Power Outage in Tekamah, NE

Public reported that ice had led to power outages and significant tree damage.

Based on surface observations from ASOS the area experienced wind speeds of up 40 mph. The strong winds combined with falling and blowing snow to reduce visibilities to less than a quarter of a mile with white out conditions in open areas. Two areas of power outages were reported in Burt County due to the combination of the strong winds and snow. Service was restored to both areas with in a few hours.

Freezing rain accumulated between 1/4 inch and 1/2 inch over much of the county. Although winds weren't particularly strong, the weight of the ice caused scattered tree damage which took down power lines causing loss of power for an estimated 800 customers, some of which remained without power until the 25th.

Rain changed to a heavy wet snow a little after midnight CDT on April 5th and continued into the mid morning hours of that day. The precipitation was accompanied by north winds of 25 to 35 mph with gusts to 50 mph. Although snowfall ended during the late morning of the 5th, the strong winds caused continued drifting snow in open areas into the afternoon hours. Snowfall amounts were between 6 and 10 inches across the county with 10 inches in Tekamah the highest reported. The heavy wet snow caused over 2,000 customers to lose power due to downed power lines and poles. Large tree limbs were also downed across the county.

Thunderstorm wind gusts, which were measured at 70 mph by the Asos at the Tekamah airport, toppled a garage and knocked down trees, power lines and a few power poles causing areas of damage around the Tekamah area.

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.

Sustained winds of 30 to 40 mph with occasional gusts of 50 or even isolated wind gusts of 60 mph occurred over a large part of east central Nebraska and western Iowa during the very early morning hours on June 23. Although thunderstorms moved across much of this same area prior to the onset of the winds, the winds occurred relatively far removed from the thunderstorms and were probably due a large part from other factors like the current surface gradient.The winds caused sporadic damage reports such as trees and signs downed and some building damage. OPPD reported that 5000 customers lost their power at the height of the storm. Other power companies over the region reported small outages. Overall, however, the damage was generally not too widespread nor too severe.Although higher wind gusts were estimated to have occurred across these counties, the highest measured wind gusts included 45 mph at Tekamah and Fremont, 43 at Lincoln and 40 at Omaha Eppley-Airfield. This was on top of sustained winds in the 30 to 40 mph range. These strong winds lasted around 3 hours.

Thunderstorm winds downed power lines causing loss of power for some customers in extreme southern Burt county.