Tornadoes hit Nebraska as severe storms tear across Midwest

Tornadoes caused damage in Nebraska as severe storms tore across the Midwest, putting roughly 20 million people at risk, the National Weather Service said .

A tornado plowed through suburban Omaha Friday afternoon, demolishing homes as the twister tore for miles along farmland and into subdivisions. It wasn't yet clear if anyone was injured or killed in the storm.

Hundreds of houses sustained damage in Omaha, mostly in the Elkhorn area in the western part of the city, Omaha police Lt. Neal Bonacci told The Associated Press, adding that police and firefighters are now going door-to-door helping people who are trapped.

"We are getting 911 calls of people in debris in their basement," he said. "We are just working as quick as we can to help everyone who needs it."

He said the injuries are minor so far and he was not aware of any damaged businesses.

"There's lots of trees down. There's roofs missing from houses. You definitely see the path of the tornado," Bonacci told the AP.

In one area of Elkhorn, dozens of newly built, large homes were damaged. At least six were destroyed, including one that was leveled, while others had the top half ripped off.

"We watched it touch down like 200 yards over there and then we took shelter," Pat Woods, who lives in Elkhorn, told the AP. "We could hear it coming through. When we came up our fence was gone and we looked to the northwest and the whole neighborhood's gone."

His wife, Kim Woods added, "The whole neighborhood just to the north of us is pretty flattened."

Dhaval Naik, who said he works with the man whose house was demolished, said three people, including a child, were in the basement when the tornado hit. They got out safely.

Multiple tornadoes were reported in Nebraska but the most destructive storm moved from a largely rural area into suburbs northwest of Omaha, a city of 485,000 people.

The tornado warning was issued in the Omaha area on Friday afternoon just as children were due to be released from school. Many schools had students shelter in place until the storm passed. Hours later, buses were still transporting students home.

"We are currently deploying resources to assess damage from the recent severe weather impacting Lancaster County," Nebraska Emergency Management said in a statement to CBS News.

There have been 13 walk-ins to hospitals and a train derailment near 90th Street and Highway 6, the spokesperson said, with no serious injuries or hazmat incidents reported.

Photos on social media showed heavily damaged homes and shredded trees. Video showed homes with roofs stripped of shingles, in a rural area near Omaha. Law enforcement were blocking off roads in the area.

Passengers at Omaha's Eppley Airfield were moved to storm shelters. The airport now says it has reopened for aircraft operations, but advises, "While the passenger terminal was not impacted by the storm, expect flight delays. Damage assessments in other portions of the airport continue."

Two people who were injured when a tornado passed through Lancaster County were being treated at the trauma center at Bryan Medical Center West Campus in Lincoln, the facility said in a news release. It said the patients were in triage and no details were released on their condition.

The Omaha Public Power District reported that nearly 10,000 customers were without power in the Omaha area.

Daniel Fienhold, manager of the Pink Poodle Steakhouse in Crescent, Iowa, said he was outside watching the weather with his daughter and restaurant employees. He said "it looked like a pretty big tornado was forming" northeast of town.

"It started raining, and then it started hailing, and then all the clouds started to kind of swirl and come together, and as soon as the wind started to pick up, that's when I headed for the basement, but we never saw it," Fienhold said.

The Weather Service also issued tornado watches across parts of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. And forecasters warned that large hail and damaging wind gusts were possible.

Thunderstorms are expected to cross the Missouri Valley and Midwest to the central and southern Plains through the weekend.

Severe storms and tornadoes hit Kansas and Iowa last week causing damage and hurting two people. Ping pong ball-sized hail was reported just north of the Missouri line.