Officials say a tornado that swept through a rural southeast Nebraska town destroyed a home, while the homeowner hung onto a tree outside.

The National Weather Service in Omaha reported at least one tornado touched down Monday afternoon near Nehawka, about 30 miles south of Omaha.

Sandy Weyers, Cass County Emergency Management director, says the homeowner didn’t make it inside by the time a tornado arrived in the area so he grabbed hold of a tree and “rode it out.”

The man only suffered a few cuts and scrapes, but Weyers said the home was a total loss. No one was in the home when the roof and outer walls collapsed.

The National Weather Service says a tornado that swept through southern Nebraska caused some damage to a rural high school.

Cindy Fay, with the National Weather Service in Hastings, says there were three confirmed tornadoes that touched down Monday afternoon near the cities of Fairfield and Clay Center.

Sandra Nejezchleb, the ambulance captain at the Fairfield Fire Department, says no students were injured at Sandy Creek High School in rural Fairfield, but windows of school vans and other vehicles were busted out in the parking lot, there was damage to a school porch awning and an irrigation pivot overturned about a mile south.

Two people have been killed by strong tornadoes that swept across portions of southern Oklahoma.

Johnston County Sheriff’s Sgt. Stacey Pulley says a man died Monday near the town of Connerville. A storm earlier in the day killed a man in a home near Wynnewood.

The Storm Prediction Center had said the Plains and Arkansas.

Some of Monday’s weather has been so bad that forecasters declared a “tornado emergency” for the towns of Roff and Hickory, which were in the path of a storm.