68061 Zip Code Natural Disasters and Weather Extremes
Hot Rankings
The chance of earthquake damage in 68061 Zip Code is about the same as Nebraska average and is much lower than the national average. The risk of tornado damage in 68061 Zip Code is lower than Nebraska average and is higher than the national average.
Earthquake Index, #492
| 68061 Zip Code | 0.01 |
| Nebraska | 0.04 |
| U.S. | 1.81 |
The earthquake index value is calculated based on historical earthquake events data using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the earthquake level in a region. A higher earthquake index value means a higher chance of an earthquake.
Volcano Index, #1
| 68061 Zip Code | 0.0000 |
| Nebraska | 0.0000 |
| U.S. | 0.0023 |
The volcano index value is calculated based on the currently known volcanoes using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the possibility of a region being affected by a possible volcano eruption. A higher volcano index value means a higher chance of being affected.
Tornado Index, #422
| 68061 Zip Code | 187.13 |
| Nebraska | 205.07 |
| U.S. | 136.45 |
The tornado index value is calculated based on historical tornado events data using USA.com algorithms. It is an indicator of the tornado level in a region. A higher tornado index value means a higher chance of tornado events.
Other Weather Extremes Events
A total of 4,330 other weather extremes events within 50 miles of 68061 Zip Code were recorded from 1950 to 2010. The following is a break down of these events:
| Type | Count | Type | Count | Type | Count | Type | Count | Type | Count |
| Avalanche: | 0 | Blizzard: | 25 | Cold: | 83 | Dense Fog: | 0 | Drought: | 5 |
| Dust Storm: | 0 | Flood: | 278 | Hail: | 1,911 | Heat: | 18 | Heavy Snow: | 26 |
| High Surf: | 0 | Hurricane: | 0 | Ice Storm: | 15 | Landslide: | 0 | Strong Wind: | 51 |
| Thunderstorm Winds: | 1,655 | Tropical Storm: | 0 | Wildfire: | 0 | Winter Storm: | 98 | Winter Weather: | 20 |
| Other: | 145 | ||||||||
Volcanos Nearby
No volcano is found in or near 68061 Zip Code.
Historical Earthquake Events
No historical earthquake events that had recorded magnitudes of 3.5 or above found in or near 68061 Zip Code.
No historical earthquake events found in or near 68061 Zip Code.
Historical Tornado Events
A total of 68 historical tornado events that had recorded magnitude of 2 or above found in or near 68061 Zip Code.
| Distance (miles) | Date | Magnitude | Start Lat/Log | End Lat/Log | Length | Width | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage | Crop Damage | Affected County |
| 7.5 | 1960-06-15 | 2 | 41°42'N / 96°17'W | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Burt | |||
| 8.0 | 2008-06-11 | 2 | 41°48'N / 96°06'W | 41°51'N / 96°01'W | 5.00 Miles | 440 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0K | Harrison |
| Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: This is a continuation of the tornado that initially touched down in Burt county Nebraska, about 4.5 miles west of Little Sioux Iowa. The tornado eventually reached EF3 strength in Monona county when it hit a boyscout camp where 4 fatalities and 48 injuries occurred. The tornado crossed into Harrison county near mile marker 97 on Interstate 29 where a semi-truck was flipped. The tornado snapped power poles northeast of there with an estimated strength of EF2 in Harrison county. The tornado then crossed into Monona county Iowa about 4 miles north of Little Sioux. EPISODE NARRATIVE: A very strong and unseasonably cold upper level low pressure system that was tracking across the northern plains brought a strong low level jet to the region during the early morning hours of June 11th. The warm and unstable air that worked north into the region helped spawn early morning severe thunderstorms across eastern Nebraska and southwest Iowa. Later that day as the upper level system worked into the central Dakotas, a cold front pushed across the region. This helped set off another round of thunderstorms that developed over east central Nebraska by late afternoon. Isolated small supercell thunderstorms initially developed ahead of the cold front over eastern Nebraska, but they were quickly overtaken by a broken line of larger supercell thunderstorms, some of the heavy precipitation type, that developed along the cold front. Cell mergers and training were observed well into the evening hours as the activity quickly spread across southwest Iowa. The storms produced a total of 8 confirmed tornadoes in the Omaha/Valley warning area which covers eastern Nebraska and southwest Iowa. | |||||||||||
| 11.3 | 1992-06-16 | 2 | 41°52'N / 96°25'W | 41°55'N / 96°21'W | 4.00 Miles | 150 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Burt |
| 12.7 | 1991-05-27 | 3 | 41°53'N / 96°28'W | 41°56'N / 96°20'W | 6.00 Miles | 1760 Yards | 0 | 2 | 2.5M | 0 | Burt |
| 13.8 | 1991-05-28 | 2 | 41°56'N / 96°24'W | 1.00 Mile | 440 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Burt | |
