The emergency also applies to Missouri Valley, Iowa, and nearby parts of Iowa along the Nebraska border. The service describes tornado emergency declarations as “extremely rare” and says they are reserved for tornadoes confirmed by reliable sources or manifested through radar data and images.
The area covered by the declaration faces “a serious threat to human life and catastrophic damage from an imminent or ongoing tornado,” the service said in its online glossary.
The National Weather Service office in Valley, Nebraska, was unable to confirm reports of multiple tornadoes that appeared to hit north of Omaha as it focused on dealing with a surge of reports received. Several social media videos checked by NBC News appeared to show tornadoes in the air and near or on the ground in or near Lincoln, Waverly and Elba.
Nearly 16 million people are also under watch for tornadoes that stretched from central Texas to the top of Nebraska. Tornado warnings, which warn residents of impending danger and encourage them to take cover, were also in effect in parts of eastern Kansas and eastern Nebraska as a line of thunderstorms ravaged the region.
Omaha police and firefighters said two people suffered minor injuries when a tornado touched down in the northwest area of the city.
“It appears that many homes were destroyed and many homes also sustained significant damage,” Omaha Fire Department Chief Kathy Bossman said at an early evening news conference.
Crews would begin searching the area for possible injured residents this evening, she said. However, the area has homes under construction, Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said, and may be vacant.
The city is experiencing power outages, gas leaks and fallen utility poles and tree limbs across roads, the fire chief said. More than 8,000 utility customers were left without power in Nebraska, according to utility tracker PowerOutage.us.
Schmaderer attributed early warnings from the National Weather Service and others for the low number of injuries so far. “The warning systems were highly effective,” he said.
In the Lincoln area, a 115,000-square-foot facility that produces injection-molded parts used in manufacturing was destroyed by a tornado, the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office said in statements Friday afternoon.
Three people who were at the Garner Industries facility suffered non-life-threatening injuries, the office said. Nearly 70 other people, some initially trapped, were able to leave the facility unharmed, the sheriff’s office said.
The company’s Google listing says it is “temporarily closed.” A representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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