High winds, heavy rain and hail downed tree limbs, knocked out power and ground Lincoln to a halt for about 45 minutes Monday evening.
HILARY KINDSCHUH / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Monday, August 20, 2007 7:00 pm
Strong winds, heavy rain and hail rolled into Lincoln Monday evening, downing tree limbs and power lines across the city.
Gusts of up to 82 mph and hail as large as golf balls were reported.
“We’ve had wires down just virtually all over the city,” said Lincoln Deputy Fire Chief Bruce Sellon. “A lot were either in trees, draped over houses, hanging over garages or sparking and arcing.
“A lot of downed wires took out power in clusters of three or four houses,” he said.
Scattered power outages were common, said Russ Reno, LES spokesman, but more widespread outages occurred in three areas:
* From West 37th Street to West 95th Street from West Fletcher to West South Street
* From 16th to 30th streets from Jackson to Everett
* From West 12th Street to W. 48th Street from West A Street to West Vine Street.
As of 10 p.m., Reno said, power had been restored to the latter two and crews were at work on the first.
The storm rolled through about 6:25 p.m., casting the city into near darkness. By 7:15 p.m., the skies had lightened and the winds subsided, giving Lincolnites an opportunity to check for damage.
According to Sellon, storm damage reports included:
* A leak in a 500-gallon propane tank near 31st and West O streets.
* Semi trailers blown over at different locations
* Boats at Capitol Beach that came off their moorings and started sinking and leaking fuel; Lincoln Fire & Rescue hazardous materials workers and the Health Department brought a containment boom, which is like a “big sock,” to absorb the fuel.
The National Weather Service had issued a tornado watch shortly before 4 p.m. for the southeast, northeast and east central parts of the state. It was scheduled to be in effect until 10 p.m.
The storm system moved rapidly toward the northeast at about 35 mph.
In Fillmore County, the wind blew strong enough to push a line of railroad cars parked near the ethanol plant south of Fairmont onto U.S. Highway 6, temporarily blocking traffic.
Fillmore County Emergency Management Coordinator Terry Marshall said someone forgot to lock the brakes on the cars.
Marshall said portions of Exeter, located in the extreme northeast corner of the county, lost power. Pea-sized hail was also reported at various locations in the county.
“For this type of storm, we fared very well,” Marshall said.
A similar weather pattern was likely to set up again this afternoon and evening, with the possibility of large hail, damaging winds and a tornado, forecasters said.
Sellon said he had not heard of any bad injuries from Monday’s storm.
“When it gets windy like this, people need to pay attention to power lines,” he said. “If you’re walking under them or parking under them … it’s dark and rainy, and you could walk right into a power line.”
People who come across a downed power line should not try to check it themselves, Sellon said. Instead, they should call 911.
Reach Hilary Kindschuh at 473-7120 or hkindschuh@journalstar.com. Reporter Art Hovey contributed to this story.