Tornado outbreaks prompt ongoing responses in Nebraska and Iowa
by Daisy Hutzell-Rodman
An unprecedented severe weather season began for the Western Division on Friday, April 26. That day, an outbreak of 24 tornadoes occurred in Nebraska and southwest Iowa over a period of just six hours. The National Weather Service categorized five of the twisters as EF-3s (with estimated wind speeds between 136-165 miles per hour), including one that ravaged the communities of Elkhorn, Bennington and Blair, Neb., one that struck Minden, Iowa, and also one that rolled past Crescent, Iowa, that evening.
By 4:30 p.m. that same day emergency disaster services (EDS) teams rushed out to help survivors and first responders across a 60-milewide corridor bridging eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. Hundreds of homes and businesses had been damaged or destroyed within that area. The next morning, EDS teams arrived in Minden, Iowa, 30 miles northeast of Omaha, bringing food, bottled water and cleaning supplies to the heavily damaged town in which three people had been injured and one person killed. At the same time, another EDS team was preparing a west Omaha disaster relief center to distribute much-needed supplies to storm-impacted individuals and families.
Neb.-area homeowner whose property was
heavily damaged by tornado outbreak.
The response and initial recovery phases lasted several weeks. During that time, Western Division teams provided meals, drinks and snacks, as well as direct financial assistance, household supplies, and emotional and spiritual care. Divisional social services personnel set up shop at an Omaha bank, providing a central location for survivors to come for casework and direct financial assistance.
Support poured in from around the Central Territory, with representatives and materials from the North and Central Illinois, Midland, Northern, and Wisconsin/Upper Michigan divisions arriving in the wake of the storms. National Commander Commissioner Kenneth G. Hodder flew into Omaha and visited storm-impacted areas nearby and met and prayed with affected families.
Relief efforts were still underway when on the afternoon of May 21 another severe weather system rumbled across the division. The town of Greenfield, Iowa, bore the brunt of the impact when a category EF-4 tornado tore through the community of 2,000, leaving 35 people injured and four dead. Early the next morning, a Des Moines-based EDS team came from 60 miles away to provide food and hydration. A mix of Des Moines and Omaha-based EDS groups went on to provide daily feeding over the ensuing fortnight via canteens to the most heavily damaged parts of Greenfield.
As of early June, between the combined EDS operations in eastern Nebraska-western Iowa and Greenfield, teams had served 16,545 drinks, 10,726 meals, and 11,480 snacks to those impacted by the storms. Long-term recovery efforts started in the Omaha metro area in late May and got underway in Greenfield shortly thereafter.
The Western Division is committed to continuing its efforts to help all storm-impacted communities for as long as needed.
