Hundreds of homes were flattened, ripped from their foundations, or had their roofs torn off when tornadoes barreled through two states.
The first twister hit Elkhorn, Nebraska, on the outskirts of Omaha, about 4 pm on Friday where it wrecked at least six homes – all of them newly built – and damaged dozens more.
‘The whole neighborhood just to the north of us is pretty flattened,’ Kim Woods, whose house was mostly spared, said.
Terrifying footage showed an enormous tornado touching down with enormous storm clouds swirling while a siren hauntingly blares in the background.
Tornado damage is seen in Minden, Iowa, as hundreds of homes were flattened, ripped from their foundations, or had their roofs torn off when tornadoes barreled through two states
Terry Kicking sifts through the damage after a tornado leveled his home in Omaha
On the horizon, the full scale of the tornado can be appreciated with the giant clouds slowly turning as the storm barrels across the region.
Another tornado began elsewhere in Omaha about 5 pm and flung planes at Eppley Airfield around like toys and ripped them to shreds.
The passenger terminal wasn’t hit by the tornado but people rushed to storm shelters until the twister passed.
A storm chaser filmed one of the tornadoes crossing highway near Omaha, churning up debris from both the road and adjacent farmland.
The driver came across an overturned big rig that had been flipped by the powerful tornado which could still be seen churning away in the distance.
Photos on social media showed heavily damaged homes and shredded trees. Video showed homes with roofs stripped of roof tiles, in a rural area near Omaha.
A tornado is seen near north of Waverly, Nebraska, on Friday
The first twister hit Elkhorn, Nebraska, on the outskirts of Omaha, about 4pm on Friday where it wrecked at least six homes – all of them newly built – and damaged dozens more
Minden, Iowa, was hit particularly hard with half the town’s buildings damaged, four people injured, and the whole community cut off
Another tornado began elsewhere in Omaha about 5pm and flung planes at Eppley Airfield around like toys and ripped them to shreds
A third, very powerful, developed about the same time and cut a swathe through hundreds of miles of both Nebraska and Iowa.
Minden, Iowa, was hit particularly hard with half the town’s buildings damaged, four people injured, and the whole community cut off.
‘About 40 homes, maybe 50, were destroyed, gas leaks, wires down, a lot of debris. So it’s a very dangerous area, except for the people that live here, Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office chief deputy Jeff Theulen said.
‘Obviously, they’re trying to take care of their houses and our thoughts and prayers are with them.’
Meanwhile, Austin Ehlers, a firefighter who lives about 15 minutes away, told the Des Moines Register that his grandfather who lives in Minden ‘lost everything.’
‘He lives just outside of Minden, right in the path where the tornado took,’ Ehlers told the publication. ‘After we cleared everything in Persia, we hoped in the trucks and went to Minden and helped. I found out my grandpa’s house was completely gone, and he’s basically lost everything.’
More tornadoes or on the way this weekend with very severe warnings issued for Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas for Saturday and Iowa to East Texas on Sunday.
Drone footage and photos from the ground showed massive damage and homes reduced to rubble and kindling.
Some homeowners who only just bought their houses were left with nothing, or had their garages ripped away from the house.
Gopala Penmetsa walks past his house after it was leveled by a tornado near Omaha
Families sift through the destruction from a tornado near Omaha
A drone view shows people inspecting the site of damaged buildings in the aftermath of a tornado in Omaha, Nebraska
Photos on social media showed heavily damaged homes and shredded trees
BNSF train cars are seen derailed along US Route 6 after a tornado between Waverly and Lincoln, Nebraska
Damage from the tornado at Garner Industries is seen on Friday outside Waverly, Nebraska
Three people were injured in Nebraska’s Lancaster County when a tornado hit an industrial building, causing it to collapse with 70 people inside.
Several were trapped, but everyone was evacuated and the injuries were not life-threatening, authorities said.
Police and firefighters moved door-to-door to help people in Omaha, Fire Chief Kathy Bossman said.
‘They’re going to be putting together a strategic plan for a detailed search of the area, starting with the properties with most damage,’ she said.
‘We’ll be looking throughout properties in debris piles, we’ll be looking in basements, trying to find any victims and make sure everybody is rescued who needs assistance.
‘You definitely see the path of the tornado.’
Paul Retzlaff, left, talks with Davianne Vice after a tornado damaged a machine shed on Friday in Lincoln, Nebraska
Damage is seen to home after it was leveled by a tornado near Omaha
Emergency crews respond after a tornado damaged a Garner Industries facility in Lincoln, Nebraska
Damaged houses are seen after a tornado passed through the area near Omaha
People are pick through the rubble of a house that was leveled in Elkhorn, Nebraska. Residents began sifting through the rubble after a tornado plowed through suburban Omaha
‘We watched it touch down like 200 yards over there and then we took shelter,’ said Pat Woods, who lives in Elkhorn.
