[Erin524]

A tornado just rolled thru Omaha tonight.

It happened around 230am (CST)

I had to wake up my parents and shoo them down the stairs.

The tornado touched down about 6miles straight south from where I live. Did some roof damage to a WalMart, knocked out the power in that area. (I didnt even loose the internet!)

From what I saw in my basement, we just had some heavy wind at my house with some heavy rain. They were saying there was half-dollar sized hail was falling in the area by where the tornado touched down.

They're reporting that some houses in that same area got smacked around some too. News reporter is saying right now that a house got a roof blown off. (hope they were in the basement!) Looks like it hit right near where I used to work...

We've got some more t-storms rolling thru now, but from what they're saying, those probably wont be as nasty as the one that just stomped thru.

I know it was on the ground downtown before it wandered into Iowa, so I'm hoping that my aunt's house didnt get any damage.

I need to get some sleep, but I'm all wired up by the excitement. (I really wanted to go out and spot for a bit...amateur spotting)

[Erin524]

and there are more storms headed my way...altho, I think these are supposed to be less severe.


The news reports are coming in on the damage...apparently there's a lot. Some woman near where the tornado touched down lost the roof to her house, and some other woman a little west of where that was, was inside a camping trailer that got PICKED UP and tossed around a little before it hit the ground again. That lady is ok, just freaked.

and about a mile or so down the road from me, there's a bunch of tree damage. The news is saying there's some branches (large ones!) down, and possibly a bunch of trees.

Sounds like the tornado could have been on the ground for awhile, it hit SW Omaha and they're giving reports of damage heading northeast thru the central part of town. I hope my old neighborhoods are ok.

[Kitty]

Glad ya'll are OK, Erin. We get nasty storms here in GA, too, especially when the weather gets so hot like it has been lately.

Is it just me or do others think that the whole USA is getting more severe weather now than we used to? I hear about a tornado hitting some area just about everyday. I don't remember it being like this even just a few years ago.

The weather forecasters here, though, go completely insane when there is even so much as a thunderstorm. I can understand the tornado watches and warnings - and I'm thankful for those - but just rain and a little thunder?? You'd think we were under nuclear attack!!

[AfterMyNap]

Wow! I saw that on the news this morning! Glad everyone is okay!

[yeahbut]

I read it on headline news on the web..... glad you are ok Erin.

[jmiller]

Glad everything is ok with you Erin, stay safe.

Kitty your not the only one thinking the weather is worse, but in 2004 we had a record over 1700 tornados reported. Things should start winding down soon as we get into the summer months. Once the jet stream allows the cool air to shift back into canada then we can relax a bit with the extreme weather.

Now we focus on the tropics, and with this extreme heat down south, watch out. Last year most of the hurricanes were well south, and took a more westerly path towards Cayo's area, sry Cay. Anyhow who really knows what will happen, its very unpredictable.

[Victor H]

I am glad that you are OK.

-Vic

[weegot5kiz]

glad your all ok Erin, yeah the weather been pretty nasty throughout neb kan iowa ILL mich wis minn OK indy ohio seems like the nasty tornado weather has shift a bit east and north this year, or that tornado alley has gotten wider, cause its still in the main states, just seems like it has spread

sorry to babble glad yall are ok Erin

[Erin524]

Holy crap!

I finally got some sleep (fell asleep around 530 or 6am) and I'm checking the news right now. (I did wake up at 7am to warn my dad to watch out for damage and power lines down, when he left for church)

There was a LOT of damage, but it seems like it hit in Millard, which is in SouthWest Omaha...Millard used to be it's own town, but Omaha annexed it when I was little.

It sounds like it dropped into Millard, tore up some houses there, and then lifted back up to occasionally drop back down several more times as it went northeast into Central and North Omaha.

As far as I know, my part of town (NW) didnt get a lot of problems, maybe some straightline winds.

There is a LOT of tree damage.

I'm still trying to figure out just how bad the damage was from watching the news.


Normally when Omaha has a tornado warning, the sirens will sound for awhile, and then the storm will move off into Iowa and everyone goes about their business. The last truly damaging tornado that I can remember hitting us was probably in 1990 or 91...and that tornado did a direct hit on my grandmother's neighborhood and then lifted back up, and went over the river and took out Council Bluffs, Iowa.

The last really huge tornado that we had, that took out a few hundred houses happened when I was about 6yrs old, on May 6th, 1975.

[CayoKay]

Originally Posted by jmiller

Now we focus on the tropics, and with this extreme heat down south, watch out. Last year most of the hurricanes were well south, and took a more westerly path towards Cayo's area, sry Cay. Anyhow who really knows what will happen, its very unpredictable.

first, glad you're okay, Erin... that must've been scary!

second, jmiller, yes, we got TWO Cat 5'ers headed at us in Belize last year (Dean and Felix) and that is unprecedented in recorded history.

so, you're right, it's unpredictable, but... they can do a lot with forecasting these days.