NORTH PLATTE — A 70-year-old man died after suffering what appears to be a medical event that resulted in a one-car accident Monday afternoon.
Lincoln County Deputy Sheriff John Stadler said the call came in about an accident on South Buffalo Road at about 3:15 p.m. Edward Johnson of North Platte was identified as the sole occupant of a Jeep heading north from Lake Maloney Road.
Johnson apparently had a “medical emergency,” during which his Jeep drove into a guardrail and hit a tree on Buffalo’s west side.
Johnson, who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown into the windshield. Stadler said authorities do not know if Johnson died from the medical emergency or from the accident.
No one witnessed the crash, but a passerby saw the vehicle, checked on the passenger and called 911.
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12 of the Deadliest Disasters in Nebraska History
The Schoolhouse Blizzard of 1888, 235 deaths
The Schoolhouse Blizzard or Children’s Blizzard of 1888 claimed 235 lives, 213 of them children – nearly half of those deaths were in Nebraska.
“The storm was especially deadly because it came without warning during the day, when adults were at work and children were at school,” reads the Farmers’ Almanac account. “In addition, the morning had started relatively warm and many people left the house without adequate clothing for the cold they would soon have to endure. Thousands of people, many of them school children, were caught in the blizzard and had difficulty finding their homes in the blinding snow.”
This photograph shows a row of buildings at Fort Niobrara half hidden behind piles of snow that fell in the schoolhouse storm. An oil lantern sits on top of a pole in the middle of the snow.
John A. Anderson/Nebraska State Historical Society
Republican River Flood of 1935, 94 deaths
A National Weather Service account lists the 1935 Republican River flood as the largest flood in Nebraska history, with 94 deaths, 341 miles of highway destroyed, and 307 bridges damaged or destroyed.
On May 30, 1935, “as much as 18-24 inches of rain fell in eastern Colorado and southwestern Nebraska. Early on the morning of the 31st, the usually placid Republican River ran bluff-to-bluff along its upper reaches,” the Weather Service account said . “Everything in the water’s path, including buildings, livestock, trees, snakes and people, was washed into the river. There are many stories of people clinging to trees until they could be rescued.”
The city of Cambridge was worst hit, with an estimated three-quarters of the houses flooded.
Journal Star file photo
Floods 1950, 25 dead
Four floods from May to July 1950 caused 25 deaths, according to a National Weather Service report.
The May 8-9 flood was the worst, with 23 deaths and 60,000 hectares of land under water. The Little Nemaha River, Salt Creek, Weeping Water Creek, and tributaries of the Big Blue River lay across their banks. June 2-3 resulted in flooding on Beaver, Shell and Union creeks, with the city of Madison flooded.
Flooding on tributaries to the west side of the Big Blue River, such as Beaver Creek, inundated most of Beaver Crossing and much of York on July 8-10. Serious injuries were reported to Beatrice. The fourth flood of 1950 was July 18-19 at Loup River, Shell Creek, and Beaver Creek.
Nebraska State Historical Society
1976 hotel explosion in Fremont, 20 dead
The January 10, 1976 Hotel Pathfinder explosion in Fremont killed 20 people and injured more than 40. It also changed downtown.
“I went down to Broad Street and looked down at the hotel, and it looked like a war zone,” said Judy Nelson of Fremont, the daughter of one of the victims.
The explosion was blamed on an underground gas connection that pulled apart, and Northern Natural Gas Co. was found responsible, the Fremont Tribune report said.
Fremont Tribune file photo
1913 Yutan tornado, 20 dead
On the same day (April 23, 1913) that the deadliest tornado in Nebraska history struck Omaha, another twister destroyed the northern half of Yutan, killing 17 people. Three others were killed near the city, the National Weather Service said.
“A Yutan woman was reportedly carried a full quarter-mile inside her home before it went down. Amazingly, she was unharmed,” a previous Journal Star article said. The storm took just 35 minutes to cover 40 miles of Nebraska.
Nebraska State Historical Society
1913 Berlin tornado, 12 deaths
The same killer storm system that fed tornadoes in Omaha and Yutan created a twister that hit Berlin – now Otoe – on March 23, 1913.
The Berlin tornado began 4 miles south of Douglas in southwest Otoe County. It traveled northeast, leveling farm after farm as it passed two miles northwest of Syracuse before hitting Berlin, where it killed 12 people, according to the National Weather Service.
The Nebraska Daily Press summarized the damage: “There stood a happy, prosperous and contented village of about 300 people, there are only two dwelling houses left, partly in ruins, now temporary hospitals for them were seriously damaged in the storm last Sunday night, which literally swept away a town in Otoe County from the map.”
Journal Star file photo
Millard Hotel Fire 1933, 7 deaths
The fire on February 8, 1933 caused the death of seven firefighters when the hotel walls collapsed. Firefighters battled the blaze in temperatures of 15 degrees below zero. The historic hotel at 13th and Douglas was a total loss, but all guests were safe.
The Omaha Mid-West Hotel Reporter had this account: “As of this writing just after noon Thursday, there are seven firefighters dead and one missing, believed to be buried in the rubble. Additionally, there are 14 firefighters in multiple hospitals, several in serious condition due to falls and collapse of walls and floors. Frozen fingers, feet and faces added to the general distress.”
Courtesy of Durham Museum Photo Archive
Dust Bowl of the 1930s, deaths estimated in the thousands
Perhaps the greatest natural disaster in Nebraska history was the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, and Nebraska wasn’t even the epicenter of the devastation. Some people got lost in the black dust clouds and died in accidents. But victims estimated to number in the thousands succumbed to dust pneumonia and other ailments believed to have originated in the harsh conditions.
In Nebraska from 1936 to 1939, farmers were said to have lost $112 million in crops to the drought and more than $30 million to the locusts, according to a column by historian Jim McKee. Populations declined in many rural areas, the number of farms fell by as much as 50 percent, and marriage and birth rates fell to their lowest levels in decades.
Journal Star file photo
Video: Schoolhouse Blizzard of 1888
Braniff Airways crashed in 1966, 42 deaths
Braniff International Airways BAC 1-11 crashed near Falls City on August 6, 1966, killing all 42 people on board. The stakes in the ground mark the spot where a body was found.
From an article in the Journal Star:
The final minutes of Braniff Airways Flight 250 were captured by voice recorders.
At 11:02 p.m. on August 6, 1966, somewhere over the Nebraska-Kansas border, the co-pilot said, “It’s getting a little rough.”
Journal Star file photo
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