July 21, 2000

BY TODD VON KAMPEN
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Most buildings in Firth, Neb., bore plywood and plastic bandages Thursday after an overnight hailstorm pulverized windows and roofs and blasted nearby farm fields that had dodged drought-induced disaster.

Wind of about 50 mph propelled icy cannonballs up to 2.5 inches wide into the southeast Lancaster County town for 15 to 20 minutes around 2 a.m., according to local residents and the National Weather Service.

Injuries were limited to a few scratches, but a county emergency management official estimated that 137 of Firth's approximately 200 buildings bore scars from the storm.

"It was terrifying. There was nothing you could do," said the Rev. Craig Wagner, whose Reformed Church of Firth lost 56 windows. "We were very fortunate in terms of human life that it hit in the middle of the night."

The storm system that pummeled Firth formed in north-central Nebraska, said Cathy Zapotocny, a Weather Service forecaster. The storm dropped 2.21 inches of rain at Greeley and 1.22 inches at a Lincoln fire station before it began to generate hail and high wind, she said.

Large tree limbs and power lines crashed to the ground in Crab Orchard, west of Tecumseh, making some roads impassable. A barn was destroyed at Filley, the weather service said.

In Firth, local, county and Red Cross workers set up a command post in the Firth Community Center. They sought damage reports from the approximately 500 residents and helped them obtain plywood, plastic sheeting and fresh bedding and clothes.

Streets were carpeted with leaves from stripped trees, and observers reported small craters in lawns and vinyl siding with dents resembling the impact from shotgun shells. Almost every north-facing window was shattered.

The blitz woke up nearly everyone in town, said Tina Booton, an emergency medical technician with the Firth-Panama Rescue Squad.

"The sound was just awful," she said. "My (6-year-old) daughter woke us up and said, 'What's happening?'"

Firefighters from Firth, Panama and Hickman first made sure that elderly residents at Lakeview Rest Home were safe. Shannon Dewey, the business office manager, said nurses moved the 47 residents to a dining room, rolling some of them in their beds. The nurses had closed windows, drawn curtains and lowered blinds minutes before the hail started.

Glass rained down on some beds, but "luckily many of the residents are cold at night and had two to three layers," Dewey said. "They were pretty well-shielded."

Insurance agents were arriving Thursday afternoon to begin processing claims on homes and cars, said Mike Burnett, the county's emergency management liaison officer.

Damage estimates will be forwarded to the state by today, but the extent of insurance coverage will determine whether disaster aid is sought, he said.

Outside of town, the storm mowed down corn, soybean and sorghum fields over an area four to five miles wide and 15 to 20 miles long, said Tom Dorn, a Lancaster County extension educator. Soybean plants were stripped and broken off, and many corn plants lost their leaves and tassels just as they were ready to pollinate, he said.

Most crops had barely enough soil moisture to sprout because of little rain over the winter and spring, Dorn said.

More recently, "we'd just gotten the rain every time we needed one, holding on by our fingernails," he said. "Then this happened and took the yield potential away."

Many farmers didn't buy hail insurance because their crops were in peril before the rains came, said Ron Preston, general manager of the Firth Cooperative Co.

He estimated that the storm destroyed 40 percent to 70 percent of the corn and 90 percent or more of the soybeans in its path. Preston said his business sustained $150,000 to $250,000 in damage to its trucks and buildings.