Witches and goblins gave way to Halloween severe weather warnings for residents of northwest Kansas, south-central and central Nebraska one October evening in 2000. The severe weather caused property damage in a 200 mile path.

 The little town of Oconto, NE, located in Custer County was caught (figuratively and literally) in the center of the storm. With the town’s population out for a night of fun, things suddenly went bad as a tornado struck the community as the residents took shelter in the town’s community center. The center took a direct hit.

Oconto officials reported 40 homes partially to severely damaged, large trees downed and eight community buildings severely. Moving mostly through lightly-populated rural areas, storms caused by a supercell thunderstorm moving in advance of a Plains cold front ranged from near the town of Colby in northwest Kansas to north-central Nebraska farmland. Tornadoes, high winds and large hail caused damage in Thomas, Decatur and Sherman counties in northwest Kansas then moved across Red Willow, Frontier, Dawson, Custer, Nemaha, Loup and Holt counties in Nebraska.

National Weather Service employees were busy the morning after Halloween examining a track of storm damage more than 200 miles long. Along the damage path, the Weather Service recorded 15 tornado reports, 48 reports of damaging hail and four reports of high winds.

  Where is Oconto now? Not only is Oconto still there, but the people of this small community have a new resolve that has begun to inspire people around the country. The Oconto Fire Department and many of its residents said “Never again!” and they have taken matters into their own hands.

Now, as part of what our organization is calling “The Oconto Project”, the local responders in Oconto are actively seeking further education in disaster preparedness and mitigation. Aside from planning training events, the project will include acquiring new state of the art equipment to protect the community from “surprise weather attacks” like the Halloween tornado. Already the community has a volunteer-based group of storm trackers, and the fire department has now made Baron Services’ Mobile ThreatNet a part of their departments line of defense against severe weather. Plans are underway for training in the National Incident Management System, ethanol dangers and response, animal care in disaster and much more.

So what makes this so special? Don’t other cities around the country already do these things?
Sure they do, but most of those cities do not have a population of less than 150 and a volunteer fire department responsible for a fire protection area that spans two counties.

Oconto is an example of what passion and determination can accomplish.

Please contact us regarding an Oconto Project presentation or program for your city, village, community , fire department or agency.