Power Outage in Blair, NE

Law enforcement reported tree damage in Blair with a large limb down across a street and other limbs on power lines.

Storm chaser estimated peak wind gusts at 60 mph and reported a power outage.

Numerous ice reports from the public and power outages. No reliable ice amounts reported.

Large tree limbs down throughout the town of Blair. Power outages were reported throughout the city.

Tree limbs and power lines were reported downed in the city of Blair.

Based on surface observations from AWOS the area experienced wind speeds of up to 35 mph. The strong winds combined with falling and blowing snow to reduce visibilities to less than a quarter of a mile, especially in open areas. Due to the heavy wet nature of the snow, the winds also caused power outages including most of the city of Arlington.

Flooding along the Missouri River which worsened across Washington county in June and July started improving in late August and the river near Blair finally dropped below its 26.5 foot flood stage in the morning of Sept. 13th. The river near Blair reached a crest of a little over 32 feet during the last week or so of June. In Washington county the flooding especially hit the Fort Calhoun area hard where at least 60 homes or cabins were flooded or cutoff by flood waters. At least 200 residences in the county were evacuated leaving at least 500 people displaced. This prompted the city to open the high school up for flood victims. Blair spent $500,000 to build up a levee surrounding its water treatment plant which held through June. The Ft. Calhoun Nuclear power plant was in refueling shut-down when the flooding started in April and because of the high waters remained shut-down through the summer as flood waters surrounded the plant prompting emergency sand bagging. In addition, recreation areas and roads along the river were flooded.

Flooding along the Missouri River gradually worsened across Washington county during June and July and continued into August as record releases from Gavins Point Dam brought widespread flooding along the River. The high releases were initially due to heavy rain and snow melt but then to persistent heavy rain above Sioux City as the summer wore on. The river near Blair reached a crest of a little over 32 feet during the last week or so of June, flood stage is 26.5 feet. The river fell slightly during July but remained in the moderate category into late August and then fell steadily through the end of the month to a little under 28 feet by the 31st. The flooding in Washington county was especially felt in the Fort Calhoun area where at least 60 homes or cabins were flooded or cutoff by flood waters. At least 200 residences in the county were evacuated leaving at least 500 people displaced. This prompted the city to open the high school up for flood victims. Blair spent $500,000 to build up a levee surrounding its water treatment plant. The Ft. Calhoun Nuclear power plant was in refueling shut-down when the flooding started in April and because of the high waters remained shut-down through the summer as flood waters surrounded the plant prompting emergency sand bagging. In addition, recreation areas and roads along the river were flooded. The flooding persisted into mid September.

Flooding along the Missouri River gradually worsened during June and continued through July as record releases from Gavins Point Dam brought widespread flooding along the River. The river near Blair climbed to around its 26.5 foot flood stage late in May, and then steadily rose in June reaching a little over 32 feet during the last week or so of the month. The river fell slightly during July but remained in the moderate category into August. The flooding in Washington county was especially felt in the Fort Calhoun area where at least 60 homes or cabins were flooded or cutoff by flood waters. At least 200 residences in the county were evacuated leaving at least 500 people displaced. This prompted the city to open the high school up for flood victims. Blair spent $500,000 to build up a levee surrounding its water treatment plant which held through June. The Ft. Calhoun Nuclear power plant was in refueling shut-down when the flooding started in April and because of the high waters remained shut down through the summer as flood waters surrounded the plant prompting emergency sand bagging. In addition, recreation areas and roads along the river were flooded. The flooding persisted into August.

Flooding along the Missouri River gradually worsened during June as record releases from Gavins Point Dam brought widespread flooding along the river. The river near Blair climbed to around its 26.5 foot flood stage late in May, and then steadily rose into mid to late June climbing to a little over 32 feet during the last week or so of the month. The flooding in Washington county was especially felt in the Fort Calhoun area where at least 60 homes or cabins were flooded or cutoff by flood waters. At least 200 residences in the county were evacuated leaving at least 500 people displaced. This prompted the city to open the high school up for flood victims. Blair spent $500,000 to build up a levee surrounding its water treatment plant which held through June. The Ft. Calhoun Nuclear power plant was in refueling shut-down when the flooding started in April and because of the high waters it remained shut down through the summer as flood waters surrounded the plant prompting emergency sand-bagging. In addition, recreation areas and roads along the river were flooded. A 58 year-old male drowned when working on a levee near Ft. Calhoun when his truck overturned into flood waters. The flooding persisted into July.

A brief tornado touchdown flipped a center irrigation pivot, snapped a few high tension power poles and destroyed a shed and barn a few miles east of Herman.

Freezing rain accumulated between 1/4 and 1/2 of an inch over much of the county. The icing downed tree limbs and caused scattered power outages.

Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at over 70 mph downed numerous large trees and power lines in town. Many homes and cars sustained damage when branches fell on them, and power was knocked out to parts of the town for up to 24 hours. Several people narrowly escaped serious injury by avoiding falling trees, one in a car and another in a house.

Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at 60 mph damaged trees and a power pole in town. A few windows were also broken due to the winds.

Estimated thunderstorm wind gusts of over 60 mph created power outages in Blair.

An upper level disturbance that lifted across the central plains caused a weak area of low pressure to lift across the area. The disturbance brought slightly milder and more moist air aloft which produced freezing rain with pockets of substantial glazing. The hardest hit area was northwest through east of Omaha. Some locations north of Omaha received upwards of a 1/2 inch of ice accumulations. The weight of the ice caused areas of tree damage along with downing power lines and causing power pole damage. Northeast Nebraska Public Power reported that 4,200 customers lost power from the storm, and some remained without power for several days. Several schools in the area were closed on Jan. 20th and some rural mail delivery was canceled.