BEATRICE – Gage County’s Emergency Manager feels confident the southern part of the county will qualify for public damage assistance from this weekend’s severe weather.  Lisa Wiegand says paperwork is being finalized for disaster declarations.  Wymore was hit especially hard by high winds spun off by a confirmed tornado, that struck the Big Indian Recreation area early Saturday evening. Wiegand says local fire departments were deployed at around 4:30 p.m. to monitor the storm.


"They could see the definite rotation above Wymore....starting at Beatrice, and just kind of hung there."  National Weather Service officials from Topeka and Omaha reviewed the area on Sunday.


Wiegand said, "the tornado actually did start there at the Big Indian area, and the damages you're going to see are about a four mile to five mile area. We had about three campers that were completely demolished at Big Indian, due to rear-flank winds. Most of Wymore's damages, they confirmed, were caused by straight line winds up to 100 miles-per-hour."


Wiegand says spotters reported seeing ribbons of rotation above the community of Wymore spinning off from the storm.  "The disaster that we're seeing in Wymore with their electrical infrastructure, downed trees and impacting those utilities really does confirm those rotations."  Utility crews are still working on restoring electricity to all areas. Crews from Norris Public Power, Wymore, Beatrice, Fairbury and Crete were helping to restore electricity. She estimated Monday morning that about twenty percent of Wymore still was without power.


"The biggest concern is with as hot as it is going to get today...the community center has opened up, and they are air conditioned. Those people that just need to get into some air conditioning, have that option."


There were no injuries from the severe weather. Wiegand said there was some structural damage to two homes located southwest of Big Indian Recreation area that will take some time for cleanup and repairs of the homes and outbuildings.  The City of Wymore and Gage County will be preparing disaster declarations which if approved, would help assist with repairing and recovering from damage to publicly-owned facilities.

Cutting away tree, from Wymore street

 "We had all the rural fire departments out doing assessments and helping to clear debris...but also just checking on farmsteads and people. We had Odell, Blue Springs, obviously Wymore, Wymore EMS, Barneston were all assisting door-to-door."   Wiegand said Barneston had some tree damage from the severe weather but Odell escaped major damage from the storm track.

Public works officials say a total of 514 Beatrice electric customers lost power Saturday evening during the severe storms.  Service was restored by 9:00 p.m. to all but 3 addresses, which required a private electrician to restore power.

Beatrice Residents can dispose of small branches (3" or less in diameter) from private property by cutting them down to 16" bundles and placing them in their waste cart.  Larger branches and limbs can be disposed of at the Beatrice Area Solid Waste Agency Landfill. The charge is $5 per load for residential customers or $10 per load for commercial customers.  Landfill hours are Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., and the 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month from 9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.