| 14.8 | 2008-06-11 | 3 | 41°51'N / 96°01'W | 41°54'N / 95°52'W | 7.00 Miles | 440 Yards | 4 | 48 | 0K | 0K | Monona |
| Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: This tornado tragically hit a boyscout camp north of Little Sioux Iowa killing 4 young scouts. The tornado initially touched down in Burt county Nebraska, crossed into Harrison county Iowa near mile marker 97 on Interstate 29, and then finally crossed into Monona county Iowa about 4 miles north of Little Sioux. In Monona county the tornado entered the Little Sioux Scout Ranch, destroying the rangers home near the entrance of the park giving it a rating of EF3. The storm then blew down trees and destroyed bunk houses at the camp. Four scouts were killed in one bunk house when a brick chimney collapsed on them. In total 48 people were injured at the camp. The tornado continued to topple trees as it tracked into Preparation Canyon State Park. Just before it entered the park a farmstead sustained damage. The tornado hit another farmstead about 2.5 miles southwest of Moorhead where trees were blown down and sheds damaged. The tornado then began to weaken and finally lifted about 2 miles southwest of Moorhead. The total path length was around 14 miles. EPISODE NARRATIVE: A very strong and unseasonably cold upper level low pressure system that was tracking across the northern plains brought a strong low level jet to the region during the early morning hours of June 11th. The warm and unstable air that worked north into the region helped spawn early morning severe thunderstorms across eastern Nebraska and southwest Iowa. Later that day as the upper level system worked into the central Dakotas, a cold front pushed across the region. This helped set off another round of thunderstorms that developed over east central Nebraska by late afternoon. Isolated small supercell thunderstorms initially developed ahead of the cold front over eastern Nebraska, but they were quickly overtaken by a broken line of larger supercell thunderstorms, some of the heavy precipitation type, that developed along the cold front. Cell mergers and training were observed well into the evening hours as the activity quickly spread across southwest Iowa. The storms produced a total of 8 confirmed tornadoes in the Omaha/Valley warning area which covers eastern Nebraska and southwest Iowa. | |||||||||||
| 15.6 | 1950-07-15 | 4 | 41°48'N / 96°36'W | 41°44'N / 96°25'W | 10.00 Miles | 440 Yards | 0 | 33 | 2.5M | 0 | Burt |
| 16.2 | 1953-06-07 | 2 | 41°33'N / 96°15'W | 41°34'N / 96°10'W | 4.10 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 1 | 25K | 0 | Washington |
| 17.8 | 1991-05-28 | 2 | 41°56'N / 95°57'W | 41°56'N / 95°53'W | 5.00 Miles | 60 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Monona |
| 19.1 | 2009-03-23 | 2 | 41°33'N / 95°57'W | 41°40'N / 95°55'W | 9.00 Miles | 440 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0K | Harrison |
| Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: The tornado touched down near highway 30 about 1.5 miles west of the interchange between Interstate 29 and Highway 30, or about 3 miles west of Missouri Valley Iowa. The tornado was at its strongest and widest within a mile of its touchdown point, becoming weaker with more intermittent damage farther north. Near the touchdown point, a barn sustained roof damage and a windmill was knocked down. One-half mile north of Highway 30, 54 empty grain rail cars were derailed. One mile north of Highway 30, along 305th St., two residences were impacted by the tornado. A 100-year-old single family residence directly in its path was completely destroyed, with all walls collapsed and debris relocated about 50 feet north of the foundation. The debris collected over the site of a cinder block garage, which also partially collapsed. About 100 yards north of the garage site, a machine shed was collapsed onto a combine inside, which had been moved by the wind. Trees near the house sustained some broken limbs and treetops, and a power pole was snapped. The damage at this site was given an EF2 rating. Another residence one-quarter mile to its west sustained minor siding and shingle damage and windows were broken. Seven of the eight outbuildings at that residence were collapsed, with debris strewn into nearby fields. Damage at the two houses indicated a path width of one quarter mile at that point, the widest along the path of the tornado. The tornado continued northward, overturning two semis on Interstate 29. From there to a point about 3 miles southwest of Magnolia, near the intersection of the Loess Hills Trail and Melody Oaks Trail, intermittent light damage to trees and roofs of a couple of outbuildings was noted. From this point, the survey team determined the damage path narrowed to 100 yards or less based on scattered tree and outbuilding damage, with EF0 intensity north of Interstate 29. EPISODE NARRATIVE: An intense upper level low pressure system tracked from eastern Colorado into southeast South Dakota from March 23rd