Storm damages trees, power lines

Photos by Patty Buchholz

NEBRASKA CITY - The storm Wednesday night produced widespread damage in Nebraska and spawned tornado warnings in Fremont and Page counties in Iowa.

Straight line winds up to 80 mph were reported near Lincoln. There were downed trees near Crete and down power lines as the storm moved eastward.

 

Eagle Fire was called out for a downed power line on fire in a back yard. A similar down power line fire was reported at Murray at 6:28 p.m.

Emergency crews responded to a Highway 43 accident near the Otoe and Cass county border.

Spotters reported a funnel cloud in Iowa at 6:45 p.m. triggering a tornado warning for Fremont and Page counties.

Unadilla firefighters were called out to assist with for storm cleanup.

The storm impacted the Sarpy County fair and the Sidney Iowa championship rodeo, but the storm had largely passed before Wednesday’s scheduled showtime.

 

A tree fell on a Syracuse power line. Officials are hoping to have power restored this afternoon. OPPD reports nine customers without power at 11 a.m. today.

OPPD reported as many as 300,000 without electrical service. By Thursday morning the number was down to 100,000 in Douglas County, 32,000 in Sarpy County and 3,700 in Saunders County.

There were 1,126 power outages in Cass County and a few elsewhere.

NPPD reported crews working to restore power outages to at least one customer in Plattsmouth.

Columbus, Neb.– Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) is sending mutual aid to help Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) with power restoration following Wednesday’s severe windstorm.

A 24-man crew, including 21 line technicians and three supervisors, will report to North Omaha Station Thursday morning. Once there, crews will coordinate with OPPD and begin work to restore power.

OPPD’s service territory was hit with hurricane force winds Wednesday evening that resulted in power outages to roughly 218,000 OPPD customers. As of 10 a.m. Thursday morning, OPPD had over 140,000 customers without power.

NPPD crews assisting in the mutual aid come from Norfolk, Plattsmouth, South Sioux City, and York.