TORNADO IN OMAHA 1975

In 1975 I lived in Council Bluffs, Iowa which is right across the river from Omaha. I worked in an office building in downtown Council Bluffs at that time. Our office was on the fifth floor. Late in the day near quitting time we were all told to head for the basement because of a tornado warning. So everybody in the building was huddled in the basement where we couldn't see anything or hear anything, and nobody had a radio. After a while a few of us had to go up and look out to see what was going on. Apparantly the tornado had missed us.

I went home and stayed glued to the TV until the wee hours of the morning. It was the best Television coverage of an event I've seen up until the Flood of 1993 in Des Moines.

My brother was at Aksarben Racetrack in Omaha at the time. This is a photo that was taken at the track as the tornado appoached. My brother obtained a print of it several days later. He remarked that it was the first tornado he had seen in person and he didn't care if he never saw another one. (Click on the photo to see a larger version. Click on it again to see a still larger version.)

The tornado tore a swath along the West part of Omaha and did tremendous damage.