NORTH PLATTE – The National Weather Service in North Platte has completed a survey of storm damage in central Custer County following Tuesday’s severe storms.
According to a release, the storm caused wind and hail damage from Brown and Rock Counties south through Blaine and Custer Counties.
The thunderstorm produced several down bursts, which stripped crops to stubble and toppled trees. In addition, numerous power poles were snapped or toppled and irrigation pivots destroyed along the entire life cycle of the thunderstorm.
One of those down bursts was responsible for the power outage in Broken Bow when winds blew the roof off a building and into transmission lines near the 5th Avenue substation. There was also some tree damage observed around town.
The strongest outflow winds stretched from just south of Merna to the south southeast across Broken Bow to Pressey Wildlife Management Area. In that area wind speeds ranged from 60 to 95 mph.
The Weather Service said a brief tornado was also spotted on the far western edge of Broken Bow by a storm spotter and a surveillance camera. The tornado touched down for less than two seconds, but in that time it was able to toss an 800 pound trailer into the far front quarter panel of an adjacent car. That earned the tornado an EF-1 rating with estimated peak winds of 100 mph.
