There were no injuries and only minimal damage from Tuesday night’s wind storm, said Darrin Lewis, director of emergency management for Buffalo County.
“We haven’t had reports of major damage,” Lewis said Wednesday morning after winds clocked as high as 80 mph buffeted south-central Nebraska.
Lewis said tornado sirens were sounded around 8 p.m. Tuesday for residents of the Axtell area. Lewis said when sirens were sounded in Axtell, he ordered them sounded in Buffalo County as an added precaution.
Lewis said there were questions about siren protocol following Tuesday’s storm because some Kearney-area residents were confused about the tone of the siren.
Lewis said only one siren tone is sounded, regardless of the situation. When people hear it, they respond by seeking safe shelter.
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Lewis said spotters were sent out to watch for tornado activity, and after the storm had blown over firefighters and law officers were sent out for damage assessment.
Lewis said damages were widespread, but involved mainly tree damage.
Grant Flamig of Nebraska Public Power District said only 900 customers lost power. The outage occurred when a tree fell on a powerline in east-central Kearney. Flamig said recovery was rapid as all but four NPPD customers had power restored by Wednesday morning.
Lewis said Tuesday night’s storm appeared to be more widespread compared to a May 9 storm that brought strong, straight winds. Damages from the May 9 storm were in limited areas, but some residents in north Kearney had trees fall on their homes.
By comparison, there were no parts of Kearney left unharmed following Tuesday’s storm.
