omaha storms

while we have experienced a tornado and crazy storms, i think the scariest has been the one on june 27th. it was the friday evening before i flew out to oregon. todd and i were running errands and were in bed, bath & beyond. we got the beyond part that day.

we could see the gray sky in the west as we drove around. several minutes later, the tornado sirens began going off. we decided to go into bb&b as to look for some gifts. employees were listening to the weather radio and said the storms weren't being reported. we started shopping. about 20 minutes later, the workers began gathering all the people in the store and took us to the back area.

when entering the store, you go through two sets of glass doors, with a little entry having display items between the two sets. while we were in the back, we could see out to the glass entrance doors. pretty soon we could see the sky turning as dark as night. the streetlights turned on and the wind began to pick up. the wind broke through the first set of doors; we could see the display items blowing all around the little area and hail pouring in.

turns out the winds were up to 100 mph and the hail was nickel-sized. our little village green townhouse complex seemed to be hit the worst we saw all around omaha and council bluffs. driving in, it looked like a war zone. the roads were covered with leaves, sticks, and branches. the hail looked like little piles of snow.

trees were down everywhere. there was one that was inches from the front of our friend's home. another friend had a porch swing blow into their window. the electricity was out at our home for just a day or two, but for others in omaha it was several days. we were so grateful that we had no damage to our home or vehicles. it sure has been a adventure living in omaha this past year!!!