A preliminary report from the National Weather Service said the tornado that touched down north of Omaha near Bennington on Thursday night was an EF3 with winds up to 140 miles per hour.
The tornado damaged several homes and other buildings, despite having a fairly narrow path, the report said.
The twister was one of six reported in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa on Thursday night.
In addition to the team that produced the report on the tornado near Bennington, another survey team was in southwest Iowa looking at a stronger storm track there, said Van DeWald, lead meteorologist at the National Weather Service's Omaha office. The weather service also was working with county emergency managers to do virtual damage surveys in other areas.
He said two tornadoes were spotted in Cass County, near the towns of Alvo and Manley.
“Probably a couple of tornadoes in Cass County, at least one in southwest Iowa and then maybe about three on the storm that tracks from east of Columbus to north of Omaha.” DeWald said.
He said winds over 80 miles an hour and baseball-sized hail were reported from the storm that hit the Bennington area.
“We're actually getting some reports of softball-size hail on the north side of Fremont and also in Arlington,” he said. “Northeast of Council Bluffs there was also softball-size hail reported.”
The storms were spawned by a cold front that swept across the state Thursday, leaving colder conditions in its wake. Most of Nebraska was expected to see high temperatures only in the 40s and 50s on Friday, and some areas of the Panhandle even saw a dusting of snow.