to March 24th. This caused a surface low pressure system to move from western Nebraska into southeast South Dakota during that time. As the low tracked northeast, a dry-line moved into eastern Nebraska during the afternoon of March 23rd. With surface temperatures in the 60s and 70s, and dewpoint temperatures in the 50s, ample instability was in place to allow a line of severe thunderstorms to develop as the dry-line punched eastward. Several fast moving and low-topped supercell thunderstorms were embedded in the line, and one cell produced cyclic tornadoes from southeast of Lincoln into western Iowa. The storms in the line were moving north northeast at between 50 and 60 mph. In addition to the severe weather, strong southerly gradient winds prevailed ahead of the low pressure. In some cases the winds gusted between 50 and 60 mph for several hours across parts of eastern Nebraska. | |||||||||||
| 20.1 | 1962-05-07 | 2 | 41°36'N / 96°30'W | 1.00 Mile | 33 Yards | 0 | 5 | 25K | 0 | Dodge | |
| 20.7 | 1983-05-06 | 2 | 41°34'N / 95°57'W | 41°45'N / 95°45'W | 15.00 Miles | 20 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Harrison |
| 21.5 | 1999-05-16 | 3 | 41°38'N / 95°54'W | 41°38'N / 95°48'W | 6.20 Miles | 200 Yards | 0 | 0 | 100K | 0 | Harrison |
| Brief Description: The smaller of 2 strong tornadoes that hit Harrison county the afternoon of 5/16/99. This one destroyed a home west of Logan before it weakened, it then made a loop back to the northwest before dissipating. | |||||||||||
| 23.4 | 1999-05-16 | 3 | 41°36'N / 95°52'W | 41°40'N / 95°45'W | 7.50 Miles | 440 Yards | 2 | 16 | 1.9M | 0 | Harrison |
| Brief Description: The stronger of the 2 tornadoes that ripped through Harrison county the afternoon of 5/16/99 killed 2 people and destroyed 6 homes and a bridge before it dissipated a couple of miles east of Logan. A family of 5 leaving a high school graduation party encountered the tornado on a road around 6 miles northeast of Missouri Valley and took cover in a ditch about the time the path of the tornado widened to a quarter mile. Two of them were killed after their car and a 3-ton combine head were thrown on them. There were also numerous flipped or smashed vehicles in this area. F37OU, F15OU | |||||||||||
| 26.0 | 1975-05-06 | 2 | 41°28'N / 95°52'W | 41°37'N / 95°48'W | 10.60 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Pottawattamie |
| 26.9 | 1986-07-28 | 4 | 42°11'N / 96°14'W | 42°11'N / 96°10'W | 1.00 Mile | 73 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250.0M | 0 | Monona |
| 27.0 | 1970-06-15 | 2 | 41°26'N / 96°57'W | 41°33'N / 96°08'W | 42.90 Miles | 600 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Butler |
| 28.0 | 1992-06-16 | 3 | 41°39'N / 95°48'W | 41°52'N / 95°32'W | 19.00 Miles | 200 Yards | 0 | 0 | 2.5M | 0 | Harrison |
| 28.2 | 1998-06-23 | 2 | 42°12'N / 96°15'W | 42°12'N / 96°15'W | 2.00 Miles | 50 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Monona |
| Brief Description: House destroyed. | |||||||||||
| 28.4 | 1967-06-14 | 2 | 42°09'N / 96°29'W | 0.50 Mile | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Thurston | |
| 28.7 | 1965-09-09 | 2 | 42°03'N / 95°54'W | 42°07'N / 95°43'W | 10.20 Miles | 100 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Monona |
| 32.3 | 1975-05-06 | 2 | 41°24'N / 95°51'W | 41°32'N / 95°40'W | 12.80 Miles | 500 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Pottawattamie |
| 32.4 | 1988-05-07 | 2 | 41°20'N / 95°57'W | 41°27'N / 95°49'W | 7.20 Miles | 73 Yards | 0 | 0 | 2.5M | 0 | Pottawattamie |
| 32.5 | 1972-09-12 | 2 | 41°30'N / 95°42'W | 41°35'N / 95°39'W | 5.90 Miles | 100 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Harrison |
| 33.0 | 1963-05-12 | 2 | 42°13'N / 96°12'W | 42°18'N / 95°55'W | 15.20 Miles | 50 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Woodbury |
| 34.7 | 1967-08-01 | 2 | 41°59'N / 96°50'W | 2.00 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Cuming | |
| 35.7 | 1954-06-17 | 3 | 42°07'N / 96°42'W | 42°12'N / 96°42'W | 5.70 Miles | 163 Yards | 1 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Thurston |
| 35.8 | 1986-07-28 | 4 | 42°25'N / 96°23'W | 42°12'N / 96°11'W | 11.50 Miles | 73 Yards | 0 | 1 | 250.0M | 0 | Woodbury |
| 36.5 | 1975-05-07 | 2 | 41°49'N / 95°30'W | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Crawford | |||
| 36.7 | 1992-06-16 | 3 | 41°52'N / 95°32'W | 41°59'N / 95°30'W | 7.00 Miles | 200 Yards | 0 | 3 | 2.5M | 0 | Crawford |
| 37.3 | 1982-05-20 | 2 | 41°37'N / 96°55'W | 41°37'N / 96°52'W | 2.00 Miles | 30 Yards | 0 | 0 | 3K | 0 | Dodge |
| 37.5 | 1963-04-28 | 2 | 41°35'N / 97°01'W | 41°40'N / 96°47'W | 13.10 Miles | 300 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Colfax |
| 37.6 | 1994-07-05 | 3 | 42°20'N / 96°18'W | 1.80 Miles | 150 Yards | 0 | 0 | 500K | 5K | Woodbury | |
| 38.2 | 1975-03-27 | 2 | 41°15'N / 96°04'W | 0.50 Mile | 300 Yards | 0 | 4 | 250K | 0 | Douglas | |
