OMAHA, Nebraska (AP) — A tornado ripped through suburban Omaha, Nebraska, on Friday, damaging hundreds of homes and other structures as it tore miles along farmland and through housing developments. A few injuries were reported, but no deaths were immediately reported.
Several tornadoes were reported Friday in Nebraska and Iowa, but the most destructive storm moved from a largely rural area into suburbs northwest of Omaha, a city of 485,000. Photos posted on social media show that the small town of Minden, Iowa, about 30 miles (48.3 kilometers) northeast of Omaha, also suffered heavy damage.
Three people were injured in Lancaster County, Nebraska, when a tornado struck an industrial building, causing it to collapse with 70 people inside. Several people were trapped, but everyone was evacuated and the injuries were not life-threatening, authorities said.
Hundreds of homes were damaged in Omaha, mostly in the Elkhorn neighborhood on the city’s west side, Omaha police Lt. Neal Bonacci said. Police and firefighters went door to door to help people. Crews went to the “hardest hit area” and planned to search anywhere someone might be trapped, said Omaha Fire Chief Kathy Bossman.
“They will develop a strategic plan for a detailed search of the area, starting with the most damaged properties,” Bossman said. “We will search properties in piles of debris, we will search basements, to try to find the victims and make sure everyone who needs help is rescued.”
Bonacci said many homes were destroyed or severely damaged.
“You definitely see the path of the tornado,” Bonacci said.
Omaha resident Pat Woods says they saw the tornado and took shelter.
In one Elkhorn neighborhood, dozens of large, newly constructed homes were damaged. At least six were destroyed, including one that was razed to the ground, while others had the top half torn off. Dozens of emergency vehicles were in the area.
“We saw it land about 200 yards over there, and then we took cover,” said Pat Woods, who lives in Elkhorn. “We could hear it going by. When we arrived our fence was gone and we looked to the northwest and the whole neighborhood was gone.
His wife, Kim Woods, added: “The whole neighborhood just north of us is pretty flattened. »
Three people, including a child, were in the basement of the flattened house when the tornado struck, but they got out safely, according to Dhaval Naik, who said he was working with the home’s owner.
KETV-TV video shows a woman being carried from a destroyed home on a stretcher in Blair, a city just north of Omaha.
Bonacci said only two people were transported for treatment, both suffering minor injuries.
He said teams were currently carrying out a second search of the homes. He said fire crews will work through the night to check all dangerous structures and make sure no one is inside.
“People were warned about this and that, they saved lives,” Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said of the few serious injuries.
The tornado warning was issued in the Omaha area Friday afternoon, just as children were supposed to leave school. Many schools sheltered students until the storm passed. Hours later, buses were still transporting students home.
“Was it one long-track tornado or multiple tornadoes?” said Becky Kern, warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Omaha office.
She said the agency plans to send out several teams over the next few 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, we call it, like putting together, all the damage indicators.
Another tornado struck an area east of Omaha, passing directly through parts of Eppley Airfield, the city’s airport. Officials closed the airport to flight operations to access the damage but then reopened the facilities, said Steve McCoy, chief strategy officer for the Omaha Airport Authority.
The passenger terminal was not affected by the tornado, but people rushed to storm shelters until the tornado passed, McCoy said.
After passing through the airport, the tornado crossed the Missouri River and entered Iowa, north of Council Bluffs.
Nebraska Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Katrina Sperl said reports of the damage were just starting to come in. Taylor Wilson, a spokesperson for the University of Nebraska Medical Center, said they have not yet seen any injuries.
In Lancaster County, where three people were injured when an industrial building collapsed, sheriff’s officials also said they received reports of an overturned train near Waverly.
Two people injured in the county were being treated at the trauma center at Bryan Medical Center’s West Campus in Lincoln, the facility said in a news release. The hospital said the patients were being triaged and no details were released about their conditions.
The Omaha Public Power District reported 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 monitoring the weather with his daughter and restaurant employees. He said “it looked like a pretty big tornado was forming” northeast of the city.
“It started to rain, then it started to hail, then all the clouds started to swirl and gather, and as soon as the wind started to pick up, that’s when I “I headed down to the basement, but we never saw him,” Fienhold said.
The forecast for Saturday was worrying. The weather service also issued tornado watches for parts of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. And forecasters warned that large hail and strong wind gusts were possible.
“It looks like a big outbreak again tomorrow,” Kern said. “Maybe a little further south.”
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Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas. Associated Press writers Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa, Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota and Jeff Martin in Atlanta contributed to this report.
