KEARNEY, Neb. -- Most of the items a Kearney couple bought for their wedding next week were ruined when a tornado tore through their living room on Thursday, but the bride's wedding dress was saved.

Kristy Focken and Brandon Crawford's apartment building was in the direct path of the storm.

"We had just moved his stuff in about an hour before, because we're getting married in a week," Focken said.

The threshold they planned to walk over as a married couple is now the gateway to broken glass and damaged belongings.

"We were standing by the kitchen door here, watching as it came across the parking lot. We actually seen it coming, started running for closets, the hallways, anything we could get into," Crawford said.

A floor up from their home, winds were ripping off the roof and shearing off the side of the building.

"I just laid in the living room until I quit hearing glass break, then met him in the bedroom," Focken said. "We stayed there for a while and just listened."

A window in the couple's apartment was the only window on the west side of the building that didn't shatter. Focken's wedding gown was in that room in the closet, untouched by the storm.

Another woman in the building is also planning a wedding. Her gown was stored elsewhere.

Across Kearney on Friday, trees were damaged everywhere and parts of Kearney remained without power on Friday afternoon.

Mattresses and pieces of wood and debris are in the streets.

Del Brock showed KETV NewsWatch 7 what used to be his garage.

"There used to be a roof and a front. The front is lying on the cement there. It took the whole thing, and most of it's in the parking lot of the apartment complex," Brock said.

At the airport, a $13 million jet parked in a hangar was crushed when the hangar collapsed.

At the Buffalo County Fairgrounds, people snapped pictures of the crushed Expo Building.

The mayor of Kearney said there were no injuries.

Gov. Dave Heineman took an aerial tour of Kearney on Friday and said much of the city avoided any damage.

"Certainly, there's going to be inconvenience today -- extensive damage -- but safe to say, we hope, there's not going to be significant devastation," Heineman said.

The governor activated the Nebraska National Guard on Thursday night and 25 soldiers are in Kearney helping with the cleanup.

The governor has declared a state of emergency, which allowed state and federal resources to help respond to local recovery efforts.

In the Buffalo and Hamilton counties, damage reports so far include about a dozen homes outside Aurora with major damage, another 21 homes and businesses with some damage. Five people were transported to the Aurora hospital for minor injuries last night after their vehicles blew over in the storm, all of whom were treated and released.