| 39.6 | 1975-05-06 | 4 | 41°11'N / 96°04'W | 41°17'N / 96°01'W | 6.90 Miles | 267 Yards | 3 | 118 | 250.0M | 0 | Douglas |
| 40.3 | 1954-06-17 | 3 | 42°05'N / 97°03'W | 42°07'N / 96°42'W | 17.90 Miles | 163 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Stanton |
| 40.4 | 1988-07-15 | 2 | 41°16'N / 95°52'W | 2.30 Miles | 100 Yards | 0 | 42 | 25.0M | 0 | Pottawattamie | |
| 40.4 | 1988-07-15 | 3 | 41°16'N / 95°52'W | 2.80 Miles | 73 Yards | 0 | 34 | 25.0M | 0 | Pottawattamie | |
| 40.8 | 1976-06-26 | 4 | 41°27'N / 95°36'W | 41°29'N / 95°30'W | 5.10 Miles | 200 Yards | 0 | 6 | 2.5M | 0 | Pottawattamie |
| 41.2 | 2008-06-08 | 2 | 41°11'N / 96°08'W | 41°13'N / 96°07'W | 3.00 Miles | 440 Yards | 0 | 3 | 0K | 0K | Douglas |
| Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: This is the continuation of tornado number 1 (of 2) to hit the Omaha metro area this night. Tornado number 1 crossed over from Sarpy county near 144th and Harrison Streets before merging with tornado number 2 just east of 132nd and Westwood Lane. From there the merged tornado continued northeast to near 114th and Shirley Streets. Tornado number 1 traveled at about 50 mph in Douglas county. Tornado number 1 produced EF2 damage in both Douglas and Sarpy counties. Although tree and roof damage was noted along most of the track, the area hardest hit in Douglas county was around 137th and Y Streets. A few homes had their roofs completely blown off in this area, while others had significant roof and siding damage. The tornado then hit a Walmart, Sams Club and Home Depot causing damage to each of those businesses after it crossed L Street. Tornado number 1 first set down just southeast of 232nd and West Angus Road about a mile west of Gretna in Sarpy county. It traveled about 8 miles in Sarpy county before crossing into Douglas county. The tornadoes spun up on the leading edge of a bow echo that gathered strength and raced through the Omaha metropolitan region. OPPD reported that 13,800 customers lost power from the storm. In total, more than 500 homeowners reported damage from the storm and according to FEMA, 7 homes were destroyed and 21 others sustained major damage. EPISODE NARRATIVE: As one unseasonably strong upper level system lifted into Canada another one dropped down behind it across the northern Plains. This caused surface low pressure to develop over northeast Kansas along a cold front that was crossing the plains. This in turn caused the front to slow down as it moved into southeast Nebraska and southwest Iowa. A small line of thunderstorms that had developed along the front moved ahead of it and encountered a strong low level jet. The combination of the low level jet, and a warm front that extended east of the low, strengthened the line segment just to the southwest of Omaha and causing it to bow out. In turn a few quick moving spin-up circulations and 2 tornadoes developed as the bow echo crossed the Omaha area. Although these tornadoes hit in the middle of the night and caused significant damage in the Omaha area, there were no deaths or serious injuries with the storm. The system also produced areas of heavy rain which caused some flash flooding and then eventual river flooding. | |||||||||||
| 41.4 | 1983-09-05 | 2 | 42°23'N / 96°04'W | 2.50 Miles | 127 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Woodbury | |
| 41.7 | 1988-05-07 | 2 | 41°11'N / 96°10'W | 41°12'N / 96°07'W | 2.50 Miles | 73 Yards | 0 | 0 | 2.5M | 0 | Douglas |
| 42.7 | 1982-05-20 | 2 | 41°34'N / 97°04'W | 41°37'N / 96°55'W | 5.00 Miles | 30 Yards | 0 | 0 | 3K | 0 | Colfax |
| 42.9 | 1998-06-29 | 2 | 41°55'N / 95°30'W | 41°56'N / 95°17'W | 11.00 Miles | 55 Yards | 0 | 0 | 500K | 50K | Crawford |
| Brief Description: A complex weather situation was set up over the central U.S. as a mesoscale convective system passed to the south of Iowa during the overnight hours and early morning of the 29th. Initially, the surface warm front was located to the south of this system. That was not actually the case aloft however. During the predawn hours the surface front surged north and by sunrise was located across northeast Nebraska across northern Iowa. The airmass was very unstable to the south of the front with dew point temperatures will in the 70s F. The initial development of thunderstorms took place during the early part of the day over northeast Nebraska. The storms became severe quickly as they moved and developed eastward into Iowa. By mid morning, the storms had formed a nearly east to west line. Storm relative inflow into the line was around 40 knots. The storms produced a variety of severe weather across Iowa. They initially moved east across the northern and central counties, but then began sinking sinking southeast. The dominant severe weather with the storms was extremely high winds. Damage was very widespread across the state. Winds in excess of 100 MPH were reported with one unofficial wind speed measured at 126 MPH in the town of Washington at 1405 CST. In one unusual story, high winds hit Mahaska County. Three