BEATRICE - The National Weather Service has issued information from storm survey teams on that April 17th rash of severe storms that moved across eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. 

The report included six tornadoes.  The most powerful was an EF-3 twister that touched down at 6:55 p.m. and was on the ground for over eight miles in Douglas and Washington Counties in Nebraska…with estimated peak wind speeds of 140 miles-per-hour.  The tornado developed near Highway 133 in the Bennington and Ft. Calhoun area…and did damage to trees, homes and outbuildings…initially tracking east, and then northeast.

The second strongest tornado was an EF-1 twister that was on the ground for more than 19 miles in Fremont and Page Counties, in southwest Iowa.  NWS reported that tornado formed near Randolph, Iowa….and snapped trees near Lake Shawnee Wildlife Management Area.  As it moved east, the tornado damage roofs and small farm buildings.  That twister had peak wind speeds of 110-miles-per-hour.

The most concentrated damage was south of Imogene, Iowa….where the tornado snapped power poles, did minor home damage and continued damage to outbuildings and trees. At its peak, the tornado was nearly two-thousand yards wide…over a mile.

The tornado’s continued track also did damage near Essex and Nyman, Iowa.

Weather Service officials say the overall storm system included two long-lived supercells, that also produced hail up to four inches in diameter….and thunderstorm wind gusts higher than 80-miles-per-hour.