Emergency responders are making damage assessments this morning after three separate tornado sightings in Otoe County Thursday night.
Heavy rain and hail that covered the streets in Palmyra preceded the first tornado warning at 10:10 p.m. About 20 minutes later a tornado was spotted three miles west of Otoe moving northeast in Cass County.
Outdoor warnings were sounded in Nebraska City around 11:30 p.m. when a tornado was detected south of Nebraska City moving into Iowa.
Otoe County Emergency Management Director Gregg Goebel said no damage has been confirmed as of 8 a.m. on Monday, but there was a confirmed tornado touchdown west of Otoe, about four miles north of Syracuse.
Goebel said a cell phone image of a wall cloud near Douglas with a cloud formation below it appeared on a Lincoln news broadcast.
He said storm spotters were well positioned to monitor a storm cell that passed near Nebraska City and spawned the tornado warning.
Spotters at the Nebraska City airport and south near Highway 128 observed the cell from the south and spotters south of Lorton provided a different perspective.
Goebel said teams reported cloud rotation and confirmed “a tail” on the ground. National Weather Service confirmed upper level rotation. “That’s when we sounded the Nebraska City sirens,” Goebel said.
Goebel said storm assessment teams will be sent to an area south of Paul and travel northeast to survey for damage.
Otoe County Emergency Management was able to contact KMA Radio in Shenandoah to provide storm awareness information.
Dan Giittinger, Nebraska City public properties director, said there was no reported damage in Nebraska City.
The thunderstorms brought between 2 and 2.5 inches of rain.
