Hundreds of harrowing accounts of have been coming to light following the historic floods in Nebraska, many of narrow escapes out of quickly rising waters. But what was left after saving the human lives is the devastating stories of animals that were not so lucky.
One Fremont area livestock producer lost hundreds of pigs when water rushed over his property. Eric Alberts tells 6 News that he was trying to move some of his livestock when the water began to rise. "Within 30 minutes we had over two feet of water come through the front barn and just swells were coming and we barely made it out of here before we just had to leave."
While trying to save his own life, Alberts was not able to save all the lives of his animals. "We lost roughly 700 head of hogs, so it's been a little devastating. But the worst is yet to come. We got to clean it up."
Many people in the Fremont area have a big mess to clean up. Tyson Warm said he is counting his blessings. "My house stands up pretty high. It just rushed in from the back and had about three-and-a-half feet is all."
Warm won't have to clean up alone. A lot of his friends stepped in to help, even though Highway 30 - which runs in front of his home - is out of commission. The 10-minute trip from Arlington became a whole lot longer. "We came up 30 and we had to take the route through Hooper. It's about the only route available to come in here. About a 50 mile journey," Arlington resident Brandon Wollberg said.
Though suffering great loss, everyone's attitudes were positive.
"There's a lot of people that are in really tough shape right now and they're going to bounce back. Like anything, we're Nebraska. We're going to bounce back," Wollberg said.
The Nebraska Farm Bureau says farm and ranch losses in the state could reach $1 billion by the time all is said and done.
(Photo courtesy of 6 News)