Storms that spread from southeast into eastern Nebraska and western Iowa Friday night, swept south/south east into southwest and southern Iowa, bringing intense lightning, loud thunder, damaging winds, and heavy rain to some areas. In Atlantic, we received 1.22-inches of rain. There were some tree limbs down and brief, scattered power outages, but no immediate reports of structural damage.
Pottawattamie County Emergency Management Coordinator Doug Reed said on social media, Saturday morning, “We’re out conducting initial damage assessments, and we’d like to know what damage you have from last night. Go to report your storm damages at https://pcema-ia.org.” People in Council Bluffs and throughout the county are asked to report that information as soon as possible.
In Adair, 24-hour rainfall amounted to three-inches. The National Weather Service says 2.9-inches of rain fell 5 miles north of New Market, in Taylor County, and 1 mile south of Anita. At around 10:20-p.m. Friday, 1.5″ diameter hail (Ping-pong ball size) fell in Mount Ayr.
KETV in Omaha reports Omaha Public Power District officials said Saturday the storms which raked across eastern Nebraska and western Iowa early Saturday were among the most severe in recent history. While progress was being made, OPPD warned it may take multiple days for some customers to see service restored.
Wind gusts over 90 m.p.h. felled trees and snapped power poles, interrupting services to as many as 188,000 customers at one point. The storms damaged the electrical infrastructure serving Omaha’s wastewater treatment plan, forcing the city to dump untreated wastewater into the Missouri River for several hours. The plant was back on-line by 9:30 a.m. MidAmerican Energy also reported outages in its service area. 6,200 customers were without service in Council Bluffs early Saturday.
Winds were an issue across the area. At around 11:13-p.m., Friday, thunderstorm wind damage was reported by law enforcement in Harlan, with multiple trees down. Winds in excess of 60 mph were reported at around 12:06-a.m. Saturday, 11 miles north of Elliott. Thunderstorm wind damage was reported at around 1:10-a.m. Saturday two-miles west/southwest of Council Bluffs, where a semi was on its side.
Other wind/damage reports early Saturday, include:
12:06-a.m., 61 mph gust reported 11 miles E/SE of Hancock.
12:33-a.m. 2-miles E/NE of Council Bluffs, 58-mph wind gust (at the MESONET, or automated station)
12:35-a.m. 62 mph gust at the MESONET station 4 miles E. of Council Bluffs.
1:02-a.m. 80 mph wind gust 8 miles W/SW of Sidney (MESONET)
1:40-a.m. Saturday, 70-mph winds were reported one mile NE of Bedford, in Taylor County.
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