A May 17 tornado north of St. Libory destroyed Christina Parden’s new home at 613 Denton Circle. Parden just moved into the home three weeks ago. (Central Nebraska Today)
Tornado destroys St .Libory woman’s new home 3 weeks after she moved into home
Carol Bryant
May 18, 2026 | 10:13 PM
ST. LIBORY -Christina Parden, 48, moved into her new home at 613 Denton Circle north of St. Libory three weeks ago.
Just before 5 p.m. May 17, Parden; her daughter Graci Boersen, 20; and her two dogs, Fynn and Samantha, huddled in a storage room in the basement while a huge tornado traveled over her home.
The home is completely destroyed, as well as Parden’s three vehicles. Parden and Boersen were not injured.
Boersen is getting married in three weeks. Most of the items for the wedding and her mother’s dress for the wedding were in the house and are gone.
Two of the vehicles were parked in a garage. The garage was destroyed. The other vehicle, a truck, was parked in the driveway and ended up in the yard of a home just east of hers near the intersection of 7th Street and Denton Road.
Construction on her home began in the fall of 2025. Her home had four bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, and a two-car oversized garage.
On the morning of May 18, numerous people were at the site where the tornado struck. Some were picking up debris. Others were residents who had returned to retrieve anything else they could find at their homes. It was not possible to know which people at the scene were volunteers and which people were residents. Emergency personnel were also at the site.
May 17 started like most Sundays for Parden. She went to church, took a meal to some friends in Cairo, and stopped at a grocery store. She and Graci arrived home at approximately 3:50 p.m. May 17. They unloaded groceries, took the dogs outside, and then fed them.
“We saw it was getting stormy,” Parden said.
Before 5 p.m. May 17 when the tornado touched down, Parden was monitoring the weather on her cell phone and was looking west through a large window on her home. A weather alert sounded.
“I saw a dark rain cloud. I think I froze,” Parden said.
Before 5 p.m. May 17, Graci Boersen had just stepped into a bathroom to take a shower.
As soon as Parden saw the storm approaching their home, she yelled to her daughter to get out of the shower and go to the basement. Boersen wrapped herself in a towel and went to the basement. Meanwhile, Parden took her two dogs to the basement. She grabbed a small safe on the first floor containing important documents including Social Security cards, birth certificates, vehicle titles, cards from her children, and her will. She also took her purse and other important documents to the basement. She also grabbed a ring that belonged to her late father. Her daughter was not able to take her purse to the basement and lost items including her driver’s license.
“You could feel the pressure,” Parden said about the tornado. “Things were flying everywhere.” Parden heard loud screeching sounds. “It happened so fast. I heard a loud thundering sound. A lot of glass was breaking. Graci was crying a lot. We prayed. I was on top of her,” Parden said.
Parden has three vehicles. A Honda Pilot and Ford Fusion were parked in a garage. A Chevrolet pickup was parked in the driveway. After the tornado hit, the garage was destroyed. The pickup ended up rolling on the ground and came to rest in the yard of the neighbors who live east of her.
After the tornado struck, Parden looked up from the basement, saw the sky, and knew that her home had been destroyed.
“I just started screaming,” Boersen said.
She did not have leashes for her dogs and told Boersen to hold the dogs so they didn’t run away. Parden left the storage room in the basement and soon help arrived. St. Libory Volunteer Fire Department Chief Chris Dvorak and his wife, Kari, were among the first people to arrive at the scene and helped Parden and Boersen get out of the basement.
A storm chaser was also among the first people to arrive at Parden’s home.
After Boersen and Parden departed from what remained of the house, emergency personnel examined them in a nearby ambulance and checked their vital signs. They then waiting in another vehicle.
Howard County Emergency Management Director Allen Wilshusen said May 17 that emergency personnel from throughout Howard County responded to the scene.
Parden called a number of people after the tornado left the site including her mother and stepfather and two brothers, Tyler Solko and Jordan Solko of St. Paul. She said that one of her brothers is a contractor.
“A flood of people started arriving,” Parden said. One person took Parden’s dogs and took them in a truck where they were safe. Parden estimated that at least 50 people arrived at the site to help after the tornado struck.
Friends from her church and other friends arrived with enclosed trailers and salvaged what they could find in the house.
Parden said that fortunately her photo scrapbooks were in the basement.
Graci Boersen is getting married in three weeks. A number of items for the wedding were in the house and were destroyed, including centerpieces and bouquets. Food for the wedding was being stored in a freezer.
“It’s all gone,” Parden said.
Parden said that appliances at her home had recently been installed.
Parden said that the bathroom where her daughter was taking a shower was destroyed.
“It’s a frightening thought,” Parden said about what would have happened if her daughter hadn’t gone to the basement.
Boersen’s bedroom was in the basement, so some of her belongings could be salvaged. Parden’s bedroom was on the first floor, and the contents of the bedroom were destroyed.
Parden and Boersen stayed at the site until 10 p.m. May 17. Then a couple that attend her church drove them to her son’s house in Grand Island, where they stayed overnight.
Victoria Watson of Dannebrog is the oldest of Parden’s children. Parden is divorced. Watson said her other three siblings are Noah Boersen of Georgia, Elijah Boersen of Grand Island, and Graci Boersen. Watson talked about what her Mom and sister had experienced in the morning on May 18. Watson and Parden were in Watson’s Suburban, parked in front of 613 Denton Circle.
