Before and after aerial images reveal the extent of tornado damage.
Numerous tornadoes, some reaching EF2 intensity or more, have been confirmed through damage assessments in the afflicted regions. These storms have claimed at least five lives, four of which were from particularly lethal nighttime tornadoes in Oklahoma on Saturday through Sunday.
Aerial photographs reveal the extent of the devastation.
On Friday afternoon, a violent storm swept across Nebraska's Lincoln area, unleashing multiple tornadoes that proceeded northward. One tornado intersected I-80, caving in a building with many occupants, injuring three.
Tornado damage in Elkhorn, Nebraska Vexcel Imaging
The storm then continued north and east toward Omaha, unleashing a tornado that wreaked havoc on its western suburbs. Homes were flattened, some torn from their foundations by the at least EF3 tornado with winds of 136 mph.
Aerial photos from one of those regions, Elkhorn, show the raw power of the twister. Homes on one block were ravaged, their interiors completely gutted and contents strewn across the landscape with no square inch of open ground left untrammeled.
Tornado damage in Elkhorn, Nebraska Vexcel Imaging
Brand new houses in a recently constructed neighborhood were reduced to piles of rubble.
The storm continued eastward, brushing past Omaha's airport. Passengers at the terminal cowered in storm shelters while the twister plowed a general aviation space, turning over small planes. No one was injured in this incident. Some were fortunate enough to watch the spectacle from inside the terminal.
Tornado damage to an airport hangar at Omaha's Eppley Airfield Vexcel Imaging
The storm then bulldozed through Iowa, ransacking the town of Minden in Pottawattamie County. Videos showed a formidable wedge tornado, known for its squat appearance, pulverizing the community. Dozens of houses were shredded, and at least four people sustained injuries, one of whom lost their life.
The storms finally dissipated in the late night hours, but not before generating 92 reports of tornadoes across Texas, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri.
The outlook for Saturday promised even more foreboding skies, but the threatening storms seemed to fall short of their atmospheric potential in the afternoon. Despite a paucity of tornadic storms in the morning, the danger shifted to the dark hours.
More than 20 tornadoes hit Oklahoma and its surroundings on Saturday and Sunday, including at least two EF3 tornadoes. One visited Sulphur, Oklahoma's downtown at the end of the evening, reducing it to rubble. Another EF4 smashed Marietta, Oklahoma.
Four deaths were reported in Oklahoma, all of which occurred in the communities most heavily affected by tornadoes: Sulphur, Holdenville, and Marietta.
Contributions to this report from CNN's Rebekah Riess.
Read also:
Source: edition.cnn.com
