Two iconic restaurants in Southwest Lincoln were hit by a powerful storm Sunday night.

C & L Dairy Sweet is gone and Lee's Chicken is damaged. The two restaurants are located near Coddington Avenue and Van Dorn Street.

Lee's Chicken General Manager Dennis Kann and about 100 customers were in the restaurant when the storm rolled in.

"Sounded like a locomotive, just roaring," Kann said. "I can't believe how lucky we got."

One of the customers, Rob Taylor, was inside eating with his 6-year-old daughter when they had to take cover behind the bar. He described an intense scene.

"Boom you hear this rush of wind and debri is flying through the windows," Taylor said. "People are getting up and running. I pick up my daughter and we go duck down behind the bar in there. People are making sure everybody is okay and you're hearing that the roof is being ripped up and the owner is outside saying the tornado just jumped around the corner of the building."

Taylor said he looked outside and saw the ice cream shop across the street leveled. Kann and customers rushed to help them.

"Right after it hit, me and several gentlemen from the restaurant ran to check on the people in the (C & L Dairy Sweet) building. I thought we were going to be digging out debri - trying to get people out of there...That was a scary, scary moment."

Fortunately the C & L Dairy Sweet owner, Happ Loomis, and everyone inside got out okay. Kann says he also knows there were people who rode out the storm in their vehicles nearby and were very shaken up.

Amazingly, there's been no reports of injuries.

C & L Dairy Sweet employee Tiffany Blackwell said she was getting ready to leave work when she saw the rotation in the clouds and could faintly hear the tornado sirens going off in the distance. But she knew her mom who was working inside wouldn't be able to hear the sirens.

"I ran back in there and said 'get the girls out now'! Blackwell said.

Some of the employees went across the street to a house that has a storm cellar to take cover. But Blackwell's mom was still inside.

"I came back down and said 'hey let's go' and she said 'well I have to finish this cheeseburger' and I was like 'Forget the cheeseburger, we gotta go!"

Last month, 10/11 NOW's Jon Vanderford covered the 40th anniversary celebration of C & L Dairy Sweet. You can watch that story

C & L Dairy Sweet Posted by Abbie Petersen 1011 NOW on Sunday, May 5, 2019