Man takes cover as tornado passed close by

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - People across eastern Nebraska received alerts Friday, telling them to take cover quickly. But for those traveling on the interstate, they would have to get creative to stay safe.

Like John Edwards, who was driving into Lincoln from Michigan to pick up his daughter at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

“She said ‘Dad don’t come down because there’s a possible tornado,’” said Edwards.

But he was already on his way. He was driving down Cornhusker Highway when a broadcast on the radio quickly made him realize that he was headed into the eye of the storm.

“I was listening to one of the local radio stations and they kept talking about a cloud that looks like a comma,” Edwards said. “I thought that kinda looks like a comma.”

That’s when Edwards and the other driver backed into the overpass to take cover, he said they could see the tornado just a short distance away.

“I thought this is actually kind of cool-- I’m actually getting to see it—until it moved around and it basically started coming at us and then I was like ‘oh no!’”

He said that’s when he and others got down and hoped for the best.

“It kept getting closer, we all got down and just kept saying get down, face down, cover your head, and protect yourself.”

A few miles up the road, the tornado blasted through Garner Industries. 70 people were inside the facility during the impact. Incredibly, there were a few non-life-threatening injuries reported.

“It was totally amazing, I’m still surprised that nobody was seriously injured or killed in something like this, just happy everybody made it.”

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