Several cities in the Omaha metro area were devastated by severe weather Thursday night, with multiple tornadoes confirmed in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa.
Bennington and Manley, Nebraska, as well as Randolph and Essex, Iowa, were among the hardest hit. The National Weather Service is likely to confirm in the following days the extent of tornado damage.
A probable tornado was spotted near Oakland, Iowa, at 8 p.m. Nearly an hour later, there was widespread fear of a massive tornado going through the Essex, Iowa area.
Tornado sirens went off in Omaha at 7 p.m., when a tornado touched down north of the city. Sirens were also sounding in Bennington and Elkhorn, and people at Eppley Airfield sought shelter for about 15 minutes.
As the storm moved into Colfax and Dodge counties, high winds created a dust cloud large enough to cause cars to exit Highway 30 near Rogers and North Bend. A tornado warning was issued for Dodge County about 6 p.m.; however, no tornado was verified in the area.
On Thursday night, shortly after 9 p.m., OPPD experienced a peak outage of around 1,200 customers.