Debris is visible from a destroyed home northwest of Omaha, Nebraska, after a storm ravaged the area Friday.
Margery A. Beck/AP
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Margery A. Beck/AP
Debris is visible from a destroyed home northwest of Omaha, Nebraska, after a storm ravaged the area Friday.
Margery A. Beck/AP
OMAHA, Nebraska — A tornado ripped through suburban Omaha, Nebraska, Friday afternoon, damaging hundreds of homes and other structures as the tornado tore miles along farmland and through housing developments. Injuries were reported, but it was not yet clear if anyone was killed in the storm.
Several tornadoes were reported in Nebraska, but the most destructive storm moved from a mostly rural area to the northwest suburbs of Omaha, a city of 485,000.
Photos posted on social media showed badly damaged homes and shredded trees. The video showed homes with bare roofs in a rural area near Omaha. Law enforcement blocked roads in the region.
Hundreds of homes were damaged in Omaha, mostly in the Elkhorn neighborhood on the city’s west side, police Lt. Neal Bonacci said.
Police and firefighters are now going door to door to help those trapped.
“We’re getting 911 calls about people being in debris in their basement,” he said. “We are working as quickly as possible to help everyone who needs it.”
He said the injuries so far have been minor and he is not aware of any businesses damaged.
“There’s a lot of downed trees. Houses are missing roofs. You definitely see the path of the tornado,” Bonacci said.
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.
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 struck. They came out safe and sound.
KETV-TV video shows a woman being carried from a demolished home on a stretcher in Blair, a city just north of Omaha.
Severe weather damage to Eppley Airfield in Omaha, Neb., can be seen Friday from the Lewis and Clark Monument in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Anna Reed/Omaha World-Herald via AP
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Anna Reed/Omaha World-Herald via AP
Severe weather damage to Eppley Airfield in Omaha, Neb., can be seen Friday from the Lewis and Clark Monument in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Anna Reed/Omaha World-Herald via AP
Another tornado struck an area on the west edge of Omaha, passing directly through parts of Eppley Airfield, the city’s airport. Officials closed the airport to flight operations and were assessing any damage in the area, said Steve McCoy, chief strategy officer for the Omaha Airport Authority.
“We have people in the terminal who are in shelters right now, but the airport is currently closed,” he said, adding that he was not aware of any injuries. Flight delays are likely, he 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 the damage was just being reported. Taylor Wilson, a spokesperson for the University of Nebraska Medical Center, said they have not yet seen any injuries.
Before the tornado struck 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 statement. up to date on the damage.
The building just northeast of the state capitol in Lincoln collapsed with about 70 employees inside and several people trapped, sheriff’s officials said. Everyone was evacuated and three people were injured, but their lives are not in danger, authorities said.
Sheriff’s officials say they also received reports of an overturned train near Waverly, also in Lancaster County.
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 Went to the basement, but we never saw it,” Fienhold said.
The weather service also issued tornado watches for parts of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. And forecasters warned that large hail and damaging wind gusts were possible.
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