While ISU fans poured back into Jack Trice Stadium after being evacuated to Hilton Coliseum, Paul Livingston and his neighbors were busy picking up the family’s belongings amid the remains of their living room at 2743 N. Dakota Ave.

A tornado touched down in northwest Ames at 4:33 p.m. Saturday, according to the National Weather Service, leveling much of the Livingston’s home and destroying a garage on Ontario Street. No injuries were reported.

“Everyone’s fine,” said Livingston of his wife, Linda; son, David, 8; and daughter, Kristin, 11.

“We were in an interior room in the basement. We had literally just pulled the door closed to the room when it hit,” he said. “It was that close.”

With a suitcase of the clothes he was able to salvage from the house in hand, he and his neighbors packed what belongings they could find Saturday night into neighbors’ cars, while the family’s van lay on its side in front of what was their garage.

A wall from the side of the house lay across the street, and debris, glass and tree limbs littered neighboring yards.

The family is staying with Livingston’s parents in Ames.

“Like they say, it’s like a train,” said neighbor Rebecca Shuka, who lives at 2663 N. Dakota Ave. “We felt the walls and floor shake. It’s like sitting under an overpass.”

Shuka said she, her husband and five children were watching news and weather reports on television instructing them to take shelter.

“We’re just so grateful that everyone is OK,” she said. “It’s a good thing we went to the basement when we did because it did not look bad, but it was not long before we were in the basement when it really got bad.

“It looked like a thunderstorm and not a tornado.”

A storm front moved to the northeast into Ames from Woodward, according to National Weather Service reports. Three funnel clouds were reported over Jack Trice Stadium as fans tailgated in preparation for Iowa State’s football game against Colorado, which was postponed because of the weather.

Ames Police officers tracked the clouds to north Ames, where one of the clouds formed a tornado, touching down on Ontario Street and causing a four-block area of damage around California Avenue and Kansas Drive.

“We were extremely lucky,” said Ames Police Chief Loras Jaeger. “There’s minor damage compared to what it could have been.”

The storm blew debris onto railroad tracks and downed power lines throughout the city.

City of Ames Electric Services crews had power restored to most neighborhoods by 7:40 p.m.

“I think the City of Ames fared well. It could have been a lot worse,” said Susan Gwiasda, public relations officer for the City of Ames. “We got away with minimal damage. No one wants a tornado, and this one clipped the northwest edge of Ames, but compared to Woodward and Gilbert, Ames fared well.”

Woodward was one of at least 10 Iowa towns hit by tornadoes on Saturday. As many as 32 homes were destroyed in Woodward and Stratford, leaving an elderly woman dead.

Ames Police and Fire Departments, ISU Police, Mary Greelee Hospital, ISU Athletics officials and City Manager Steve Schainker met early Saturday morning before the game in anticipation of the severe weather, Jaeger said.

An Ames Police mobile command bus was stationed at the stadium, and extra medical supplies were on hand.

Fans attending the game were given printed notices informing them of the likelihood of bad weather. Premade notices were also given to Ames Police officers, who drove through the crowds of fans in the stadium parking lot, advising them over loudspeakers to seek shelter and move to Hilton Coliseum. The city’s tornado sirens also sounded twice around 4:45 p.m. to give warning.

Fifteen first responders from the Ames Fire Department were put on standby.

The last tornado to strike Ames was Sept. 9, touching down on campus and causing $150,000 worth of damage.

“The difference with the last tornado that hit in Ames and this one is we had advanced notice on this one,” Jaeger said. “We knew there was the likelihood of severe weather and we knew there was a tornado that had touched down in Woodward.”

Damage estimates to the City of Ames were not immediately available.