Tornado file image
Lorraine Matti | Reuters
A preliminary 79 tornadoes were reported Friday in six states, most in Nebraska and Iowa, where homes were leveled and buildings collapsed.
The mayor of Omaha, Nebraska, said in a Facebook post early Saturday that no deaths had been reported and there were some minor injuries after a devastating tornado passed through rural areas before hitting the suburbs.
Omaha Police Lt. Neil Bonacci said hundreds of homes were damaged, mostly in the Elkhorn neighborhood on the city’s west side.
“You definitely see the path of the tornado,” Bonacci said.
Police and firefighters went door-to-door to help residents and look for areas where people could be trapped, Omaha Fire Chief Kathy Bosman said.
“We’re going to search all the properties in piles of debris, we’re going to search the basements, we’re going to try to find victims and make sure everyone who needs help is rescued,” Bosman said.
Pat Woods, who lives in Elkhorn, said The Associated Pressthat he and his wife took shelter, but could hear the tornado “come by.”
“When we went up, our fence was gone and we looked to the northwest and the whole neighborhood is gone,” he said.
His wife, Kim Woods, said the neighborhood to their north was “pretty much flattened.”
Two women help carry a friend’s belongings out of their damaged home after a tornado tore through the area in Bennington, Neb., on Friday. Josh Funk/AP
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds declared a disaster emergency for Pottawattamie County after video posted on social media showed parts of Minden, about 30 miles northeast of Omaha, Nebraska, completely leveled.
Jeff Theulen, the chief deputy of the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office, said at a news conference Friday afternoon that 40 or 50 homes were “completely destroyed.” There were two reports of injuries, one “fairly serious but not life-threatening,” he told reporters.
“It’s very dangerous right now. We’ve closed the entrance to the city except for the people who live here,” he said, noting that “50 percent of the city is severely damaged, and then there’s light damage everywhere else.”
In nearby Shelby County, about 40 homes were damaged, county emergency coordinator Alex Londo said. Officials were assessing the damage, he said, noting there were no reports of casualties.
There were also more than 30 reports of wind damage and 60 reports of hail Friday afternoon and overnight. The offices of the National Weather Service are investigating the damage in view of the more intense weather expected on Saturday.
More than 30 million people in Oklahoma City. Dallas? Wichita, Kansas; Omaha? Milwaukee? and Madison, Wisconsin, are in the path of severe weather.
Northwest Texas and western Oklahoma are under a tornado watch for Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.
“Several strong to severe thunderstorms are expected across parts of Oklahoma, Kansas and North Texas today through tonight,” the agency’s Storm Prediction Center said. Post on Facebook. “Strong, potentially long-track tornadoes, very large hail and damaging winds are possible.”