UPDATE: One dead as Grand Island reports storm damage Wednesday morning

UPDATE:

Severe weather ripped through central Nebraska overnight.

A storm knocked out power and downed trees in the Grand Island area.

High winds caused damage to homes including a tree limb that crashed through a city councilman’s roof.

“We heard the storm coming and we were up on the patio, the wind was blowing it was raining hard and all of a sudden we heard this gigantic boom,” Mike Paulick said.  “I told my wife ‘don’t go in the bedroom the tree just came down.'”

Paulick was hardly the only one feeling the storm’s wrath.  The National Weather Service said there were winds over 75 miles per hour in Grand Island.  They left a big mess for crews to clean up.

Paulick said after this, he just wants to see some dry weather.

“It would be nice if we got a couple, three dry weeks so I can get this roof fixed that’d be great.” he said.

Grand Island firefighters are urging residents if they see a downed a power line, stay clear and call officials.

Around 10,000 customers lost power earlier Wednesday, but most are back on now.

The Hall County Sheriff’s Department said a man died after his vehicle hit a downed tree in the morning.  He was pronounced dead at the scene, but authorities aren’t releasing his name yet.

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One man is dead after a storm ripped through Hall County overnight.

The Hall County Sheriff’s Department said around 3:30 this morning, the driver struck a downed tree.  He was pronounced dead at the scene, but authorities aren’t releasing his name yet.

Elsewhere, this same storm wreaked havoc in Grand Island.  More than 1.5 inches of rain fell flooding, several underpasses.

High winds downed power lines and trees.  One tree limb even crashed through a resident’s roof.

Crews worked to restore power to the city.  Officials said around 10,000 customers lost power, but that most are back on now.

Grand Island firefighters urged residents to stay home due to the fallen power lines.

Officials haven’t been able to assess the damage yet.

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Courtesy of our partners at KHGI:

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. — Heavy storms caused damage to major power lines in Grand Island early Wednesday morning.

Southern Public Power District said they have been receiving calls regarding the length of the current outages.

A resident in Doniphan shared a photo of a power line that had fallen. SPPD said the conditions are dangerous and kids need to stay indoors.

SPPD officials said they were unsure of when power would be restored, due to storms continuing. Also, they don’t know every exact location where lines are down.

Multiple towns have been impacted, and there are many rural locations where lines could be down.