Power Outage in Elwood, NE

Storm total snowfall amounts ranged from 11 to 15 inches across the county. A few of the highest amounts included the following: 14 inches, measured by the NWS Cooperative Observer located eight miles south of Elwood; 13 inches, measured by the NWS Cooperative Observer located at the Canaday Power Station (six miles south-southeast of Lexington).

A large and historic wildfire tore across parts of Gosper and Furnas counties on this Thursday afternoon-evening, remaining in the regional news headlines for several days while being gradually contained. Fueled by a nasty combination of extreme dryness and severe north-northwest winds frequently gusting 50-60+ MPH, this blaze scorched approximately 35,000 acres along a nearly 22-mile long and mainly 2-4 mile wide swath, making it the largest wildfire in at least many decades within South Central Nebraska. Dubbed the Road 739 Fire, it ignited around 12:30 p.m. CDT seven miles south-southwest of Elwood near the intersection of county Roads 739/420 (where it was determined that a dead tree limb blew onto power lines) and raged south-southeastward over the next several hours to the banks of the Republican River one to two miles west-southwest of Edison, where its forward progress was halted in the early morning hours of Friday the 8th. According to the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), eight residences were destroyed along with as many as 50 outbuildings/minor structures (in addition to many killed/injured livestock, damaged irrigation pivots, fences, etc.). Although no injuries were reported from the actual fire, tragically two traffic incidents involving emergency personnel occurred during the immediate fire response, one resulting in a fatality. In this most notable accident, the Elwood volunteer fire chief was killed and the Phelps County emergency manager seriously injured when the SUV they were riding in collided head-on with a truck hauling water approximately eight miles north of Arapahoe along Highway 283 (visibility was near-zero at the time due to a combination of blowing smoke/dust). In a separate accident, a Farnam volunteer firefighter was injured when the fire truck he was riding on dropped into a hole and overturned in a pasture approximately 11 miles southwest of Elwood. In the immediate aftermath of the fire, several area U.S. and state highways were closed for a time due to either active fire or heavy smoke, including highways: 283, 6/34, 46 and 89. Although the forward progress of the fire was halted within roughly the first 12 hours after it started, it took many more days to fully corral hot spots within the fire perimeter, as even nearly two weeks later the fire as a whole was officially only 80 percent contained. As for the overall fire response, in addition to at least 40 local fire departments from across the state, the following state agencies also deployed personnel for a few to several days: NEMA, Nebraska State Patrol, Nebraska State Fire Marshal and Nebraska Forest Service. In addition, the Nebraska National Guard deployed two UH-60 helicopters for aerial fire suppression (dropping buckets of water on hot spots) along with support vehicles and a 25-person Wildland Taskforce crew. According to the Nebraska Region 17 Emergency Management Coordinator, the extreme and aggressive behavior of the Road 739 fire was unlike anything he had ever encountered, noting that at times those battling the fire could not even see the front of their vehicles due to blowing smoke/dust. But as tragic as the Road 739 Fire was, it could have been even worse, as the tireless work of countless firefighters saved dozens of rural homes and also kept the fire from potentially spreading into the communities of Arapahoe and Edison (the fire got within approximately one mile of both, and an evacuation order was briefly in effect for Edison and nearby rural areas). Please note: Although the Road 739 fire was the largest fire of April 2022 to occur entirely within this South Central Nebraska area, the Road 702 fire that flared up 15 days later (April 22) was actually even larger overall, scorching approximately 44,000 acres including parts of western Furnas County in this local area. However, the majority of the Road 702 Fire focused just west of this coverage area (mainly impacting Red Willow County in the Extreme Southwest Nebraska coverage area).

A snow total of 15.2 inches occurred 8 miles south of Elwood and 10.0 inches fell at the Canaday Power Plant, 6 miles south southeast of Lexington. The combination of this snow and frequent wind gusts over 40 mph caused visibility to be one quarter mile or less.

A storm total of 10 inches of snow fell at the Canaday Power Plant (6 miles south-southeast of Lexington) and 13.5 inches of snow fell 8 miles south of Elwood.