UNO Students Clean Up Neighborhood Hit by Storms

Students from the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) Emergency Management program put their classroom lessons into practice by assisting with clean-up efforts at Bellevue's Two Springs neighborhood following a pair of tornadoes that touched down in Bellevue last Friday.

Approximately one dozen students from a "Strategies and Communications" emergency management course joined the MavReady emergency management student group to volunteer and learn from emergency management professionals.

The storms, which touched down after 7 P.M. on Friday, June 16, were reported to be EF-1 and EF-2 tornadoes, which left approximately 76,000 households without power and caused moderate to severe damage to roofs, trees, power lines, and additional structures.

"This is the best opportunity for experience," explained Tyler Davis, assistant professor of Emergency Management at UNO. "This ensures students are able to apply theoretical concepts to a real-world situation."

Following Wednesday's cleanup efforts, students from MavReady plan to continue to work with the Tri-County Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) to provide student volunteers that can assist with the recovery effort.

"I am excited to bring MavReady to help give back to our community," said Lexi Anderson, president of MavReady. "The focus of our organization is to give members professional development opportunities, while creating awareness in preparedness for and response to emergencies in our community."

UNO's Emergency Management program was launched in 2012 and offers 14 areas concentration areas ranging from aviation administration to tribal emergency management.