Damaged homes are seen after a tornado passes through near Omaha, Nebraska, Friday, April 26, 2024.
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Damaged homes are seen after a tornado passes through near Omaha, Nebraska, Friday, April 26, 2024.
Chris Makian/AP
OMAHA, Nebraska — Tornadoes wreaked havoc across the Midwest Friday, leveling buildings with dozens of people inside and destroying and damaging numerous homes around Omaha, Nebraska.
There were several reports of injuries as of Friday night, but no immediate deaths. Tornado warnings remained in effect for Iowa late into the night.
A tornado ripped through an industrial building in Lancaster County, Nebraska, destroying it with 70 people inside and injuring three others. Several people were trapped, but all were evacuated and their injuries were not life-threatening, authorities said.
One of the most destructive tornadoes traveled several miles through mostly rural farmland Friday before burning down homes and other structures in suburban Omaha. Omaha is a city of 485,000 people, with a metropolitan area of approximately 1 million people.
The small Iowa city of Minden, about 30 miles (48.3 kilometers) northeast of Omaha, was also badly damaged, according to photos on social media.
A tornado is seen near north of Waverly, Nebraska on Friday, April 26, 2024.
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A tornado is seen near north of Waverly, Nebraska on Friday, April 26, 2024.
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The weather forecast for Saturday was ominous. The National Weather Service has issued tornado watches for parts of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. Forecasters warned that large hail and gusty winds were possible.
“It looks like we're going to have another outbreak tomorrow,” said Becky Kahn, a warning coordinating meteorologist at the National Weather Service's Omaha office. “Maybe it's a little further south.”
Hundreds of homes in Omaha were damaged Friday, mostly in the Elkhorn neighborhood on the west side of the city, Omaha Police Lt. Neil Bonacci said.
“We can definitely see the path of the tornado,” Bonacci said, adding that many homes were destroyed or seriously damaged.
Omaha Fire Chief Kathy Bosman said police and firefighters went door-to-door to help people and went to the “hardest-hit areas” with plans to search anywhere that might be trapped.
“We will comb through the site, which is a pile of rubble, we will also look into the basement, we will try to find the victims and make sure that everyone who needs help is rescued,” Bosman said.
Omaha police search a family's home after a tornado destroyed dozens of homes near Omaha, Nebraska, Friday, April 26, 2024.
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Omaha police search a family's home after a tornado destroyed dozens of homes near Omaha, Nebraska, Friday, April 26, 2024.
Nikos Frazier/Associated Press
In one area of Elkhorn, dozens of large, newly constructed homes were damaged. At least six cars were severely damaged, one flattened and the top half of another torn off. Dozens of emergency vehicles were called to the scene.
“I saw it land about 200 yards away and evacuated,” Elkhorn resident Pat Woods said. “We heard noises coming from there. When we got up, the fence was gone, and we looked to the northwest and the whole neighborhood was gone.”
“The whole area just north of us is pretty flat,” his wife, Kim Woods, added.
Dhaval Naik, who works with the homeowner, said three people, including a child, were in the basement of the collapsed house when the tornado struck, but they escaped safely.
KETV-TV video showed a woman being carried out on a stretcher from a demolished home in Brea, a city just north of Omaha.
Two people were taken to the hospital for treatment, but both had minor injuries, Bonacci said.
Crews were conducting a second search of the home. Bonacci said firefighters worked throughout the night to check all dangerous buildings and make sure no one was inside.
Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said there were several serious injuries and that “people were alerted to this and it saved lives.”
On Friday afternoon, just as children were scheduled to be released from school, a tornado warning was issued for the Omaha area. Many schools evacuated students until the storm passed. Hours later, buses were still taking children home.
“Was it one long-track tornado or multiple tornadoes?” said Kahn of the National Weather Service.
The agency plans to send out multiple crews over the next few days to determine the number and strength of tornadoes, which it said could take up to two weeks.
“Some looked like intense tornadoes,” Khan continued. “We had tornadoes in different areas. So it's like forensic meteorology, like piecing together all the damage indicators.”
Severe weather damage at Eppley Airfield in Omaha, Nebraska, is visible from the Lewis and Clark Memorial in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Friday, April 26, 2024.
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Severe weather damage at Eppley Airfield in Omaha, Nebraska, is visible from the Lewis and Clark Memorial in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Friday, April 26, 2024.
Anna Reid/Associated Press
Another tornado struck an area on the eastern edge of Omaha, passing directly over a portion of Eppley Field, the city's airport. Steve McCoy, chief strategy officer for the Omaha Airport Authority, said officials grounded aircraft to deal with the damage, but have since reopened the facility.
The passenger terminal was not damaged by the tornado, but people rushed to shelters until the twister passed, McCoy said.
After passing through the airport, the tornado crossed the Missouri River and entered Iowa north of Council Bluffs.
Damage is seen in the bedroom of Justin and Amanda Putnam after a severe storm damaged their neighborhood on Friday, April 26, 2024 in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
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Damage is seen in the bedroom of Justin and Amanda Putnam after a severe storm damaged their neighborhood on Friday, April 26, 2024 in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Anna Reid/Associated Press
Katrina Spahr, a spokeswoman for the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency, said Friday afternoon that reports of damage were just beginning to come in. University of Nebraska Medical Center spokeswoman Taylor Wilson said there were no injuries yet.
In Lancaster County, where three people were injured after an industrial building collapsed, sheriff's officials said there were reports of a train overturning near Waverly, Nebraska.
The two people injured in the county are being treated at the Trauma Center at Bryan Medical Center West Campus in Lincoln, the facility announced in a news release. The hospital said the patient was being triaged and details of his condition were not being released.
The Omaha Public Power District reported approximately 10,000 customers were without power in the Omaha area. That number had fallen to about 7,300 by Friday night.
Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen posted on social platform
“Nebraskas are used to bad weather, and as we've seen so many times before, Nebraskans will help Nebraskans rebuild,” Pillen said.
Danielle Feinhold, manager of Pink Poodle Steakhouse in Crescent, Iowa, said she was outside watching the weather with her daughter and other restaurant employees when they saw a “pretty large tornado forming” northeast of town. “It looked like he was doing it,” he recalled.
“It started raining, then hail, then the clouds started swirling and gathering, and soon the wind started picking up, so I headed to the basement and never saw it. ,” Feenhold said.
