SUTTON, NE – In a matter of three minutes, the community of Sutton received significant damage after wind an EF-1 tornado ripped through town Saturday, July 29th, 2023 just before 7 AM. The National Weather Service in Hastings reported peak winds of up to 110 mph and this tornado moved from the northwest to the southeast across Sutton traveling about a mile and a half with a path width of 260 yards.
Clay County Emergency Manager Haley Malone says the downtown business area received
the brunt of the damages as that was where peak wind speeds were estimated.
Additionally, the tornado snapped several trees and power poles. Malone’s office issued a State of Emergency for Sutton that morning so her crew could assess the damages and make sure it was safe for the community to start cleaning up. That was lifted at noon Saturday.
Fortunately, Malone says there were no injuries.
The NWS-Hastings added in their report that this is a very unusual time of day for tornadoes in Nebraska. According to a 2021 study, only 6 tornadoes have ever been observed between 6am and 7am in
Nebraska.
The tornado’s timing was a total of three minutes: 6:53 AM CDT to 6:56 AM CDT.
