Many still without power after hurricane-force winds rip through eastern Nebraska

Nebraskans are recovering from a severe thunderstorm that brought hurricane-force winds to south-central and eastern Nebraska Saturday morning.

More than 1,000 people still didn’t have power Monday afternoon, with Blair and Lincoln hit particularly hard.

At least 78,000 Nebraskans lost power after heavy rain and 90 mph wind gusts rammed through southern and eastern Nebraska on Saturday.

A woman was killed and a man was seriously injured by a fallen tree at Two Rivers State Park west of Omaha during the storm. Riverside Campground at the park is closed indefinitely because of storm damage, according to a news release from Nebraska Game and Parks. Cottonwood Campground will be closed until Friday.

In Blair, electrical infrastructure was severely damaged, air conditioning units were torn off of buildings and a Dollar General Warehouse had its ceiling collapse.

Mayor Mindy Rump issued a storm damage emergency through Monday. City officials asked people who don’t live in Blair to avoid the area to give emergency crews space to clear rubble and allow people to start rebuilding.

Jake Dunn, the city’s public safety and communications coordinator and volunteer 2nd assistant fire chief for the Blair Fire Department, said the storm was like a tornado but with straight-line winds.

“City crews have been working around the clock throughout the weekend, picking up debris, trying to restore as much as we can for the public infrastructure, clearing roadways and making sure that the roadways are safe from power lines and everything like that,” Dunn said.

No injuries were reported in Blair. Five people with serious to life-threatening injuries at River View Park Resort and Marino north of Blair were transported to hospitals in Omaha, Dunn said.

The Omaha Public Power District estimates the city will have restored power Monday, Dunn said.

To the southwest, Lincoln Electric System spokesperson Amy Svoboda estimated the utility sustained roughly $2 million in damage, based on a similar storm last year. In the Omaha and Lincoln coverage areas, 1,100 people still didn't have power as of Monday afternoon.

LES aims to completely restore power Tuesday, said Svoboda. She added the utility company has not decided whether it will request assistance from the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency.

The storm was destructive in rural southern Nebraska as well. About 4,800 people lost power in the Norris Public Power District. Rick Nelson, general manager of the Nebraska Rural Electric Association, said lights also turned off for many people in the South Central Public Power District.

“Norris Public Power, Perennial Public Power and South Central Public Power all had extensive damage,” Nelson said, “lots of poles down, lots of trees down, lots of wire down.”

Many were still without power in the Norris district Monday, Nelson said. About seven different power districts and 40 total employees provided mutual aid for the rural districts.

“South Central Public Power District still has some outages going on,” Nelson said Monday morning. “Perennial Public Power District thought they would have everybody back on [Sunday] night. And Norris still had about 1,000 customers off as of [Sunday] night.”

Nelson didn’t have estimated damage figures on Monday. OPPD did not respond to a media inquiry as of Monday afternoon.

Nebraska Public Power District said in a news release its only significant power outage was in Milford and affected a little over 1,000 customers. NPPD said power was restored to all customers by 11 p.m. Saturday. However, the utility said the Saturday morning storm damaged 103 transmission line structures, while the one Saturday night into Sunday morning damaged another 96

NPPD also said it provided more than 50 crew members to help restore power in Lincoln, Omaha and Seward.

Forceful winds also ripped off a part of the Nebraska State Penitentiary roof, requiring nearly 400 inmates to be relocated. The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services estimated repairs will take at least a month.

In Lincoln, which sustained extensive tree damage, officials announced Monday that they opened five additional drop-off sites for storm debris in addition to Star City Shores, which already had been accepting debris.

In a news release, the city said the following sites will accept downed tree limbs from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. through Sunday, August 24.

• Woods Park – 31st and J streets – Site is in the J Street parking lot.
• Star City Shores – 4375 S. 33rd Court – Site is in the parking lot east of the pool.
• Van Dorn Park – Ninth and Van Dorn streets – Site is in the main parking lot off of High Street. Debris must be deposited on the east side of the lot only.
• Oak Lake Park – First and Charleston streets – Site is in the main parking lot.
• Seng Park at University Place – North 48th and Francis streets – Site is in the ballfield lot off of North 49th and Francis streets.
• Bowling Lake Park – Northwest 48th and Cuming streets – Site is in the parking lot on the north side of the lake off of Northwest 48th Street.

Editor's note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the tree limb drop off ended Sunday. In fact, people can drop off tree branches through the following Sunday, August 24.