June 16, 2014 Tornadoes: Northeast Nebraska Storm Coverage and Recovery Efforts
On Monday, June 16th, the lives of hundreds of people in
northeast Nebraska were literally turned upside down.
Four tornadoes ripped through Stanton and Thurston
counties. The worst of them, two EF4 twisters, descended
on the small town of Pilger. On the ground for more than
an hour, the tornado destroyed all the businesses in town
and practically every
home suffered
damage. Worst of all,
two lives were lost.
No other media reacts as quickly or as passionately as local radio and TV
when it comes to assisting individuals and communities in need.
Listeners and viewers depend not only on having their stations provide
detailed coverage of severe weather when it happens, but respond like
no other when the need to help is communicated. Local broadcasters
serve their communities like no other media.
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Here’s what member stations said in their own words about their efforts:
KNEN/KUSO Radio, Norfolk:
We have a trained storm spotter on staff who was out yesterday
throughout the storms. We had wall-to-wall coverage 3:00 pm – 10:00
pm for both storm and then recovery efforts.
This morning we went with extended news coverage. We have had reporters in Pilger
this morning reporting for both stations each half hour, as well as going away from
regular programming and offering 2- 10 minute news casts each hour.
We also have been working with all local emergency management authorities to get the
word out – they have been calling us with any announcements and depending on us and our social media
pages to spread their message. We also have had a minister on the air this morning, the local disaster
coordinator from Red Cross, survivors of the storm.
This was what we posted on both the US 92 and 94 Rock Facebook pages this morning:
“This morning, we'll have special team coverage of the devastating tornadoes in Northeast Nebraska
yesterday. As the cleanup and recovery begins, we invite you to join us for a special edition of the US92
Morning Show today: we'll have extended newscasts with Eric McKay & special reports live from Pilger with
Nate Gonner...we'll bring you press conferences from Governor Dave Heineman & Stanton County Sheriff
Mike Unger. You're also welcome to be part of our coverage...please share your stories from yesterday's
storms with us by calling in the studio and here on Facebook.”
By the way – it also became very personal for us yesterday, because Dave Amick our former PD and morning
show host who still works for us part-time lost his entire acreage – house is rubble, 2 barns are only concrete
slabs.
KEXL/KQKX/WJAG Radio, Norfolk:
Fortunately we and stations are fine… We all know someone who lives in the Pilger/Stanton Area including my
own sister-in-law… so it has hit us all hard! Today and in the days to come we will be doing things such as
this….106 KIX (LiteRock 97.5 & WJAG) are partnering with Midwest Bank on south 13th Street to accept cash
and gift card donations for those affected by yesterday’s tornados. Your monetary donations can be dropped
off today from 4 to 6pm at the south 13th street Midwest Bank parking lot. Our staff will be on location to
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take your donations and answer any questions. You may also bring monetary donations to our studios during
business hours of 8 AM – 5 PM weekdays. (Cash or Check is the preferred method by responding agencies IE;
Red Cross, Orphan Grain Train, Salvation Army Etc.)
More to come later and feel free to use any pictures on our news page
http://www.106kix.com/media/photos/pilger-tornado-2014/
KEZO/KKCD/KQCH/KSRZ/KXSP Radio and KMTV-TV, Omaha:
We are combining forces with KMTV and all 5 stations to help
the Salvation Army. Announcements as well as a web landing
page will encourage listeners to text a donation or drop off
cleaning supplies to the Salvation Army. We are also running
some PSA's for a Baker's/Red Cross effort on the air.
WOWT-TV, Omaha:
WOWT has posted a How to Help page on wowt.com listing all the places people can
donate goods, how to volunteer to help with cleanup and links to donate money. That
page also links to a Facebook page set up for Pilger relief.
http://www.wowt.com/howtohelp
We are in the process of starting a campaign with Bakers Supermarkets and the Red
Cross that will allow shoppers to donate to the relief fund at all Baker’s locations.
KETV-TV, Omaha:
Last night we brought in the Red Cross for an hour and a half – during that
time we raised a little over $19k in call ins. Much more in text and email. We are also partnering with Baker’s for Tornado Relief. Now through
June 30th local Baker’s will be accepting donations that will go to the
American Red Cross’s Disaster Relief Fund. People can make a cash donation or have their bill rounded up.
KFOR/KFRX/KLMS/KZKX/KTGL/KIBZ, Lincoln:
All 6 radio stations at Three Eagles Communications are promoting the Red
Cross on air and the TEXT to donate $10 every Hour, put links up to Red Cross
and Salvation Army on web pages and social media pages (Facebook),
promoting on-air information including go to any Midwest Bank to donate,
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check with Volunteer Partners who are putting something together for volunteers to go help in Pilger, plus
KFRX had Live coverage from 10/11 on location and KFOR interviewed the Governor 6/18/14 following his
visit to see the destruction.
Spirit Catholic Radio Network: KVSS/Omaha, KJWM/Grand Island, KOLB/Norfolk & KFJS/North Platte:
We are running PSAs on how people can help with a link on website on how to
help. Did news stories and said how people can help. Used Senator Johanns’
communications.
