Tornado in Elkhorn, Nebraska

There have been multiple tornado warnings over the years, but nothing has come close to a serious situation. It’s been close to six years in Omaha, and we are used to those warnings, asking you to take shelter as soon as possible or reach a safe place.

Friday, 26th April 2024, was just like any other day. We were busy with our remote jobs. In one of my team meetings, someone mentioned the possibility of a tornado in the area. We thought it would be similar to the past, so we continued our work.

At around 2:30PM, sirens went on. We also had notifications on devices. We didn’t take it seriously and thought it was like a normal warning. I continued my office work, but when it started raining heavily, I peeped outside, and dark clouds formed, which looked very aggressive. It didn’t feel good. We decided to go to the basement immediately. The whole time, the siren was on, and we spent 20-25 mins in the basement. Harmit was following live updates, and when it was reported that a tornado had passed our area, we came upstairs.

Just a few minutes later, I received some videos and pictures from my friend. To our amazement, the tornado-hit area was a 7-minute drive from our house. It was not even a single tornado; there were multiple reports. We followed the news and got to know about the destruction caused by this natural calamity in the area.

It rained the whole day, and we were informed about the possibility of another tornado the next day. We followed the updates about the situation through a community group app – NextDoor. All volunteers were asked to gather at a given place at 7:30AM. I decided to go there with my friend, but the next morning I got up late. I thought of going there anyway, but my friend told me about another gathering at 9AM. So we had our breakfast, and I went to the place with my friend.

No one was allowed there except the volunteers and rescue workers. We were stopped by the sheriff, who asked us to proceed once we told him about the volunteer work we came for. The debris and collapsed houses were showing the impact of the powerful tornado in the area. It was heartbreaking.

We started helping there. We mostly helped put debris into waste containers and package household items in boxes and bags. There were nails coming out of the planks; I was without gloves, so one nail pierced my hand. After putting the debris in the waste box, we moved to the next house and spent time there emptying the cabinets and drawers and placing them in the boxes. Once that was complete, we put some of those boxes in the trunk of our car and followed other volunteers’ cars to move the items to a storage place. We continued similar work till the afternoon and helped four families.

Here are some pictures from the site:-

It’s really hard for the families who suffered, but many volunteers are helping in every possible way. Volunteers like us did fieldwork; some provided food services and collected necessary items for the victims. It will take many days to restore everything, so we will be helping the families as much as we can. Prey to the god that affected families can reboot everything soon.