‘We could hear it coming through. When we came up our fence was gone and we looked to the northwest and the whole neighborhood’s gone.’
Three people, including a child, were in the basement of the leveled home when the tornado hit but got out safely, according to Dhaval Naik, who said he works with home’s owner.
KETV-TV video showed one woman being removed from a wrecked home on a stretcher in Blair, a city just north of Omaha.
Bonacci said only two people have been transported for treatment, both with minor injuries.
National Weather Service maps showed Kansas, North Texas, northwest of Dallas, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Norman and Moore in Oklahoma, and Wichita Falls all within the worst affected areas
A thunderstorm forecast for an entire swathe of the American Midwest expected to be battered on Saturday
Tornado and storm warnings for parts of Oklahoma and Texas for Saturday
Debris is seen from a destroyed home northwest of Omaha, Nebraska, after a tornado tore through the area
He said crews are now doing a second search of homes. He said fire crews would work throughout the night to check all the unsafe structures and make sure no one is inside.
‘People had warnings of this and that saved lives,’ Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said, of the few serious injuries.
The tornado warning was issued in the Omaha area on Friday afternoon just as children were due to be released from school.
Many schools had students shelter in place until the storm passed. Hours later, buses were still transporting students home.
‘Was it one long track tornado or was it several tornadoes?’ said Becky Kern, the warning coordination meteorologist in the National Weather Service’s Omaha office.
Gopala Penmetsa walks past a damaged house after a tornado passed through the area near Omaha
Damage is seen to home after it was leveled by a tornado near Omaha
Families sift through the damage from a tornado along Arabian Road in Omaha
Omaha police officers search a home for a family after a tornado leveled dozens of homes near Omaha
She said the agency planned to send out multiple crews over the next several days to determine the number of tornadoes and their strength, and that it could take up to two weeks to finish the evaluation.
‘Some appeared to be violent tornadoes,’ she continued. ‘There were tornadoes in different areas. And so it’s like forensic meteorology, we call it, like piecing together, all the damage indicators.’
In Lancaster County, where three people were injured when an industrial building collapsed, sheriff’s officials also said they had reports of a tipped-over train near Waverly.
Two people who were injured in the county were being treated at the trauma center at Bryan Medical Center West Campus in Lincoln, the facility said.
The hospital said the patients were in triage and no details were released on their condition.
Terrifying footage was filmed of a massive tornado was touching down in Nebraska on Friday
Storm chasers also documented a tornado crossing a highway near Omaha, revealing the destructive power of the funnel-shaped storm
Ally Mercer, Gabe Sedlacek Kaleb Andersen and Austin Young watch a tornado from a seventh floor parking garage on Friday in Lincoln, Nebraska
The Omaha Public Power District reported that nearly 10,000 customers were without power in the Omaha area.
Daniel Fienhold, manager of the Pink Poodle Steakhouse in Crescent, Iowa, said he was outside watching the weather with his daughter and restaurant employees. He said ‘it looked like a pretty big tornado was forming’ northeast of town.
‘It started raining, and then it started hailing, and then all the clouds started to kind of swirl and come together, and as soon as the wind started to pick up, that’s when I headed for the basement, but we never saw it,’ he said.
The forecast for Saturday was ominous. The Weather Service also issued tornado watches across parts of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. And forecasters warned that large hail and strong wind gusts were possible.
‘Several strong tornadoes will be likely, and a few long-track EF3+ tornadoes will be possible,’ the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center said.
The storm could be seen crossing a six lane highway as the tornado carved its path
Those capturing pictures of the swirling storms were able to get particularly close
A tornado touches down on Friday afternoon in Lincoln, Nebraska
This massive tornado was spotted swirling near Lincoln, Nebraska
‘The greatest potential for severe storms will be from north Texas into Oklahoma and southeast Kansas, where strong tornadoes, very large hail over two inches in diameter and widespread damaging winds (some over 70mph), are expected to occur,’
‘A broader area of severe threat will extend from south-central Texas north-northeastward to the Great Lakes.’
Having a set of tornadoes follow another just a day later is almost unheard of as the first usually clears the air of moisture that twisters need to develop.
But the moisture returned overnight, creating condition ripe for more storm chaos.
National Weather Service maps showed Kansas, North Texas, northwest of Dallas, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Norman and Moore in Oklahoma, and Wichita Falls all within the worst affected areas.
Central and eastern Oklahoma, eastern Kansas and, western Missouri will get three to five inches of rain, or more, and are at risk of flash flooding.
A tornado is seen rolling through Elkhorn, Nebraska on Friday afternoon
The storm moved north at 50mph causing significant damage to structures and trees in its way
Blue skies could be seen behind the ferocious storm as it carved its way across Nebraksa
Dozens of houses, flattened and ripped to shreds as the tornado carved its destructive path
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