One person was killed when severe thunderstorms unleashed at least seven tornadoes and hail in southeast and central Nebraska on Sunday, knocking down trees and power lines, damaging buildings and flooding roads.

Malisa Sittler, director of human resources at Thayer County Health Services in Hebron, confirmed the fatality in Deshler but could not identify the person. She said the center treated five other people injured in Deshler.

Todd Holsten, with the National Weather Service in Hastings, said four tornadoes hit in and around Deshler in Thayer County near the Kansas line starting at 6:40 p.m. CDT and continued for an hour.

“They’ve got the town all blocked off,” said Gordon Fleming, a Thayer County commissioner who lives in Deshler, about 75 miles southwest of Lincoln. “It blew some buildings away here.”

Gov. Mike Johanns’ spokesman, Chris Peterson, said the state’s emergency operation center was up and running. An emergency team was to be dispatched in the morning.

Dave Moore, civil defense director in Nance County, said citizens reported a tornado was briefly on the ground about three miles southeast of Fullerton, in the central-east part of the state. There was no damage reported from the twister.

Larry Wirth, with the weather service, said a tornado also damaged buildings in Byron, about seven miles south of Deshler. Law enforcement confirmed another tornado three miles north of Bradshaw in York County about 8:30 p.m.

There was flooding near a construction site on U.S. Highway 81 in Fillmore County and more flooding near Hebron, Wirth said. He estimated 7 inches of rain fell in parts of Thayer County.