Community preparedness — Nebraska
Tornadoes, blizzards, floods, drought, and powerful plains winds. UNL Extension in all 93 counties. CERT teams across the Platte Valley. Ham operators watching storms form on the open horizon. Nebraska prepares because Nebraska has to.
Enter your ZIP to find volunteer groups, training programs, civic organizations, and mutual aid networks in your area.
Organizations and programs near you
Emergency response & training
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Community calendar
CERT trainings, canning workshops, ham radio exams, garden workdays, first aid classes.
93
County extension offices
3
NWS forecast offices
25+
Amateur radio clubs
6
Community colleges
Where to plug in
Nebraska spans the heart of the Great Plains with tornadoes across the eastern third, blizzards statewide, flooding along the Platte, Loup, Elkhorn, and Missouri rivers, drought in the west, and grassland fire. UNL Extension in all 93 counties is the backbone of rural community resilience.
University of Nebraska Extension serves all 93 counties through local offices. Nebraska ranks among the top states for corn, soybeans, cattle, and hogs. Programming spans crop production, livestock management, horticulture, food safety, financial literacy, 4-H youth development, and community development.
The Master Gardener program trains volunteers across Nebraska's varied climate zones. Extension runs food preservation workshops, farm management education, drought response programming, and storm preparedness. After the March 2019 bomb cyclone floods, extension agents were the primary resource helping farm families navigate USDA disaster programs.
Nebraska Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) coordinates the state's all-hazards emergency program through county emergency management directors and four regional coordinators. Nebraska's EM system handles tornadoes, flooding, blizzards, drought, and grassland fire.
CERT programs are active in Douglas County (Omaha), Lancaster County (Lincoln), Hall County (Grand Island), Buffalo County (Kearney), and others. Training is free and includes tornado, flood, and blizzard modules relevant to Nebraska's hazard profile.
American Red Cross chapters serve all of Nebraska through the Nebraska and Iowa Region. First aid, CPR, AED, and water safety classes are offered in Omaha, Lincoln, Grand Island, Kearney, and other communities year-round.
During the March 2019 bomb cyclone floods, Red Cross opened shelters across dozens of counties and served thousands of displaced farm and ranch families. Red Cross deploys annually for Nebraska tornado outbreaks and blizzards. Volunteer entry points include shelter operations, disaster assessment, and feeding.
Nebraska has over 25 amateur radio clubs in the ARRL Nebraska Section, part of the Midwest Division. On Nebraska's open Great Plains, ham operators have unobstructed views for miles — making them ideal SKYWARN spotters. ARES teams activate for tornadoes, flooding, and blizzards.
Getting licensed costs $15 for the exam and about $35 for a basic handheld radio. Study at hamstudy.org. Clubs in Omaha, Lincoln, Grand Island, Kearney, North Platte, and throughout the state host exams regularly.
Three NWS offices serve Nebraska: Omaha/Valley (eastern NE), Hastings (central NE), and North Platte (western NE). NWS Sioux Falls also covers the northeastern corner. Each runs SKYWARN spotter training before spring severe weather season.
Nebraska averages about 50 tornadoes per year, experiences severe blizzards, hail, drought, grassland fire, and catastrophic river flooding. Nebraska's Tornado Alley location and open sight lines make SKYWARN participation exceptionally valuable. Training is free.
Nebraska has over 250 public library locations overseen by the Nebraska Library Commission. Omaha Public Library, Lincoln City Libraries, and Grand Island Public Library run extensive programming. In small Nebraska towns, the public library is often the anchor community building — the place where neighbors gather and community organizing happens.
Nebraska's 6 community colleges cover the state: Metro CC (Omaha), Southeast CC (Lincoln), Central CC (Grand Island area), Mid-Plains CC (North Platte), Northeast CC (Norfolk), and Western Nebraska CC (Scottsbluff). They offer EMT certification, welding, diesel tech, electrical work, and ag trades.
Why this matters
In March 2019, a rapidly intensifying bomb cyclone swept across Nebraska bringing blizzard conditions followed by rapid snowmelt. The frozen ground couldn't absorb the water. Ice jams formed on the Platte, Loup, Elkhorn, Missouri, and Niobrara rivers simultaneously. Levees failed. Bridges washed out. Towns flooded that had never flooded before. Farmsteads were cut off for days. The damage exceeded $1 billion — described as the most significant flooding in Nebraska history.
In rural areas, the response was entirely community-driven. Farmers with high-clearance equipment ferried neighbors to safety across flooded fields. Ranchers with boats rescued stranded livestock. Ham radio operators provided communications for communities where roads were cut off and cell towers were underwater. Volunteer fire departments ran waterborne rescue operations across flooded bottomland.
Extension agents were on the ground within days, helping assess agricultural losses and connecting farm families with USDA disaster programs. Red Cross opened shelters across dozens of counties. Churches, grain elevators, and 4-H buildings became supply staging points. Communities with organized volunteer networks recovered faster.
The March 2019 floods proved that Nebraska's multi-hazard reality — floods following blizzards, drought following floods — requires year-round preparedness. The organizations on this page build that capacity across all 93 counties.
The foundation
Community resilience begins with a household that can take care of itself. Cover the first 72 hours, then extend outward to your street, your neighborhood, your town.
Start with the first 72 hours