near a bridge at the lake. As he wrapped his arms and legs around a steel beam, the storm swept through.

"It picked up my lower torso when it came through," he said. "But I gripped my legs back to the beam and got my bearings."

Schneider was all alone on the lake, but he said that it was a good thing no one else was with him and that he was close to shelter.

"I was scared as hell," he said. "But if I wasn't near the bridge, and I tried to make a mad dash for safety, I wouldn't have made it."

He looked around and saw the devastation that the storm left in its path.

Trees, power lines and houses along the west edge of Stanton also were knocked over or destroyed by the storm, said Todd Jochum of the Stanton Fire Department.

Jochum pulled his team together with the Norfolk Fire Division and surrounding communities to respond to rescue calls.

"We've been working this area, checking for damage and seeing what's going on," he said Monday evening. "It's pretty similar to last year in Wayne when communities everywhere came to help."

Once rescue calls from Stanton were taken care of, Jochum and his team shifted their focus to Pilger.

Hospital receives the injured