miles south of New Sharon, a puppy was tied to its dog house which was picked up by the wind. The dog house and puppy were lifted over the top of a two car garage and a corn crib. Both were deposited in the farm yard. When found the dog house was upside down and the puppy, though scared, was fine. There were several tornadoes during the event. One of the longer track well defined tornadoes was the initial tornado. It was on the ground for about 11 miles as it swept across Crawford County. Several residences, outbuildings, grain bins, and trees were damaged along its path. Reports indicate that between 30 and 50 residences were damaged by this tornado. There were several small tornadoes in central Iowa. They had short tracks and only touched down briefly. One cut a mile long path east of Marshalltown through a corn field and a grove of trees. Another in Dallas County was on the ground through mostly open country for two miles. High winds were a major problem with these storms. Many places reported winds over 80 MPH with incredible tree damage and numerous buildings damaged or destroyed. At least 38 counties were declared disaster areas by the Federal Government due to the severe damage and flooding. A final total will not be available before publication deadlines, however preliminary data have been included. In the Des Moines County Warning Area these included: Wright, Franklin, Butler, Bremer, Hamilton, Hardin, Grundy, Crawford, Carroll, Greene, Boone, Story, Marshall, Audubon, Guthrie, Dallas, Polk, Jasper, Cass, Adair, Madison, Warren, Marion, Adams, and Taylor. One of the hardest hit Counties was Polk County. Damage appeared to be from straight line winds based on a storm survey that was done following the event. The damage occurred over the southwest semicircle of a large meso low in contact with the ground. Due to the rapid translational speed of 50 to 75 MPH, winds were enhanced on the southwest semicircle of the meso low. Smaller scale winds could have been embedded within this circulation as well. There was little evidence of small scale convergent tornadic damage, however aerial surveys did make some suggestion and eye witness accounts of sightings were quite numerous in the metro Des Moines area. All trees and debris were laid down to the south or southeast. The major damage swath as 3 to 7 miles wide northwest of Camp Dodge, with a widening into a full blown derecho after that. The event was born a few miles northwest of Perry, between Rippey and Berkley in southwest Boone County. The mile wide damage path expanded to over 3 miles by the time it reached full intensity near highway 169 between Woodward and Perry. The path continued through Granger, Camp Dodge, and Johnston. The path was nearly 7 miles wide near Granger. A second, smaller, meso low passed near Madrid, downing power lines. This meso low matured near Jester Park Golf Course, causing significant structural damage to houses. The two meso lows merged near the NWS Forecast Office in Johnston, with two miles of power poles snapped off between Johnston and Granger. Much of the damage along the most severe track was in the F1 intensity category, with speeds in the 75 to 110 MPH range. A few spots along the path, such as in the Granger and Camp Dodge area, sustained sufficient damage to justify F2 winds, 110 to 155 MPH. It appears a tornado or family of tornadoes touched down southeast of Berkley and moved southeast into the Pleasant Hill area just east of Des Moines. The track was intermittent, indicating either one tornado touching down occasionally, or one or more weak tornadoes rotating around the meso circulation. The worst effected metro areas were the Granger area, Johnston, and the northeast side of Des Moines proper. A duplex in Granger was flattened by the winds. There were several reports of roofs being ripped off of stores and houses in the metropolitan Des Moines area. Several small private planes were flipped at a small air field north of Des Moines. There were also several reports of semi-tractortrailer trucks being blown over on Interstate 35. Heavy construction equipment was overturned on Interstate 35/80 just north of Des Moines. Damage was extensive to the east side of Des Moines proper. To make matters worse, following the passage of the main line of thunderstorms, a second line of severe thunderstorms developed and moved across the same areas already hit. The storms were smaller, but did produce brief tornado touch downs and hail up to 2.5 inches in diameter. The second line of storms did eventually combine with the first and moved southeast across the rest of the state. Damage was widespread across the state and it will be months before final numbers are in. Estimates from Polk County alone are near $100 million in damage including cleanup. Totals were still being tallied at this writing, however a few include over $11 million in damage from initial claims in Johnston and $726,000 from West Des Moines just to city buildings and