With so much and so many kinds of aid volunteered, a formal coordination mechanism was needed. The Human Service Disaster Task Force was subsequently formed to coordinate offers coming in locally, and from other parts of the country.

For all of this, however, one of the most impressive aspects of the clean up period was the spirit of the individual volunteers and of the disaster victims, themselves.

Over 5000 people donated their services in the clean up of debris on the Saturday following the disaster. Volunteers sawed broken trees, helped residents salvage belongings, cleared debris off curbs and streets, raked yards, loaded trucks and cleaned parks and cemeteries. By that evening, the clean up was declared 50% completed - by the following evening, 70% completed. In the days following, the Omaha and Millard School Districts and District 66 dismissed high school students who wished to help in the clean up effort. Just seven days after the tornado strike, the clean up was declared 80% completed.

Meanwhile, the morale of disaster victims remained high. Badly damaged homes were already being repaired. Elsewhere, there were numerous stories of courage, and even humor. Signs proclaiming "Open House" or "Gone with the Wind" appeared on destroyed dwellings. Determined Omahans began the task of putting their lives back together again.

By Monday, May 11th, the National Guard force was reduced considerably. That day, students of demolished Westgate Elementary School resumed classes in other area schools. Barriers into disaster areas were soon removed, although the curfew was to remain in effect for an additional week. The city was moving at a phenomenal speed out of the clean up and into the long range recovery and reconstruction phase.

OMAHA WAS LUCKY.

 

THE CIRCUMSTANCES
The private and public sectors alike have praised the city's disaster warning system and the overall community response to the emergency. The warning system undoubtedly saved hundreds of lives. The prompt clean up made ultimate recovery easier. However, while the warning system worked, there were other reasons for the extremely low death toll on that May afternoon. And while response was good, long range recovery and reconstruction might have taken much longer and required a more extensive local effort had circumstances been different.

The tornado touched down after school had been dismissed. Therefore, the schools were

empty and most of the children were home. The evening rush hour traffic was not yet underway and traffic from 4:30 to 5:00 P.M. was unusually light as people were warned to stay off the streets and take cover.

The tornado carved its path, for the most part, through the inner suburban belt of urban development; a relatively low density middle class area containing predominately single family residences and suburban commercial structures. While it demolished a number of these homes and structures, many residents were not home, and those who were lived in homes which were apparently equipped with adequate basements or other areas of shelter.

The tornado invaded relatively few apartment complexes, and significantly, totally missed Omaha's mobile home parks. Only one major occupied public facility Bergan Mercy Hospital was directly hit by the tornado. However, because the hospital had pre-planned for such an emergency, all patients and staff were directed to safe areas and no one was seriously injured.

If a city, which has just received one of the most severe tornado blows ever to be recorded in the United States, can be called lucky, then Omaha was lucky. And the city's luck held. The rain that came with the tornado lasted long enough to insure that no fires broke out. Then, the rain stopped and the city was blessed with several days of pleasant spring weather which permitted the prompt and efficient clean up of the devastated areas.

Careful examination of the 911 tape recordings during the tornado and in the immediate aftermath reveals that the only emergency communication system that Omaha possessed was jammed shortly after the tornado touched down. While the tornado was slicing through western Omaha, the rest of the city was experiencing problems of a more routine nature. Basements were flooding in the central city - automobile accidents were occurring and other day-to-day problems that a large city normally faces needed to be handled.