At least 5 people are dead in Missouri after a tornado

A tornado that struck Bollinger County, Missouri, killed at least five people in the dark overnight hours of Wednesday, Oct. 21 epoch

At least five people were killed when a possible tornado struck Bollinger County, Missouri in the dark overnight hours Wednesday, according to Sheriff Casey Graham.

The tornado moved through a rural area 50 miles south of St. Louis after touching down around 3 a.m. Clark Parrott is a trooper with the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

The trees were torn down and the homes were destroyed. One building was flipped on its side. Emergency crews were seen peering into the wreck with flashlight footage.

More than 20 agencies were part of the search for survivors and victims, with the damage so bad that they sometimes were forced to use chainsaws to cut back trees and brush to reach homes, Parrott said.

Larry Welker, Bollinger County’s public administrator, said the twister traveled along route 34 into Glen Allen, a village of slightly more than 100 people, and that he hasn’t been able to inspect the damage firsthand because law enforcement were restricting access to the area.

At least five people were killed, Graham wrote, noting that he was withholding the names of the dead to make sure their families could be notified first.

A tornado death in Bollinger County, Kentucky: Josh Wells, his home, and his wife, Justin Gibbs, a Meteorologist

“Please understand the scope of this operation,” he said. I am aware that everyone wants to be updated on what happened. As your sheriff, I make sure those who need help are getting it and account for all of our citizens.

“That was heartbreaking, but I wasn’t entirely relieved when I saw that the facility was spared,” he said. “I was just numb, thinking about all these other people, what they’re going through.”

Josh Wells said the tornado tore half the roof off his Glen Allen home and knocked it into his bedroom wall. Luckily, he fled beforehand with his son to his sister’s home because it has a basement.

“We all ran down and huddled against the wall and my brother-in-law made it down just seconds before we heard the roaring sound of the wind and debris crashing around us,” he said.

Justin Gibbs, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Paducah, Kentucky, said the tornado remained on the ground for roughly 15 minutes, traveling an estimated 15-20 miles (24-32 kilometers).

A weather service team was headed to Bollinger County to gather details about the tornado, but Gibbs said it’s clear “it was big. It was a significant tornado.”

He said he was getting reports that it was bad. He described it as a rural area, where residents mostly farmed, cut timber or worked construction jobs.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/04/05/1168207850/missouri-tornado-deaths-midwest-storms

Missouri State Sens. Eric Schmitt and Josh Hawley: “A warning warning on extreme weather events in the Midwest and South”

Emergency personnel and the governor will assess damage and determine what resources are needed. They planned a news conference in the afternoon.

Missouri’s U.S. Sens. Eric Schmitt and Josh Hawley, meanwhile, said they’re in touch with local leaders and ready to help. “As there’s more severe weather on the horizon, Missouri residents are reminded to stay alert,” said a statement from Schmitt.

The storms moving through the Midwest and South on Wednesday threaten some areas still reeling from a deadly bout of bad weather last weekend. The storms could affect up to 40 million people in a region including Chicago, Indianapolis, Detroit and Memphis, the Storm Prediction Center said. As of late morning, the the greatest threat appeared to be to an area stretching from lower Michigan into Tennessee and Kentucky.

Schools in Arkansas canceled classes on Wednesday because the storms were expected to move through the area during the morning rush.

A tornado touched down in the western Illinois community of Colona. Local news reports showed wind damage to some businesses there.

Helle said the damage was concentrated near the town of Bryant, about 200 mile (322 kilometers) southwest of Chicago. Helle said many homes had been destroyed and that the fire departments and other first responders were still cataloging the damage. He said that people listened to warnings and took shelter.

The Bollinger County tornado that killed three people was killed by winds on September 21, 2001, according to the National Weather Service. The damage of a home in Lee County

The semitrailers that were tipped over by winds in Lee County are reported by the National Weather Service.

After the suspected tornado ripped through Bollinger County, residents who lost their homes in the storm were trying to salvage what they could Wednesday as the sun came up.

The storm wreaked havoc across several communities in the county as it tore homes into piles of wood, ripped the roofs off buildings, and left roads strewn with debris.

“When you look at the devastation of this, it’s going to be weeks upon months to be able to recover,” Gov. Mike Parson said after touring Bollinger County. “It’s a long journey ahead for the people that live here.”

The devastation in Bollinger County mirrors the destruction left behind in parts of the South and Midwest, where violent storms and tornadoes left 32 people dead just last week.

Now, as crews in different communities work to clear debris, the severe weather threat is expected to decrease Thursday, with only a marginal risk of isolated severe thunderstorms possible in the Mid-Atlantic and parts of Texas, according to the Storm Prediction Center.

Sear didn’t think that their house would ever be hit. “But we have such wonderful neighbors. The church group will help clean up for me when they get in, because they were checking on everybody.

There was a shelter in the bathroom as the roof of the rental home was damaged by the storm.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/06/us/us-severe-storms-tornado-threat-thursday/index.html

The Bollinger County Sheriff’s Office Associated with the Hurricane Irregular 2004-07 Autonomous Vehicle Experiment (Bollinger County)

Hundreds of personnel from over 25 agencies descended on Bollinger County in the aftermath of the storm. Crews were working Wednesday to search damaged homes and surrounding roadways, and to clear debris.

“Even in difficult times, it certainly is humbling to see how in our rural communities here in Missouri, that we all come together to work through these very difficult times,” Olson said.