systems. West Des Moines was on the far west edge of the major damage however. In addition to the property damage, at least 125 people were injured during the storm. Most of the injuries were caused by flying debris and many were not serious. Fortunately there were no fatalities. Heavy damage was reported by MidAmerica Energy. On a state wide report, they indicated 200,000 homes were without electricity, effecting over 500,000 people, at one time during the storm. In the metropolitan Des Moines area, 100,000 homes were without electricity at the height of the storm. That number was reduced to around 25,000 36 hours later. The worst damaged areas were without power for 5 to 6 days. Heavy damage was also reported by local telephone and cable systems. In Polk County, the worst damage extended from the Camp Dodge area into the northeast parts of Des Moines. At least 462 homes in the metro Des Moines area sustained significant damage. Statewide, 80 homes were destroyed, 559 sustained severe damage, with 1416 others receiving moderate damage. In the Camp Dodge area, 80 to 90 percent of the brick buildings were damaged with the roofs removed from many of them. Lightning from the storms struck the WSR-88D in the midst of the storm. The radar was taken out of service for more than 24 hours because of this. In addition to the severe weather, flooding quickly became a problem. Iowa soil was nearly saturated as the weather pattern had been very wet for six weeks previous. Although rainfall was not extreme, one to three inches of rain fell over a several county area. This caused widespread urban flooding across north central into central Iowa, though damage from the flooding was not serious. Crop damage was very difficult to determine and will not likely be clear until the fall harvest. Reports from some of the local extension agents say damage to the corn ranged up to 75% destroyed in areas with the highest wind, such as the swath that went through central Iowa in association with the tornado there. No doubt losses will be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars if not in the millions. Accounts of damage were of course too numerous to document here as the areal extent of the storms was very large. Countless reports of parts of crop fields being flattened were received. Semi-tractortrailer trucks were overturned by the high winds both in the Des Moines metro area as well as in Newton. Trees were found on houses over a large part of the state. One news reported wrote "there is not a power pole standing between Fort Dodge and Oskaloosa". Though not figuratively true, this statement does point out the extensive damage that occurred with these storms.l | |||||||||||
| 43.0 | 1999-05-16 | 2 | 42°08'N / 95°41'W | 42°07'N / 95°19'W | 16.00 Miles | 80 Yards | 0 | 0 | 500K | 0 | Crawford |
| Brief Description: As was mentioned above, the weather pattern was very active over the central U.S. A cold front had become stationary to the west of Iowa during the afternoon of the 16th. This set the stage for a serious weather situation. During the afternoon, 70 degree F. surface dew point temperatures were widespread for the first time of the season. The airmass became very unstable as the upper levels were still relatively cool. CAPE values during the few hours just prior to the development of the thunderstorms were in excess of 5000 J/kg. The situation became explosive as thunderstorms formed along and just ahead of the cold front over western Iowa. A little later in the afternoon, thunderstorms formed over northeast Iowa along the nose of the low level jet and just north of the surface warm front. These two features combined to produce a variety of severe weather across much of Iowa. The first of the severe weather broke out over west central Iowa. This was on the form of tornadoes. The strongest tornado in the Des Moines CWA touched down in Crawford County near Ricketts. The tornado was F2 strength and caused damage to 10 farmsteads along the way. One farmstead reported the house as being destroyed. The tornado had a duel structure with the two tornadoes about 2.5 miles apart north and west of Ricketts. This tornado was on the ground from near the western county line to a point north of Deloit. This was by far the strongest tornado in the CWA. There were several brief touchdowns and one that was on the ground for a couple miles, west of Denison. During the late afternoon and early evening hours, there were several reports of brief touchdowns from west central into central Iowa. One tornado touched down briefly in Audubon County, another southeast of Bedford in Taylor County destroyed a trailer there and tore a roof off of a shed. Another tornado touched down briefly in rural areas west of Perry in Dallas County. The tornado did little damage however. The same storm knocked down power lines and trees south of Perry as winds were recorded at around 70 MPH a short time later. The final touchdown was brief near Ames, in Story County. There