Suffocating July heat gave way Wednesday evening to a powerful wind- and rainstorm that left about 40,000 homes and businesses without power in and around the metro area.
About 11 p.m., more than 32,000 customers of the Omaha Public Power District remained without electricity. By late Thursday morning, that number was down to 4,800.
Crews worked through the night, and supervisors called in extra help to restore power. Late Wednesday night, the utility said that restoration would be a "multi-day effort."
The damage was caused by a storm that raced across the region, bringing with it winds of 60 mph to 70 mph.
In its wake, the storm left much cooler air. It was noticeably cooler and less humid on Thursday, but the humidity will return on Friday, said Josh Boustead, a weather service meteorologist. The increased humidity will bring with it chances for storms on Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights.
"By weekend, it will be much more humid than it is today," Boustead said Thursday. "We're not going to go back to the levels we saw (Wednesday)."
Thursday's high in Omaha was forecast to be in the upper 80s, well below Wednesday's high of 96. That high, along with a heat index of 114, made Wednesday the hottest day of the year.
Southwest Iowa was even more miserable because of the moisture that acre upon acre of corn pumped into the air. In Shenandoah, the heat index reached 122 and in Red Oak, 119, according to the weather service.
Becky Kern, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Valley, said the main part of Wednesday evening's storm developed over Saunders County near Morse Bluff, knocking down and uprooting trees. It moved east into Douglas County, seemingly pounding Valley hardest of all, knocking down big trees and power lines.
"It certainly did its worst over the Omaha metro," she said.
The strongest reported gust was 75 mph near Morse Bluff, Neb. A 71 mph wind gust was recorded near 204th Street and West Dodge Road. Valley reported a 67 mph gust, a 65 mph gust was reported at 108th Street and West Maple Road and a 60 mph gust was reported at Eppley Airfield.
The Elkhorn and Bennington areas were among those suffering heavy tree damage. Storm spotters said big branches fell onto at least one house near 205th and West Maple Road.
Although the metropolitan Omaha area was particularly hard-hit, damage to the electrical grid was scattered over a wide portion of the OPPD service area, the utility said. In the Valley area alone, it appeared that 10 large transmission line supports were down, and there were hundreds of reports of additional damage.
Several small brush fires were reported throughout Omaha as power lines toppled. One large tree fell and tore down wires near the intersection of Ames Avenue and Florence Boulevard.
In Lincoln, where winds gusted to 60 mph, several porta potties that had been set up for the Special Olympics were blown about 200 yards. One was wrapped around a pole, another disintegrated and one went through a windshield.
In Iowa, extra MidAmerican Energy Co. crews were called in. They, too, worked through the night, said spokesman Mark Reinders.
At the peak of the storm, about 5,500 customers of Mid-American Energy Co. were without power. By midnight, that number had been whittled to about 1,300, and by sunrise Thursday, power was restored to nearly all customers, Reinders said.
The storm as it hit South Omaha:
Rainbow over Omaha after the storm:
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