Powerful downburst winds, cause of Friday night damage in southern Gage County

WYMORE - Several properties south and east of Wymore sustained damage during the severe storms on Friday. Sirens were set off as a precaution in Wymore due to a potential tornado south of the town.

Wymore Fire Chief Mark Meints says tornado-like activity was seen near Highway 8, south of Wymore, and on Plum Road, east of Wymore. There was a report of a possible funnel called in to the Southeast Communications Center in Beatrice.

"It looked more like a funnel because of all the dirt and debris that was in it....and the strong winds. The National Weather Service states that the cloud base, they believe, was too high to cause that funnel, but a downburst would cause that type of damage we had seen. It went through pretty quick...in fact, there was tornadic activity in it from all the damage that was in the area. Some roofs were taken off...a 40-by-60 pole shed on East Plum Road that was destroyed. Across the road from there, there was multiple buildings that had damage. Several trees were broke off."

Meints said a closer look at the damage area, indicated the likely cause was severe downburst winds…that can exceed 100-miles-per-hour.

"Right in front of me, it took a stop sign off the post...road signs were blown over or broken off. A lot of outbuildings on farm places, more damage you see with strong winds because those buildings are kind of standing there on their own. They don't have footings or anything to hold them down, like a house does. The roof was taken off a house....a metal roof over the top of another roof...so, there's a lot of things that you see after the storm went through...a lot of stuff is from very high winds...as strong as tornadic-types winds."

At least two homes were impacted, as well as two farmsteads. Plum Road was blocked due to debris until responders were able to remove it.

Meints estimates that the damaging weather may have caused around half a million dollars in losses. Last summer, Wymore and the surrounding area sustained heavy damage from tornadic weather and huge hail.

"It brought up memories, real quick. We're hoping this isn't going to be the summer. It was a busy week. We started out assisting with the fire over at Rock Creek Station...Friday night we had a car accident we worked, and then we go right into a storm. It just seems like the summer's starting out pretty fast, so we've been pretty busy. Hopefully, it doesn't go all summer, like that."

There were no injuries reported from the severe weather in the area, Friday night.