Because the tornado destroyed all of Parden’s vehicles, Watson picked up her Mom in Grand Island in the morning on May 18 and drove her to where her home was located. Parden had already spent significant time talking to home and car insurance staff to begin the process of getting money from her insurance policies.
“She’s experiencing a lot of shock and anxiety,” Watson said about her Mom. She was just grateful that Parden and Boersen were in the basement when the tornado touched down.
Watson said that prior to when the tornado touched down in St. Libory, her Mom had been monitoring the weather on a cell phone app. Parden was getting ready to call Victoria Watson because she was concerned about storm activity near Dannebrog. About that time, the tornado reached St. Libory.
Parden remained in shock May 18 but said she would like to rebuild a home at the site.
“I really want to live out here,” Parden said. “We had a lot of dreams about being out here.”
She said that since construction started on her home in the fall of 2025, she described the construction process as “very stressful.”
Parden attends G.I. Free Church in Grand Island, is active in the church, and is a woman of faith. She said her daughter, Graci, asked, “Why would God do this?”
“I don’t want them to get discouraged about their faith,” Parden said about her children. “I want to be a good example. I know He is going to take care of us. I know that God is good.”
Two of Parden’s neighbors attend another Grand Island church, and their homes were destroyed.
Watch Video: Mother and daughter describe terrifying tornado that leveled newly-built home
Violent storms spawned destructive tornadoes over the weekend, leveling homes and sending trees and power lines flying through the air. There were at least 22 tornado reports across five states from Kansas to Minnesota.
In Howard County, Nebraska, Christina Parden and her daughter Graci Boersen took shelter in their basement. It’s the only part of their newly built home that now remains.
“I looked out my kitchen window and I was watching the clouds and it just dropped down,” Parden said, describing the twister.
“(It) was the most terrifying thing I’ve experienced in my life,” Boersen said.
The family had moved in just two weeks ago after designing and building the home.
In the aftermath of the storm, volunteers came to help the family salvage what they could.
“I know God is going to send help when we’re in trouble,” Pardon said. “He’s going to send help in one way or another,”
A relative set up a GoFundMe site for Parden and Boersen on May 18. To locate the site to make a donation, go to: gofundme.com. The name of their fund is “Support Christina and Graci After Tornado Loss.”
As of 9 p.m. May 18, $2,045 had been raised with a total goal of $9,000 in donations.
Text at the GoFundMe site says: “Last night’s tornado changed everything…for Christina and her daughter Graci. They lost their home and everything inside of it. Along with losing the house itself, they also lost their personal belongings –clothes, beds, furniture, keepsakes, and the everyday items that make a house feel like a home. In a matter of moments, so much of what they owned and cherished is gone.”
“To make things even harder, Graci is supposed to get married in just three weeks, and many of the decorations, supplies, and items they had prepared for the wedding are now missing or destroyed,” the text on the website said.
Graci Boersen gets wedding help after St. Libory tornado
Dive Deeper:
Christina Parden and her daughter Graci Boersen moved into their new house in rural Nebraska just weeks ago. On Sunday afternoon, a tornado ripped through their subdivision, destroying all four houses in a row. The tornado was on the ground for only 11 minutes. It was part of a storm that sent 160-mile-per-hour winds whipping eastward through Howard County.
Christina Parden and her daughter Graci Boersen were living in their newly built home in Howard County, Nebraska, just two weeks after moving in when a violent tornado struck their subdivision on May 17, 2026 CBS News+1. The storm, part of a larger weather system that produced at least 22 tornadoes across five states, tore through the area with winds up to 160 mph, lasting only about 11 minutes but causing complete destruction to all four homes in a row onenews.com.
Parden and Graci had been preparing for dinner when they saw dark clouds and heard a weather alert. They quickly moved to the basement, where they took shelter with their two dogs, Fynn and Samantha www.centralnebraskatoday.com. The basement was the only part of the home that remained standing after the tornado CBS News. The family was unharmed, but their belongings — including wedding items and personal documents — were lost www.centralnebraskatoday.com.
The tornado’s path was particularly devastating for the row of new homes, while nearby properties were spared onenews.com. In the aftermath, volunteers and emergency personnel arrived to help salvage what they could, and Parden expressed faith that help would come when they were in trouble CBS News.
The same storm system also fueled high winds across the Great Plains and caused wildfires, including the Sharpe Fire in Colorado, which burned over 16,000 acres CBS News. Emergency officials warned of continued severe weather threats in the region.
- Christina Parden was excited to be settling into her new home in rural Nebraska, unloading groceries with her daughter.
- Just as they were preparing for a quiet dinner, a tornado struck their subdivision, known as Dirt Road, destroying all four newly built houses.
- The tornado, which lasted only 11 minutes, produced winds of up to 160 miles per hour and traveled over six miles through Howard County.
- Despite the tornado’s brief duration, it caused complete devastation to the small subdivision while leaving other nearby homes and businesses untouched.
- Emergency manager Allen Wilshusen highlighted the unpredictable nature of tornadoes, noting that the storm’s path was particularly unfortunate for the houses in a row.
- Ms. Parden was aware of the storm warnings typical for May, as tornado season is common in Nebraska and the Midwest.
- The incident serves as a stark reminder of the power of nature and the suddenness with which disaster can strike.
“Please keep Christina and Graci in your thoughts and prayers as they begin to rebuild.”
No information was available May 18 concerning whether an account would be established to assist the people whose homes were destroyed. 50 Best Songs About Storms (2026 With Music Videos) – Audio Tips