Nearly seven weeks after a tornado, with winds up to 165 miles an hour, ripped through parts of northwest Omaha, some comforting news.

Douglas County Clerk: “The vote is 7-nothing.”

Without any debate the Douglas County board this week has all but eliminated property taxes for dozens and dozens of homeowners, 77 to be exact, whose homes were damaged or destroyed in late April.

Two of the homes with seven figure valuations: $1.2 million and $1.4 million.

As News Channel Nebraska first reported, following the Arbor Day storms you do not have to pay property taxes on homes levelled by the tornadoes, not long ago you would have.

This all goes back to the massive Nebraska floods of 2019 which left an estimated $3 billion dollars of damage behind.

That found State Sen. Steve Erdman working up legislation allowing a reset of the taxes owed on “damage to…property exceeding 20 percent of the property’s assessed value” clearly covering homes that are no longer livable, following a disaster.

In addition, the Nebraska Supreme Court, in just the last few months removed some lingering questions about the legislation noting that a “disastrous event”, includes but is not limited to "…fire, an earthquake, a flood, a tornado, or other natural event.”

Those 77 homeowners approved for the tax cut, having filed a “Report of Destroyed Real Property” are the first of “three batches, two more batches” expected to be approved by the County Board in August, a  reported total of some 400 or more homes.