were a few reports of high winds as the line in western Iowa transformed into more of a bow echo structure. A 67 MPH wind gust was recorded at the Creston Airport in Union County. As the storms moved across Dallas County, winds of around 65 MPH blew trees down on a commercial chicken house, killing 5000 laying hens. Winds gusted to 61 MPH at both the NWS office in Johnston and at nearby Ankeny, both in Polk County. As the bow echo continued to move north and east, winds around 65 MPH swept through the Marshalltown area. Damage was reported at a trailer court there as the skirting on some of the trailers was torn off and one of the trailer houses was nearly blown off its supports. The line of storms and high winds made its way northeast into the Wellsburg area of Grundy County, causing extensive damage on a farmstead just southeast of the town. Hail was widespread with all of the thunderstorms as they moved across the state. Many areas reported hail nearly dime size. Reports of hail of up to an inch were quite common as well. Some of the larger hail reports included golf ball size hail in Cass County at Atlantic and baseball size hail reported at both Boone in Boone County and south of Plainfield in Bremer County. Once the severe weather started to wind down, flash flooding was a fairly widespread problem, especially near the warm front over that was over northeast Iowa. The storms associated with the cold front produced flash flooding in Cass County at both Atlantic and Griswold. For the most part, the storms with the cold front were moving too quickly to cause much in the way of flooding, though urban flooding was reported in some areas. The big flooding was over the northeast part of the state. Those areas were hit twice with heavy rain and severe weather, once in the morning and once with this event. Widespread flash flooding took place in Black Hawk, Bremer, Butler, and Hardin Counties. Rains of 4 to 6 inches for the day were common in these areas, as well as areas to the northeast of that. Governor Vilsack declared 12 Iowa counties disaster areas. Butler, Bremer and Black Hawk Counties in the Des Moines CWA were declared disaster areas. All of these same counties were later declared Presidential Disaster Areas. Some of the more serious damage in the Central Iowa CWA was in Black Hawk and Bremer Counties. In Black Hawk County, U.S. Highway 218 was closed for a time by flooded water. The Cedar River caused considerable flooding in the area. The town of Dunkerton was approximately 50% evacuated as waters rose. The Sewage plant there was inundated by the high water. There was damage caused to many public roadways around the county. Some of the bridges over smaller creeks were declared unsafe. The County Engineer stated damages in Black Hawk County were at least $1,200,000, including $560,000 in damage to ditches, roads, culverts, and bridges. Damage in the town of Dunkerton were placed at $500,000 to public infrastructure. The county also reported $183,000 in damages to parks. In Bremer County, numerous homes in the town of Tripoli reported sewer backups into the basements. In the town of Denver, 25 homes reported at least 6 feet of water in the basement. Of those 25 homes, five of them had basement wall damage. Fifteen business in the town had anywhere from 2 inches to 8 feet of water in the basement. Bremer County reported damages to 19 culvert sites, 55 road sites, 2 bridge abutments, and 8 driveway washouts. Damage from these items alone were at least $200,000. In Butler County the county Engineer reported 20 to 30 sites affected with estimated damage of $150,000. One Bridge sustained at least $60,000 damage. Needless to say, numerous county and state roads were under water and closed as well throughout the area. The flooding in these areas was described as worse than the flooding in 1993. In many areas it was worse than the record floods of 1968. Farther to the southwest flash flooding also occurred in Cass County. Damage was not as serious there as the amount of rainfall was not as great. One basement was completely flooded in the town of Griswold. Flooding was serious enough in Atlantic to not only flood several homes but also buckle the pavement on one of the streets in town. | |||||||||||
| 43.2 | 1964-05-06 | 2 | 41°19'N / 96°48'W | 41°21'N / 96°45'W | 2.30 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Saunders |
| 43.3 | 1975-05-06 | 4 | 41°10'N / 96°04'W | 41°11'N / 96°04'W | 1.10 Miles | 267 Yards | 0 | 15 | 250K | 0 | Sarpy |
| 43.8 | 1952-06-02 | 2 | 41°54'N / 95°24'W | 41°53'N / 95°20'W | 2.30 Miles | 100 Yards | 0 | 1 | 0K | 0 | Crawford |
| 43.8 | 2008-06-08 | 2 | 41°08'N / 96°16'W | 41°11'N / 96°08'W | 8.00 Miles | 440 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0K | Sarpy |
