JOSH SWARTZLANDER and HILARY KINDSCHUH / Lincoln Journal STar | Posted: Saturday, April 15, 2006 7:00 pm
Two parallel tornadoes cut through parts of Gage County Saturday afternoon, severely damaging homes and outbuildings, downing power lines and overturning irrigation center pivots, officials said.
No one was known to have been injured, but the chairman of the county Board of Supervisors signed a decree seeking a disaster designation from the governor’s office.
According to the county emergency management office, at 4:28 p.m., a trained spotter sighted a tornado on the ground about seven miles west of the Wymore/Blue Springs area, near the intersection of Nebraska Highway 112 and U.S. 77.
Damage reports indicated that tornado, along with what appears to have been another tornado, took parallel paths in a north-northeast direction, the emergency management office said in a news release.
The statement said homes and farmstead outbuildings both southeast and east of Beatrice reported severe damage; power lines were damaged and rural fire departments were handling several propane leaks in the path of the storm.
Four homes and outbuildings received extensive damage south and east of the Beatrice Country Club area, with roofs being torn off and some injury to livestock.
Norris Public Power District reported heavy damage in the Sterling area in Johnson County, which also affected power in Adams.
Barricades were placed at South 51st Road and Nebraska 136 because of heavy debris on the highway, blocking north- and southbound traffic.
“Before we could do damage assessment, when we were still watching the tornadoes, we had to close some roads because people were out watching (the storm) and looking (at damage),” said Gage County Emergency Management coordinator Mark Meints.
Meints said the county’s first tornado warning was issued at 4:28 p.m., and a second warning was issued at 4:58 p.m.
“So we were pretty much under the gun for almost an hour and a half,” Meints said.
The storm caused the greatest damage in rural Gage County, Meints said.
Lavona Waltke of Beatrice said it was one of the worst storms she had seen.
Waltke’s family was gathered at her parents’ home in rural Gage County to celebrate Easter when the weather turned bad.
After the storm passed, Waltke said, her family heard that some relatives, Gary and Annette Wiese, had sustained significant storm damage on their farm.
“Women got in one car and men got in another, and we headed to our cousins,” Waltke said.
When they arrived at the Wiese farm, “everything was toppled except the house.” Waltke said.
Many rural homes appeared damaged from the storm, Waltke said.
“We probably went past 10 or 15 places or houses, and all of them just had heavy damage,” Waltke said. “Often there will be one or two farms that are hit, but there’s a big number out there."
“It seemed like mile after mile there was still quite a lot of damage.”
“It was just a huge swath that it took."
Mary Erickson of rural Sterling said when the sky turned dark then started rotating, she rounded up her husband, three children and a German exchange student, then headed for the basement.
“We could barely close the door,” she said. “It was trying to suck the door open.”
The family emerged half an hour later. Half of their roof was gone — same as with the roof of their machine shed. The chicken house and jungle gym had vanished.
The scene repeated itself over and over across Southeast Nebraska on Saturday afternoon after heavy rain, hail and strong winds — including reports of at least three tornadoes — battered the region.
In addition to the two tornadoes that struck Gage County, another tornado may have hit south of Nebraska City in Otoe County. And a wall cloud with some rotation menaced the Sterling area in Johnson County.
Hail — up to golf ball-sized — was reported in multiple counties.
Carolina Vanlaningham, who lives five miles southeast of Beatrice, watched her chicken house fly west — then east.
“When I saw my chicken house blowing around, I thought we better go to the basement,” she said. “One time, stuff was flying one direction. Then it was flying the other direction.”
Neighbors lost barns, car windows, trees and sheds, she said. Her son, who lives half a mile to the north, lost his porch.
The National Weather Service in Omaha issued severe thunderstorm warnings, wind advisories and tornado watches for much of Southeast Nebraska. Most of the watches and warnings were cancelled by 7 p.m., DeWald said.
No severe damage or injuries were immediately reported in Lancaster County, according to the Nebraska State Patrol and the Sheriff’s Office.
Dark skies loomed over Lincoln and heavy rain fell at about 5:30 p.m. as the storm moved northeast.
Tornado activity in eastern Nebraska ended at about 5:15 p.m., DeWald said.
Most of the clouds lifted after 6 p.m., revealing clear skies and scattered debris.
“Sun’s shining,” said Erickson from rural Sterling. “It’s beautiful. We’ve got a yard full of neighbors.”
They brought plywood, attempting to patch up the holes in Erickson’s roof.
“You can still see some sky light,” she said.