Midwest tornadoes cause severe damage in Omaha suburbs

OMAHA, Neb. – A tornado touched down in suburban Omaha, Nebraska, on Friday afternoon, damaging hundreds of homes and other structures as the twister moved for miles across farmland and into subdivisions. Some injuries were reported, but there were no immediate reports that anyone had died.

Several tornadoes were reported in Nebraska, but the most destructive storm moved from a largely rural area to the northwest suburbs of Omaha, a city of 485,000 people.

Photos on social media showed devastated homes and destroyed trees. The video showed homes with bare roofs in a rural area near Omaha. Authorities were blocking roads in the area.

Hundreds of homes suffered damage in Omaha, particularly in the Elkhorn area on the city’s west side, said Omaha Police Lt. Neal Bonacci.

Police and firefighters now go door to door helping people who are trapped.

Omaha Fire Chief Kathy Bossman said crews went to the “hardest hit area” and had a plan to look anywhere anyone might be trapped.

“They will develop a strategic plan for a detailed search of the area, starting with the most damaged properties,” Bossman said. “We will be looking at properties in piles of rubble, we will be looking in basements, trying to find victims and making sure everyone who needs assistance is rescued.”

Bonacci said many homes were destroyed or badly damaged.

“You definitely see the path of the tornado,” Bonacci said.

In one area of ​​Elkhorn, dozens of large, newly built homes were damaged. At least six were destroyed, including one that was flattened, while others had their top half torn off.

There were dozens of emergency vehicles in the area.

“We saw it land about 200 yards away and then we took shelter,” said Pat Woods, who lives in Elkhorn. “We could hear him passing by. When we came up, our fence was gone and we looked northwest and the whole neighborhood was gone.”

His wife, Kim Woods, added, “The whole neighborhood north of us is pretty devastated.”

Dhaval Naik, who said he worked with the man whose house was demolished, said three people, including a child, were in the basement when the tornado hit. They got out safely.

Video from KETV-TV showed a woman being taken out of a destroyed home on a stretcher in Blair, a city north of Omaha.

Bonacci said only two people were transported for treatment, both with minor injuries.

He said crews are now doing a second search of the homes. He said fire crews would work through the night to check all unsafe structures and ensure no one was inside.

“People were warned about it and it saved lives,” Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said of the few serious injuries.

A tornado warning was issued for the Omaha area on Friday afternoon, just as children were expected to leave school. Many schools kept students sheltered until the storm passed. Hours later, buses were still transporting students home.

“Was it one long tornado or multiple tornadoes?” said Becky Kern, warning coordinator meteorologist for the National Weather Service’s Omaha office.

She said the agency plans to send several teams in the coming days to determine the number of tornadoes and their strength, and that it could take up to two weeks to complete the assessment.

“Some appeared to be violent tornadoes,” she continued. “There were tornadoes in different areas. And so it’s like forensic meteorology, as we call it, like putting the pieces together, all the indicators of damage.”

Another tornado hit an area in far east Omaha, passing directly through parts of Eppley Airfield, the city’s airport. Authorities closed the airport to aircraft operations to access the damage but later reopened the facility, said Steve McCoy, chief strategy officer for the Omaha Airport Authority.

The passenger terminal was not hit by the tornado, but people ran to storm shelters until the tornado passed, McCoy said.

Flight delays are expected Friday night.

After passing the airport, the tornado crossed the Missouri River and entered Iowa, north of Council Bluffs.

Nebraska Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Katrina Sperl said damage is only now being reported. Taylor Wilson, a spokeswoman for the University of Nebraska Medical Center, said there were no injuries yet.

Before the tornado hit the Omaha area, three industrial plant workers were injured Friday afternoon when a tornado struck an industrial plant in Lancaster County, sheriff’s officials said in a damage update.

The building northeast of the state capital of Lincoln collapsed with about 70 employees inside and several people trapped, sheriff’s officials said. Everyone was evacuated and three people suffered injuries that were not considered life-threatening, authorities said.

Sheriff’s officials say they also received reports of an overturned train near Waverly, also in Lancaster County.

Two people who were injured when the tornado passed through Lancaster County were being treated at the trauma center at Bryan Medical Center West Campus in Lincoln, the facility said in a news release. He said the patients were undergoing triage and no details were released about their condition.

The Omaha Public Power District reported that nearly 10,000 customers were without power in the Omaha area.

Daniel Fienhold, manager of Pink Poodle Steakhouse in Crescent, Iowa, said he was outside watching the weather with his daughter and restaurant staff. He said it “looked like a large tornado was forming” northeast of the city.

“It started raining and then it started hailing, and then all the clouds started spinning and coming together, and as soon as the wind started to pick up, I went into the basement, but we never saw it,” said Fienhold.

The forecast for Saturday was ominous. The Weather Service also issued tornado warnings for parts of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. And meteorologists warned that large hail and strong wind gusts were possible.

“It looks like there will be a big outbreak again tomorrow,” Kern said. “Maybe a little further south.”

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Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas. Associated Press writers Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota, and Jeff Martin in Atlanta contributed to this report.