Residents began sifting through the rubble Saturday after a tornado plowed through suburban Omaha, Nebraska, demolishing homes and businesses as it moved for miles through farmland and into subdivisions, then slamming an Iowa town.
The Friday night tornadoes wreaked havoc in the Midwest, causing a building to collapse with dozens of people inside and destroying and damaging hundreds of homes.
By Saturday morning, the sounds of chainsaws filled the air in the Elkhorn neighborhood of Omaha, a city of 485,000 people with a metropolitan area population of about 1 million. Lumber from the damaged homes lay in piles. Fences were knocked over and the trees were skeletal, missing most of their branches.
Power outages peaked at 10,000, but had dropped to 4,300 by morning.
"We watched it touch down about 200 yards over there," Elkhorn resident Pat Woods told CBS News. "And then we went to get shelter and we came, but we could hear it going through. When we came back up, our fence was gone and we looked over to the northwest and the whole neighborhood is gone."
Omaha police Lt. Neal Bonacci said Saturday that the fire department had completed its search of damaged homes and structures. He described the injuries as minor.
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen posted on the social media platform X that he had ordered state resources to be made available to help. He and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds planned to tour damaged areas. And Pillen planned a news conference later Saturday in Omaha.
The National Weather Service was still evaluating the number and strength of the twisters.
One of them hit an industrial building to the west of Omaha, in Nebraska's Lancaster County, causing it to collapse with 70 people inside. Several were trapped, but everyone was evacuated and the three injuries were not life-threatening, authorities said.
Another tornado passed over the eastern edge of Omaha, directly through parts of Eppley Airfield, the city's airport. The passenger terminal was not hit, but officials halted aircraft operations to assess damage before reopening the facility, Omaha Airport Authority Chief Strategy Officer Steve McCoy said.
After hitting the airport, the storm moved into Iowa, taking aim at the small town of Minden.
"Witnessing the devastation and loss these people have experienced - their homes, cars, their entire lives until they rebuild - is truly heart-wrenching," he expressed, advising everyone to steer clear due to the presence of downed power lines.
Over at the Minden United Church of Christ, which stood strong against the storm and now serves as a central point for assistance and solidarity, Pastor Eric Biehl shared plans to use 4-wheel-drive vehicles to deliver meals to the affected areas in town, offering support to those in need.
"Many individuals are currently in a state of shock," Biehl remarked. "The situation is incredibly overwhelming for everyone."
Reflecting on the events, Tammy Pavich, who keeps her equipment on the western outskirts of town, shared her initial relief as the first tornadoes bypassed Omaha, only to be hit directly by the storm in Minden.
Todd Lehan, a lifelong resident, sought refuge in a basement without windows.
"The noise was akin to a vacuum cleaner hovering over your roof," he recounted.
Despite ongoing assessments by the National Weather Service to gauge the extent of the destruction, the forecast for Saturday remained grim. Tornado watches were issued early Saturday for northwestern Texas and regions across western Oklahoma.
Severe storms continue to loom over tens of millions of Americans. A weather system is moving through the South and Central regions of the country, bringing with it powerful thunderstorms, hail, damaging wind gusts, and the potential for tornadoes. Iowa and Missouri are particularly at risk for the development of strong tornadoes.
