Omaha, Nebraska.-
Tornadoes wreaked havoc on Friday in the Midwest, causing a building to collapse with dozens of people inside and destroying and damaging hundreds of homes, many of them around Omaha, Nebraska.
As of Friday night, there were several reports of injuries, but no immediate deaths were reported. Tornado warnings continued to be issued well into the night in Iowa.
Three people were injured in Lancaster County, Nebraska, when a tornado struck an industrial building, causing it to collapse with 70 people inside. Several were trapped, but all were evacuated and their injuries were not life-threatening, authorities said.
One of the most destructive tornadoes moved for miles Friday across mostly rural farmland before devouring homes and other structures in the suburbs of Omaha, a city of 485,000 with a metropolitan area population of about 1 million.
Photos on social media showed that the small town of Minden, Iowa, about 30 miles (48.3 kilometers) northeast of Omaha, also suffered heavy damage.
Jeff Theulen, chief deputy of the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office, said at a briefing Friday night that between 40 and 50 homes had been completely destroyed. Two injuries were reported, but none were life-threatening.
School buses have been brought in to take residents out of town if they need it, he said. He asked others to stay away as it is a very dangerous area with downed power lines and piles of rubble where houses used to be.
“It’s heartbreaking to see these people who have lost homes, cars, essentially their lives, until they have to rebuild them,” he said.
The forecast for Saturday was dire. The U.S. National Weather Service issued tornado watches for parts of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. Forecasters warned that large hail and strong gusts of wind were possible.
“It looks like there will be a big outbreak again tomorrow,” said Becky Kern, warning coordination meteorologist at the U.S. National Weather Service’s Omaha office. “Maybe a little further south.”
Hundreds of homes were damaged in Omaha on Friday, mostly in the Elkhorn area in the western part of the city, Omaha police Lt. Neal Bonacci said.
“You can definitely see the path of the tornado,” Bonacci said, adding that many of the homes were destroyed or severely damaged.
Police and firefighters went door-to-door to help people, going to the “hardest hit area” with a plan to search anywhere someone might be trapped, said Omaha Fire Chief Kathy Bossman.
“We will search the properties through piles of debris, we will search the basements, we will try to find victims and make sure that everyone who needs help is rescued,” Bossman said.
In one area of Elkhorn, dozens of large newly built homes were damaged. At least six were smashed, including one that was left level, while others had their top half torn off. Dozens of emergency vehicles responded to the area.
“We saw it land about 200 yards away and then we took cover,” said Pat Woods, who lives in Elkhorn. “We could hear it going by. When we got there, our fence was gone and we looked to the northwest and the whole neighborhood was gone.”
Kim Woods, his wife, added: “The whole neighborhood just north of us is pretty flattened.”
Three people, including a child, were in the basement of the flattened home when the tornado hit, but they made it out safely, according to Dhaval Naik, who said he works with the homeowner.
Video from KETV-TV showed a woman being carried on a stretcher from a demolished home in Blair, a city just north of Omaha.
Two people were transported for treatment, both with minor injuries, Bonacci said.
Crews were conducting a second home search. Fire crews would work throughout the night to check all unsafe structures and make sure no one was inside, Bonacci said.
“People being warned about this and that saved lives,” Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said of the few serious injuries.
The tornado warning was issued in the Omaha area Friday afternoon just as children were supposed to leave school. Many schools had students shelter in place until the storm passed. Hours later, buses were still transporting children home.
“Was it a long-track tornado or were it multiple tornadoes?” said Kern of the US National Weather Service.
The agency planned to send several teams over the next few days to determine the number of tornadoes and their strength, which could take up to two weeks, he said.
“Some appeared to be violent tornadoes,” Kern continued. “There were tornadoes in different areas. And it’s what we call it forensic meteorology, like putting all the damage indicators together.”
Another tornado struck an area on the eastern edge of Omaha, passing directly through parts of Eppley Airfield, the city’s airport. Officials halted aircraft operations to access the damage, but later reopened the facility, said Omaha Airport Authority chief strategy officer Steve McCoy.
The passenger terminal was not hit by the tornado, but people ran to storm shelters until the tornado passed, McCoy said.
After passing by the airport, the tornado crossed the Missouri River and entered Iowa, north of Council Bluffs.
Nebraska Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Katrina Sperl said Friday afternoon that reports of damage were just starting to come in. Taylor Wilson, a spokesperson for the University of Nebraska Medical Center, said they had not seen any injuries yet.
In Lancaster County, where three people were injured when an industrial building collapsed, sheriff’s officials also said they had reports of an overturned train near Waverly, Nebraska.
Two people who were injured in the county were being treated at the trauma center at Bryan Medical Center West Campus in Lincoln, the center said in a news release. The hospital said the patients were being triaged and no details were given about their condition.
The Omaha Public Power District reported that nearly 10,000 customers were without power in the Omaha area. The number had dropped to about 7,300 by Friday night.
Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen posted on the social platform
“Nebraskaans are no strangers to severe weather, and as they have done countless times before, Nebraskans will help Nebraskans rebuild,” Pillen said.
Daniel Fienhold, manager of Pink Poodle Steakhouse in Crescent, Iowa, said he was outside watching the weather with his daughter and restaurant employees, and recalled that “it looked like a pretty big tornado was forming” northeast of the city.
“It started raining, and then it started hailing, and then all the clouds started swirling and gathering, and as soon as the wind started picking up, that’s when I headed down to the basement, but we never saw it. Fienhold said.
Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas. Associated Press writers Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa, Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota, Jeff Martin in Atlanta and Lisa Baumann in Bellingham, Washington, contributed to this report.