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Effects still showing from fall storm
By Ted Taylor
"It looked like a giant foot came down and hit the community," she said on Oct. 27, 1997. The giant foot belonged to Mother Nature, and Robak's description best summed up the destruction 13 inches of snow caused eastern Nebraska a day earlier. Normally a foot of snow in Nebraska isn't worth getting upset about - even if it happens to fall in October. But this snowstorm wasn't normal. It hit a state that had seen one of its warmest fall seasons on record, which helped most of the larger trees in the city retain their leaves. And when the heavy, wet snow fell quickly upon those trees, something had to give. All told, more than 5,000 trees - some of them more than 100 years old - gave, wreaking havoc on power lines, phone lines, cable lines and the lives of thousands of Lincolnites. Since the storm, 4,900 trees that once lined the streets of Lincoln have been removed, while another 900 in city parks and on city trails also were removed. "I remember the sheer destruction," Robak told the Daily Nebraskan last month, "and the war-zone look that Lincoln, Omaha and the smaller communities had." Robak, who was the acting governor while Gov. Ben Nelson was on a trade mission in Asia, was without power herself for the entire week. In the immediate aftermath of the storm, more than 30,000 of the 105,000 homes in Lincoln were without power. Many of the city's phone lines were cut, and many of the city roads were impassable because of the fallen trees and power lines, making repairing the lines more difficult. The tree damage done to the power lines had Lincoln Electric System crews and private contractors from across the nation working feverishly day and night. And each day a few more people were able to turn on lights, but it wasn't until Nov. 4 - more than a week after the snowfall - that the entire city of Lincoln was able to wake up with electricity. The damage total in Lincoln hit $11 million, but federal disaster funds are expected to pay about $7 million of that.
Meanwhile on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus, Landscape Services fought a losing battle working overnight hoping to get campus ready for classes the next day. Administrators were quick to assess the damage and canceled classes for two days while students, faculty members and staff dug out from their own homes. "That was a tough call, and who knows whether we made the right call or not," Chancellor James Moeser said on canceling classes. "We'd probably make the same call again given the information we had." While some appreciated the two days off, for others, it still wasn't enough. Some students found themselves without power for part or all of the week, quickly making finding heat and shelter - not going to class - a top priority. In fact, four sororities along 16th Street between S and R streets were powerless for six days. Abby Rogers, a sophomore biology major and member of Alpha Omicron Pi Sorority, slept on two beds, a floor and a couch while crews worked to get the house's power and heat turned back on. "The first night we thought it was pretty fun," she said, "but then reality set in." While people's patience took a blow, the campus' appearance suffered a massive hit during the storm. Roughly 3,000 of its 9,500 trees were damaged by the storm. More than 1,000 of those trees were damaged so badly they had to be removed, Landscape Services Director Ellyn Meyers said. The remaining 2,000 damaged trees required minor to major pruning, she said. "We're still cleaning up if you can believe that," said Meyers, who came to UNL in February. She said the costs of replacing and repairing the trees, along with the overtime hours crew members racked up in the days following the storm totaled more than $200,000. Mayor Mike Johanns said after the storm the city acted quickly and effectively in its efforts to restore some sort of normalcy to its citizens. "The emergency response activated immediately," he said. "It brought everyone together and started people working on one solution to the problem. "That really saved us." And even now, as he travels across the state on his gubernatorial campaign trail, he is reminded of the snowstorm. "People always ask me how Lincoln's doing," he said. "It's still fresh in their mind." Lincoln and the rest of the towns hit by the October snowstorm are recovering slowly but surely. It will take many years to replace all the trees and limbs that were destroyed on Oct. 26. Gov. Nelson said it will be some time before the scars are gone. "This summer we will especially notice the trees that were lost - trees that were older than most of our population," he said. "But trees can be replaced, lives cannot. "Let's hope this doesn't happen again in our lifetime." | |||||
