WAKEFIELD – Sunday marked the fifth anniversary of the Pilger twin tornadoes that left a path of destruction across northeastern Stanton County and killed two people. However, Pilger was not the only town in Nebraska that faced dangerous tornadoes that day.
According to the National Weather Service, the Wakefield tornado was the fourth violent tornado to develop in Northeast Nebraska that day.
It started ten miles south of the town and traveled, north right past city limits.
The storm was later categorized as an EF-4, the same rating as the Pilger tornadoes.
The area today is fully recovered. However, many scars were left behind after the storm, especially when it came to the farms and homesteads located just outside of Wakefield.
Charity Potter, a member of the Wakefield community and Pastor at Unity Perish, knows these areas all too well.
Though the community still struggles with a housing shortage, Potters explains that the community was able to recover fairly quickly because they were somewhat prepared.
In October of the year before, the town already had recovery efforts underway from a tornado that went through Wayne and ended outside of Wakefield.
Flash forward to June 16th, 2014, the community had to go through the recovery process all over again.
Now, five years later, the community of Wakefield has proven they can take a disastrous event such as the 2014 tornadoes, and turn it into a source of inspiration and strength.
