Omaha Contractors Drop Everything to Help During Tornado Relief

Some events are so significant they define a community. They become one of those “Where were you when?” kind of moments. That’s what unfolded when a tornado hit eastern Nebraska in the spring of 2024. Then the question is, “How did you respond?” For two local contractors, the answer was to take their Bobcat® equipment to the heart of the disaster.  

On April 26, a powerful tornado touched down southwest of Omaha, Nebraska. For 89 minutes, the tornado covered more than 30 miles with wind speeds reaching 165 miles per hour. It was a mile wide at its peak, according to the National Weather Service. The community of Elkhorn suffered the worst of the devastation. 

Do the Right Thing 

“It’s the kind of thing I’ve only seen on TV,” says Sage Tweton, a concrete foreman at Ideal Construction and resident of Elkhorn. “It brought tears to my eyes to go through the neighborhoods.” 

That evening, the owner of Ideal Construction cleared the calendar, bought some chainsaws and sent his crew to the disaster area with their Bobcat® T76 compact track loaders.  

Across town, Matt Mitera, owner of Mitera Landscaping, started seeing pictures of the damage on his phone. “As soon as I saw that, I knew I wanted to help,” he says. “We weren’t necessarily in a position to put off other jobs, but we knew it was the right thing to do.” The small business loaded up its E35 compact excavator and T66 compact track loader and went to work.