Tornado hits Omaha airport, nearby neighborhoods suffer damage during severe weather outbreak in Nebraska

At Omaha’s Eppley Airfield, passengers had to seek shelter as a tornado touched down at the airport during severe weather warnings in eastern Nebraska last Friday. The airfield was temporarily closed around 5 p.m., and fortunately, everyone inside remained unharmed while some nearby buildings sustained damage. Around thirty minutes beforehand, officials spotted a funnel cloud near the facility’s perimeter, prompting them to halt operations shortly after. While the passenger terminal avoided harm from the twister, several general aviation structures on its eastern side were directly hit by the tornado for over half an hour as it passed through. The airport resumed normal activities less than sixty minutes later once safety concerns had been addressed; however, some residential neighborhoods near Elkhorn remained severely impacted with considerable structural damage that left residents in shock and fear of potential injury during its onset. A team from the National Weather Service will visit to assess the tornado’s severity based on Enhanced Fujita ratings criteria for possible further actions regarding property management.