Residents in suburban Omaha, Nebraska, began sifting through debris Saturday after a tornado demolished homes and businesses as it moved for miles across farmland, then struck an Iowa town.
Friday night’s tornadoes wreaked havoc in the Midwest, causing the collapse of a building with dozens of people inside and destroying and damaging hundreds of homes.
Several injuries were reported, but there are no reports of deaths.
The Elkhorn neighborhood of Omaha, a city of 485,000, is one of the most affected communities after severe storms hit parts of the Plains and the South on Friday afternoon, officials said.
A powerful tornado destroyed homes and Emergency teams are still searching for trapped or injured people, local authorities said.
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen told reporters Saturday that it’s a miracle there were no deaths.
After visiting the impacted areas, Pillen said seeing the damage was extraordinarily humbling, adding that he met some families who lost their homes after living in them for only a few months.
One of the tornadoes that hit Douglas County had a preliminary rating of EF-3 with winds exceeding 135 mph, according to Chris Franks of the National Weather Service. The other, which hit the Omaha airport, appeared to be an EF-2, he added.
Meanwhile, in the state of Iowa, a large tornado was reported in the small town of Minden, according to the National Weather Service (NWS), with reports of destroyed structures and scattered debris.
Severe weather threat expected to continue through Sunday and Saturday was predicted to be the most dangerous day.
Strong tornadoes are possible from Nebraska to Texas.
According to the National Weather Service, 18 million people in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas are also under flood watch until Sunday afternoon. Long-duration destructive tornadoes and heavy rain are expected, with the worst storms occurring during the afternoon and evening on Saturday.
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