On Sunday afternoon, Christina Parden was unloading groceries for the first time in her brand-new house in rural Nebraska.
Even having milk in the fridge seemed exciting in a house that she had moved into just weeks ago. She and her daughter Graci Boersen, 20, unloaded dish soap and Clorox spray, along with the potatoes, sour cream and bacon that they planned to eat for a quiet supper that evening.
They never had time to start cooking.
Just after 5 p.m., a tornado ripped through their subdivision, known as Dirt Road, a patch of three-acre lots surrounded by farms and cornfields. All four houses in the subdivision, all built within the last year, were destroyed.
The tornado was on the ground for only 11 minutes, local officials said, part of a storm that sent 160-mile-per-hour winds whipping eastward through Howard County, north of Grand Island in south central Nebraska. It touched down for just over six miles, leaving other homes, businesses and churches throughout the county unharmed.
But the devastation to the tiny subdivision of Dirt Road was swift and complete.
“With a tornado, you never know which way it’s going to go,” said Allen Wilshusen, the emergency manager for Howard County, noting that the tornado happened to take a path that hit all four houses in a row. “Unfortunately, when the good Lord says it’s this place now, there isn’t a whole lot that you can do or say about it.”
Ms. Parden, 48, knew that storms were sweeping through the area, not unusual for a late afternoon in May, when tornado season is underway in Nebraska and Midwesterners are pelted with alerts.
She had lived in Nebraska nearly her entire life, and wasn’t too worried. Ms. Boersen is planning to be married in June, and mother and daughter had a busy day of church and shopping, with plans to work on wedding centerpieces in the evening.
After unloading the groceries, Ms. Parden and her daughter took Samantha and Finn, their small dogs, outside. A handful of neighbors stood on their front porches, trying to see if a storm was headed their way. Ms. Boersen decided to take a shower, in case the power went out later.
Back inside, Ms. Parden’s cellphone chirped with storm alerts, and she peered out of her west-facing kitchen window.
“I saw what looked like a dark wall coming,” she said on Tuesday. “It looked like there was green in it, like there was hail in it. It was moving very fast.”
She could make out what looked like a metal pole and chunks of wood flying through the air. Her neighbor’s house, which stood on a small hill nearby, seemed to be trembling, slowly lifting off its foundation.
The air felt strange, and Ms. Parden’s ears popped from the intensifying pressure, “like when you’re taking off in an airplane,” she said.
She screamed, grabbed the dogs and put them in her new basement, telling her daughter to get out of the shower that instant. Ms. Boersen wrapped herself in a towel and ran downstairs. Ms. Parden huddled over her as they cried and prayed, asking God to keep them safe, their voices drowned out by the sound of screeching metal above.
Less than a minute later, the tornado was gone, and daylight poured into the basement. The house, with its antique chandelier and double front door that Ms. Parden had splurged on, was gone.
Storm chasers and emergency responders arrived within minutes. Everyone who lived in the subdivision was uninjured, saved by sheltering in their basements, officials said.
“It was definitely the scariest thing I’ve ever been through,” Ms. Boersen said.
On Tuesday morning, Gov. Jim Pillen of Nebraska thanked neighbors, emergency responders and meteorologists “who play a critical role in keeping us informed and safe in the face of Mother Nature’s fury.”
Mr. Wilshusen, the county emergency director, said that he was grateful that all the families had heeded storm warnings and gone into their basements. Though the families were still in shock more than a day later, he said, he expected that they would rebuild on the same lots.
Ms. Parden is still waiting to hear from her insurance company, she said, but hopes to eventually build another house on the lot, which she purchased for about $50,000 and spent about $350,000 more building on.
Her initial shock was wearing off.
“Today I just feel a lot more grief,” she said. “Like, what do I do next?”
Susan C. Beachy contributed research.
Julie Bosman is the Chicago bureau chief for The Times, writing and reporting stories from around the Midwest.
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