KLIN/KBBK/KFGE/KLNC, Lincoln:
When Operations Manager Steve Albertsen of NRG Media in Lincoln learned of the damage, he knew action
needed to be taken. Contact was made with members of the Wisner fire department (town right next to
Pilger assisting in the recovery) to find out what was needed. Friends of the stations were called who could
provide a large truck to load and transport. And Tuesday morning, the 4 stations went on the air to inform
listeners as to what supplies were most needed to assist the citizens of
Pilger.
Outpouring of support and
materials was incredible!
And it didn’t matter that
the people affected lived
over 100 miles away; not
even in the stations’
listening area! It took just
a few hours to fill an entire
35 foot truck. Donations
were still flooding in, so
another 35 foot truck was quickly arranged for delivery. By the time
the stations on Wednesday concluded their morning shows, the second
truck was completely full! Drivers arrived and before noon on
Wednesday, the caravan departed to deliver much needed supplies.
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KBRB AM/FM, Ainsworth:
KBRB AM 1400 and FM 92.7 in Ainsworth have been running all
information provided by NEMA, and has been promoting the Red Cross
with information on the volunteer effort to assist in the cleanup and ways
people can donate to the recovery. From all of us small-market
broadcasters, thanks again to all the NBA members who come to the aid of our rural areas when these
disasters strike. We saw the power of radio here first-hand in 2012 during the Niobrara River wildfires, and will
continue to support our fellow broadcasters and communities when they are in need.
NET (Statewide Public Radio & TV) based in Lincoln:
A call has gone out to NET employees to
gather clothes, blankets, water, personal
items, etc… for the truck heading to Pilger
tomorrow. Here’s an early photo:
KTIC AM/FM, West Point:
840 KTIC and 107.9 The Bull in West Point were in
continuous severe weather coverage about an hour
prior to the twin tornadoes struck northeast Nebraska.
We had two staff members covering the storm as
eyewitnesses. I was in Pilger about twenty minutes
after the tornado struck. I found the town clerk and I began putting out appeals for help in Pilger by 4:30 on
both stations. I stayed in the town working with law enforcement to pass on information every 15 minutes.
Area emergency responders began flooding the town and a decision was made to evacuate residents so KTIC
left the scene near eight pm. All night...we continued to pass on information.
I returned to the east edge of Pilger the next morning at eight and we provided details through the day. We
gained media access at 10:30am to the town and then did updates on volunteer efforts. Wednesday our
stations had volunteers in Pilger helping residents and doing reports. All three days...we had the latest info on
our websites. KRVN AM/FM (Lexington, NE) and KNEB AM/FM (Scottsbluff, NE) carried our KTIC
updates...covering the entire five-state region the day of the tornadoes. We are continuing to help via the Red
Cross and area banks and businesses to get supplies to Pilger.
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KSID AM/FM, Sidney:
KSID is planning on raising money during our annual Cruising Night this Friday
evening. It's an event where we have the entire community "dragging
main". We have a crew downtown giving away prizes, etc. We are going to
have a person with some kind of container that people can drive by and make
"deposits" into.
KTCH/KTCY, Wayne:
While much of the tornado coverage has been
focused on Pilger (16 miles south of us) there is also
significant damage closer to Wayne – in Cedar, Dixon,
Thurston and Wayne counties where over 40 properties sustained significant damage or are beyond repair.
As we did last October when Wayne took a direct hit, KTCH is acting as a channel of communication to solicit
clean-up volunteers and promote fund raising efforts for those families affected by the tornados. We are
doing this “on air” through regular news broadcasts and our “bulletin board” community announcements plus
several long-form tornado recovery updates each day.
As a companion to this supportive role, we are using our website (waynedailynews.com) to post photos and
videos of the storm damage as well as a Tornado Recovery volunteer information post with current recovery
information (times, locations, etc.). This is a “carryover” piece from last October following the Wayne tornado.
There are exploded grain bins, dead cattle, chicken farms destroyed and a huge amount of rural damage that
is everlasting reality for the families involved.
Four miles of high voltage power lines were knocked down. While NENPPD crews and other outside utilities
have worked tirelessly to restore service to 400 customers affected, the reality is that it will take MONTHS to
fully rebuild the power infrastructure to where it was. Like last October’s tornado in Wayne, KTCH was again
knocked off the air for 2-1/2 hours when the power lines were hit (we are on rural power, the city has their
own generator). Fortunately, we were able to get the warnings broadcast before the lines were struck.
This is how things are here on the front lines. Our role is “getting information to people.” At KTCH this effort
has involved every member of our staff (traffic, sales, production, on air) all writing news, feeding the web
site, taking pictures and making phone calls.
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KFXL-TV/KHGI-TV/KWNB-TV, Kearney/Lincoln:
We have reported on all of the organizations taking
donations. Links are below to just a few of the stories
where we talked about how to donate/volunteer.
http://www.nebraska.tv/story/25814924/helping-pilger-volunteers-start-work-financial-donations-sought
http://www.nebraska.tv/story/25814614/restore-ministries-in-kearney-will-help-with-pilger-tragedy
http://www.nebraska.tv/story/25809400/relief-workers-prepare-for-long-recovery-in-pilger
http://www.nebraska.tv/story/25798379/red-cross-asking-for-money-not-things-to-aid-tornado-victims
11414 West Center Rd. Ste. 342
Omaha, NE 68144
Phone: 402.933.5995
Fax: 402.933.0059
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[email protected]