On the last day of July 2024, Omaha and its surrounding areas faced one of the most destructive windstorms in local history, affecting upwards of 218,000 residents of the Omaha metropolitan area. This overly powerful windstorm was caused by a buildup of heat and humidity in the atmosphere from the previous days, just waiting to blow.
With the storm damaging more than 2,200 trees and costing $30 million in electrical damages for Omaha Public Power District (OPPD), residents, loggers, electricians and builders alike were in a hurry to restore order in Omaha and the surrounding area.
“A part of our front tree was lying on the roof, and it made a dent in the shingles,” senior Sam Whittaker said. “It took around a week or so just to get one company to quote us because they were so backed up with other customers.”
With tree removal companies being so backed up with cleanup, many people were left in a dangerous situation, whether that be a hole in their roof or an entire part of their home crushed.
While tree damage wasn’t an issue for some, loss of power was. More than half of the Omaha residents OPPD provides power to were affected by a loss of power to their homes, and that isn’t including the number of private businesses and their financial losses.
“We couldn’t really trap our customers inside, so we were just advising everyone to stay inside until it calmed down,” junior Ryker White said. “Everyone got super scared and nobody really knew what to do when our power went out.”
While many businesses were negatively affected by this storm, one industry proved to prevail among all others: construction. With the widespread impact of damage, it’s estimated that millions of dollars in recovery efforts were earned.
“The day after it happened, I was already entirely booked for days ahead,” owner of Brown Grounds Maintenance Cayden Brown said. “Every tree dump was incredibly full and there was an incredible amount of cleanup to be done.”
This makes the second incredibly dangerous, and just as powerful, storm to blow through the Omaha area this year. Omaha is bouncing back, showing the strength of its community. Despite the damage, the city is working hard to get back to normal quickly.
