STORM UPDATES: Overnight derecho knocks out power to nearly 20,000 Omaha-area customers

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Another overnight storm hit the metro Friday morning, this time bringing mostly strong gusty wind and heavy rain, though not as much rain as Tuesday morning.

There were many reports of wind gusts approaching 80 mph. The two largest swaths of severe weather went through Sarpy and Washington counties.

Here are the latest Friday storm-related updates:

4:30 p.m. -- UPDATE ON POWER OUTAGES: MidAmerican Energy provided a status update to 6 News. Service has been restored to nearly 40,000 customers across the state, and crews from across the country are en route to help out. As of 3:30 p.m., about 9,100 customers are still needing power restored. MidAmerican says it hopes to have the majority restored by Noon Saturday, and all customers restored by Midnight.

OPPD reports 2,330 customers without power as of 4:35 p.m. The largest number of customers out remains in Washington County, with 1,048. Over 800 Sarpy County customers are in the dark, with about 235 Douglas County customers waiting for power to be restored.

1:45 p.m. -- Top wind gusts reported this morning reached 70 to 82mph around the metro. The highest reports came from Papillion at 82mph, Missouri Valley at 74mph, and Blair at 72mph. Numerous reports of wind damage have been received from all across the area. Rainfall totals were thankfully under an inch for most of the metro, with Eppley Airfield reporting 0.82 inches of rain. That helped to keep the flooding risk on the lower side. However, Norfolk did pick up 1.4″ of rain, one of the heavier totals in the area. Lincoln was just over 3/4″, Shenandoah around 3/4″ as well, with Millard reported just over 0.6″ of rainfall.

12:40 p.m. -- OPPD updates their storm-related outages to 5,450 customers. “About 68% of the 17,000 customers who lost power at the height of the storm have been restored,” according to the post on their storm-related website. MidAmerican Energy is reporting less than 400 without power in Council Bluffs, and about 270 in the Sioux City area affected by outages.

11:43 a.m. -- The National Weather Service declared the storms that hit the area early Friday morning a derecho. The line of storms started in Nebraska then blew all across Iowa and into Illinois.

The highest wind gust reported so far in the Omaha-metro area was 82 mph in Papillion at 2:41am.

11:28 a.m. -- Nationwide insurance has opened a temporary drive-up claims center in Omaha to assess vehicle damage. Customers can head to the Home Depot on L Street from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily for the next two weeks.

The Omaha Farmers’ Market at Aksarben Village on Sunday will proceed as normal from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Shoppers are encouraged to use Mercy Road, Pine Street or Pacific Street if coming in from the west; access from the east is available via Pacific. Baxter Arena’s parking Lot 27 will be open for shoppers to park as well.

11:27 a.m. -- Blair Mayor Mindy Rump has authorized residents to place tree debris in the street at the curb for pickup. All tree branches and limbs should be placed in the right of way by 6 a.m. Monday, June 3. Residents are also welcome to drop off tree debris at 460 S. Third St., just south of the Washington County Recycling Center.

The city will begin collecting tree debris beginning June 3, but will only do so along a street once, to allow for cleaning up and clearing the Gateway to the West Days parade route. Other types of debris like construction materials and broken furniture will not be collected. No other tree debris drop-off locations have been approved; the city asks residents not to leave debris in the Youth Sports Complex parking lot.

10:34 a.m. -- Early reports on overnight wind speeds in the area ranged from 68-82 mph.

7:50 a.m. -- Harrison County and Iowa Emergency Management were assessing storm damage in the area. Missouri Valley had extensive tree damage throughout the town. Some county roads were blocked because of large downed trees.

7:40 a.m. -- 6 First Alert Traffic reporter Jaret Lansford noted that with the power outages, there are some intersections without traffic lights sprinkled about the city. Always treat these as 4-way stops.

7:14 a.m. -- Power outages prompt Washington County to keep its courthouse and the Washington County Justice Center closed on Friday.

7:30 a.m. -- 11,535 OPPD customers were without power; about 5,100 of them in Douglas County.

6 News just talked to a couple in Blair who woke up to find large branches had crashed down on three overnight. They are OK; the cars are not. Meanwhile a billboard in Bellevue blew over at Kasper, just west of Fort Crook Road.

3:50 a.m. -- OPPD reports around 17,000 outages: about 7,200 were in Douglas County; 7,000 in Washington County; and 2,200 in Sarpy County. MidAmerican Energy reported 2,665 customers without power in Council Bluffs.

Copyright 2024 WOWT. All rights reserved.