| Brief Description: EVENT NARRATIVE: This was the first touchdown of 2 tornadoes that hit the Omaha metro area this night. Tornado number 1 started just southeast of 232ND and West Angus Road about a mile west of Gretna. A garage was demolished at this point, suggesting EF1 damage. The tornado moved east northeast at 45 mph and produced scattered EF0 damage in Gretna with tree and shingle damage noted. From there tornado number 1 continued northeast to near 156th and Giles Road. EF 2 damage was noted just southwest of that point with major roof damage to a home. The tornado then crossed over into the Millard area of Douglas county where it continued for about 3 more miles before merging with tornado number 2. Tornado 1 also caused EF2 damage in Douglas county with much of it concentrated in the vicinity of 137th and Y Streets. The tornadoes spun up on the leading edge of a bow echo that gathered strength as it raced through the Omaha metropolitan area. More than 500 homeowners reported damage from the storm and OPPD reported that 13,800 customers lost power. EPISODE NARRATIVE: As one unseasonably strong upper level system lifted into Canada another one dropped down behind it across the northern Plains. This caused surface low pressure to develop over northeast Kansas along a cold front that was crossing the plains. This in turn caused the front to slow down as it moved into southeast Nebraska and southwest Iowa. A small line of thunderstorms that had developed along the front moved ahead of it and encountered a strong low level jet. The combination of the low level jet, and a warm front that extended east of the low, strengthened the line segment just to the southwest of Omaha and causing it to bow out. In turn a few quick moving spin-up circulations and 2 tornadoes developed as the bow echo crossed the Omaha area. Although these tornadoes hit in the middle of the night and caused significant damage in the Omaha area, there were no deaths or serious injuries with the storm. The system also produced areas of heavy rain which caused some flash flooding and then eventual river flooding. | |||||||||||
| 44.1 | 1959-05-20 | 2 | 41°14'N / 96°37'W | 12.00 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Saunders | |
| 44.2 | 1998-06-23 | 2 | 41°36'N / 97°04'W | 41°36'N / 96°59'W | 2.70 Miles | 1000 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Colfax |
| Brief Description: Debris on highway. | |||||||||||
| 44.5 | 1988-05-07 | 2 | 41°07'N / 96°20'W | 41°11'N / 96°10'W | 6.70 Miles | 73 Yards | 2 | 1 | 2.5M | 0 | Sarpy |
| 44.6 | 1968-08-18 | 3 | 41°15'N / 95°57'W | 41°15'N / 95°32'W | 21.30 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 2.5M | 0 | Douglas |
| 44.9 | 1969-07-26 | 3 | 42°20'N / 95°36'W | 42°02'N / 95°25'W | 22.50 Miles | 200 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Ida |
| 44.9 | 1952-08-13 | 3 | 41°21'N / 97°10'W | 41°15'N / 96°23'W | 41.10 Miles | 1300 Yards | 0 | 1 | 0K | 0 | Butler |
| 45.4 | 1979-05-08 | 3 | 42°27'N / 96°10'W | 0 | 4 | 25K | 0 | Woodbury | |||
| 45.8 | 1968-06-13 | 2 | 42°27'N / 96°20'W | 0.10 Mile | 100 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Woodbury | |
| 47.2 | 1973-06-18 | 2 | 42°28'N / 96°03'W | 1.00 Mile | 300 Yards | 0 | 5 | 250K | 0 | Woodbury | |
| 47.2 | 1975-05-22 | 2 | 42°28'N / 96°22'W | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Woodbury | |||
| 47.8 | 1988-05-07 | 2 | 41°07'N / 96°28'W | 41°07'N / 96°20'W | 7.00 Miles | 73 Yards | 0 | 0 | 2.5M | 0 | Saunders |
| 47.8 | 1992-06-16 | 2 | 41°09'N / 95°54'W | 41°09'N / 95°50'W | 3.00 Miles | 73 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Mills |
| 48.1 | 1973-09-25 | 2 | 41°33'N / 95°20'W | 0 | 0 | 25K | 0 | Shelby | |||
| 48.1 | 1970-06-15 | 2 | 42°02'N / 97°25'W | 42°28'N / 96°25'W | 59.10 Miles | 33 Yards | 0 | 0 | 0K | 0 | Madison |
| 48.2 | 1977-05-04 | 3 | 41°36'N / 97°08'W | 41°43'N / 97°07'W | 7.60 Miles | 200 Yards | 0 | 0 | 250K | 0 | Colfax |
| 48.2 | 1973-06-18 | 2 | 42°29'N / 96°04'W | 2.00 Miles | 400 Yards | 2 | 10 | 250K | 0 | Woodbury | |
| 48.3 | 1990-03-13 | 4 | 41°26'N / 97°02'W | 41°27'N / 97°00'W | 4.00 Miles | 440 Yards | 0 | 0 | 25.0M | 0 | Colfax |
| 48.4 | 1952-08-13 | 4 | 41°13'N / 96°35'W | 41°01'N / 96°19'W | 19.40 Miles | 110 Yards | 0 | 20 | 250K | 0 | Saunders |
| 48.4 | 2001-08-17 | 2 | 42°27'N / 96°34'W | 42°26'N / 96°34'W | 1.50 Miles | 400 Yards | 0 | 3 | 3.0M | 0 | Dakota |
| Brief Description: A tornado completely destroyed at least ten houses and heavily damaged several others. The tornado heavily damaged the town school, including taking most of the roof off the school. The only church in town and a telephone company building were also heavily damaged. Power lines, poles, and trees were blown down, and electricity and water service were knocked out. Three empty box cars on the southeast side of Jackson were toppled. Three injuries included a woman with a broken leg and cuts rescued from the rubble of a house, and two children with minor injuries. | |||||||||||
* The information on this page is based on the global volcano database, the U.S. earthquake database of 1638-1985, and the U.S. Tornado and Weather Extremes database of 1950-2010.