OMAHA, Neb. — A tornado plowed through suburban Omaha, Nebraska, on Friday afternoon, damaging hundreds of homes and other structures as it tore for miles along farmland and into subdivisions.
Injuries were reported but it wasn't yet clear if anyone was killed in the storm.
Multiple tornadoes were reported in Nebraska but the most destructive storm moved from a largely rural area into suburbs northwest of Omaha, a city of 485,000.
Photos on social media showed heavily damaged homes and shredded trees. Video showed homes with roofs stripped of shingles, in a rural area near Omaha. Law enforcement blocked off roads in the area.
Hundreds of houses sustained damage in Omaha, mostly in the Elkhorn area in the western part of the city, police Lt. Neal Bonacci said.
Police and firefighters were going door-to-door to help people who were trapped.
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Omaha Fire Chief Kathy Bossman said crews went to the "hardest-hit area" and had a plan to search anywhere someone could be trapped.
"They're going to be putting together a strategic plan for a detailed search of the area, starting with the properties with most damage," Bossman 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."
Omaha police Lt. Neal Bonacci said many homes were destroyed or severely damaged. "You definitely see the path of the tornado," he said.
In one area of Elkhorn, dozens of newly built, large homes were damaged. At least six were destroyed, including one that was leveled, while others had the top half ripped off .
There were dozens of emergency vehicles in the area.
"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."
His wife, Kim Woods added, "The whole neighborhood just to the north of us is pretty flattened."
Crossing over
A tornado, possibly the same one, then crossed the Missouri River and into Iowa, north of Council Bluff s.
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," Fienhold said.
The Weather Service issued tornado watches across parts of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. Forecasters warned that large hail and damaging wind gusts also were possible.
Warnings sent
Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said there appeared to be few serious injuries, in part because people had plenty of warning that storms were likely.
"People had warnings of this and that saved lives," he said.
The tornado warning was issued in the Omaha area 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 transported students home.
Another tornado hit an area on the eastern edge of Omaha, passing directly through parts of Eppley Airfield, the city's airport. Officials closed the airport to aircraft operations to assess damage but then reopened the facility, said Steve McCoy, of the Omaha Airport Authority.
The passenger terminal wasn't hit by the tornado but people rushed to storm shelters until the twister passed, McCoy said.
Flight delays were expected Friday evening.