Trail Of Destruction as Severe Storms batter Nebraska, Iowa
Pastor Dale Morgan
Trail Of Destruction as Severe Storms batter Nebraska, Iowa*
Cars in Kearney, Neb., were piled atop one another after tornadoes
passed through Thursday night, May 29, 2008. There were no reported
injuries.
By Nate Jenkins, Associated Press Writer
AURORA, Neb. — Flooding concerns linger in the wake of a storm system
that spawned tornadoes that hit Kearney, Aurora and hail and high winds
that pounded other south-central Nebraska towns before roaring east into
Iowa.
The National Weather Service issued flood warnings for several rivers
and creeks in eastern and south-central Nebraska Friday. The service
said its radar indicated rainfall totals of more than 4 inches in some
areas.
The ground in many parts of central and eastern Nebraska already was
saturated by recent storms.
So far Friday, there were no overnight reports of deaths or major injuries.
WINDY WOES: Tornadoes are Earth's most violent storms
Tornadoes caused widespread damage in Kearney, where about 90 rail cars
were derailed outside the city limits. The weather service confirmed two
tornadoes hit the area.
There were reports of downed trees and power lines throughout Kearney,
as well as reports of damage on the University of Nebraska at Kearney
campus and at the county fairgrounds.
About 65 miles to the east, a tornado struck the southern side of Aurora
in south-central Nebraska. Authorities said a few businesses and several
houses were damaged there.
About four farmsteads were hit outside of town but no injuries have been
reported and the town itself was spared of any tornado damage, said Todd
Gerdes, who works at the Aurora Cooperative Elevator Co.
There were also reports of a tornado near Fairbury in southeast
Nebraska, about 15 miles from the Kansas border.
A twister hit about two miles north of town, damaging a few houses, said
Gary Armstrong of the Farmer's Cooperative. Armstrong said he hadn't
heard any reports of injuries.
Gov. Dave Heineman declared a state of emergency Thursday night, which
allows access to state and federal resources for storm cleanup. He
readied the Nebraska National Guard in case its help was needed.
"We won't know the full extent of the damage until tomorrow. However, it
appears that Kearney was hardest hit, and that is where our assistance
will be focused overnight," Heineman said late Thursday.
He was headed to Kearney Friday, and Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy was headed to
Aurora to assess damage and talk to local officials.
Heineman's spokeswoman said the state's emergency operations center was
set up Thursday evening. A second post was going to established closer
to the affected communities.
State officials closed down Interstate 80 from Aurora to York just
before 8 p.m. because of downed power lines. It has since reopened.
Nebraska Public Power District spokesman Mark Becker said transmission
lines were knocked down from Kearney to the towns of Elm Creek, Tower
and Riverdale.
NPPD said more than 4,700 customers in the Kearney area remained without
power Friday morning. The utility said about 12,000 customers lost power
during the storm.
Flood warnings were issued for several creeks in the eastern third of
the state and along the Platte, Big and Little Blue rivers and the
Elkhorn River.
Corey King, a meteorologist at the weather service office in Hastings,
said Grand Island reported 1.37 inches of rain in the past 24 hours.
Other figures included 1.66 inches in Hebron and 1.73 inches in Shelton,
which is between Grand Island and Kearney.
The rain-laded storms missed most of Dawson County, which reported more
than 11 inches of rain late last week.
Barely more than a tenth of an inch of rain was reported in Cozad over
the past 24 hours, King said. Cozad is about 50 miles west of Kearney.
Iowa storms
In Iowa, weather officials are still assessing damage caused by severe
storms and tornadoes that roared into the state overnight into Friday.
"We're still trying to get a handle on exactly everything that
occurred," said Jeff Johnson with the weather service.
He said there were multiple tornado reports coming in from around the
state and at least one injury report from Attica in Marion County,
although he said that hadn't yet been confirmed. Callers to WHO-TV
reported major damage to homes in that area.
Johnson said there also were reports of tornadoes Thursday night in
western Iowa in Crawford and Carroll counties, with the storm system
moving into central Iowa overnight. Widespread flooding and winds
reaching 70 mph were also reported.
The storms shut off power to thousands of people in the central part of
the state and flooding and high winds pushed some cars off roads and
into ditches. Lightning was blamed for causing a house fire in Ames.
"This is our peak severe weather season ... it's pretty much par for the
course for late May and early June," said Johnson.
The severe weather follows a tornado last weekend that tore through
Parkersburg and nearby towns in northeastern Iowa killing seven people
and destroying hundreds of homes.
Contributing: Associated Press writers Timberly Ross, Nelson Lampe and
Josh Funk in Omaha contributed to this report.