LINCOLN – Governor Jim Pillen has requested federal funding to enable continued recovery from storms that impacted eastern Nebraska on July 31 and Aug. 1. Five counties sustained damage resulting from severe thunderstorms, straight-line winds, hail, and flooding including Cass, Douglas, Lancaster, Sarpy and Saunders.
If granted, funds would help the state and local governments with costs resulting from emergency work and the repair or replacement of damaged facilities. Damage estimates from this storm currently exceed $34.6 million. Omaha Public Power District reported a historical outage impacting 221,000 customers. Restoration efforts continued through the morning of Aug. 8 with the assistance of 175 mutual aid crews from across the country. Approximately 34,000 customers with Lincoln Electric System (LES) were also without power — some for several days. Roadways were impacted, and debris removal was extensive. It’s estimated that total damage covered a span of 230 miles.
Gov. Pillen has applied for and received three federal disaster declarations for storms that hit the state on the following dates this year:
- May 20 – June 3
- April 6-7
- April 25 – 27
Cost estimates associated with those storms have exceed $34.5 million.
