Four tornadoes touched down on Friday evening according the National Weather Service. Two occurred in the Bellevue area and two others occurred in Madison and Hoskins, Nebraska.
PHOTO GALLERY: Bellevue gets hit by two tornadoes
A damage survey team from the National Weather Service spent the entire day surveying damage in Bellevue, NE as well as areas to the south and southeast. The preliminary results of their study confirmed 2 tornadoes in the Bellevue area Friday evening. Additional work will be required to finalize this information over the next few days.
The survey team did not have time to visit the Springfield or Plattsmouth which received substantial wind damage. Based on a detailed post event radar analysis, the damage in these areas appears to mostly widespread straight line downburst wind damage with wind speed estimates of 80 to 100 mph.
The first tornado in Bellevue was an EF-1 with winds up to 110 mph. It started near Willow Lakes Golf Course at approximately 8:08 p.m. and traveled for approximately 3 miles.
The second tornado was a larger EF-2 with winds up to 135 mph. It began at approximately 8:05 p.m near Offutt Airforce Base and travelled approximately 9.3 miles. It likely developed in the Two Springs neighborhood of Bellevue and moved east southeast hitting Piper Glen, then Hyda Hills and Normandy Hills. It then apparently crossed the Missouri River and ended before reaching Glenwood.
The third tornado was much smaller, an EF-0 with estimated wind speeds of 75 mph. It was very brief and touched down in Madison, NE and traveled for 1 mile before dissipating.
The fourth tornado touched down in Hoskins, NE and was an EF-1 on the Fujita Scale with wind speeds of 98 mph. It lasted for about 5 minutes and travelled about 100 yards damaging a couple of farmsteads.
These results are preliminary and further investigations will take place. We will have the results of the findings as soon as they are made available.
