OMAHA – Some of you recall it vividly.
On May 6, 1975, fifty years ago, a cold front moved through Nebraska, forming a squall line.
In the late afternoon, a strong tornado formed over what was then Southwest Omaha and moved northeast, toward the center of the city.
The path of the tornado was approximately 9 miles long and ranged in width from 200 to 300 yards, making it a relatively small tornado, but it produced winds strong enough to reach EF-5.
Because the tornado occurred in the 1970s, meteorologists used the original Fujita scale, which is why it was classified as an F4.
However, in 2007, the NWS switched to an Enhanced Fujita scale, and that tornado would now be classified as an EF5, which accounts for only about 1% of all tornadoes.
The tornado began just west of Papillion and moved northeast, crossing Interstate 80 and Dodge Street before ending in Benson Park, so it lasted a long time, especially for a strong tornado.
It landed around 4:33 PM near Highway 370, just west of Papillion.
The twister moved across Giles Rd. and up Interstate 80, even closing down parts of I-80 due to multiple injuries, and it struck Westgate Elementary School just as I-80 was coming to an end.
After leaving the school, it proceeded to the Bergen Mercy Hospital.
First Alert 6 conducted an interview in the archives with a police officer who witnessed the tornado firsthand.
“As I come down the hill there, the tornado was just about ready to hit Bergan Mercy, and then I pause there for a second at the intersection,” police officer Dave Campbell explained.
“And it did hit there, going through the cars in the parking lot and causing significant damage to the top of the hospital. And then it went on.
After hitting Bergan Mercy, it struck the Nebraska Furniture Mart, destroying several nearby buildings.
The tornado then began to dissipate over Benson Park at around 4:58 PM, indicating that it only lasted about 25 minutes over the area but caused significant damage.
Photos of the street at the time showed light damage to the streets, indicating a multi-vortex tornado with strong winds in a remote location and less damage right next to it.
This tornado killed only three people, primarily due to timing.
If this had occurred an hour earlier, when students were getting off from school, the death toll would have been much higher, and there would have been plenty of time for people to seek shelter.
In addition, there were only 133 injuries.
In terms of damage, approximately 4500 homes or businesses were damaged or destroyed, totaling between $300 and $500 million.
It would have caused approximately a billion dollars in damage at today’s rates.
At the time, it was the most costly tornado in history.
Now it is the Joplin tornado, which caused $3 billion in damage.
This tornado was involved in a two-day outbreak that produced 36 tornadoes across six states.