Columbia area sustains greatest damage
By: OSCAR AVILA The Kansas City Star
Date: 11/11/98
COLUMBIA - Some hunkered down in bathtubs, others cowered in
closets. One man was blown through a collapsed wall in his upstairs
bedroom and into the living room a floor below with only a few
scratches.
Somehow, everyone survived a storm that created a swath of
destruction from Kansas City through central Missouri early Tuesday.
A tornado, with winds as high as 150 mph, destroyed about 20
homes in Columbia but caused no serious injuries.
Gov. Mel Carnahan declared a state of emergency in Boone County,
Columbia and surrounding areas.
Kansas City escaped the worst of the damage. High wind toppled
trees onto homes and vehicles, blocked roads and made landing at
Kansas City International Airport a treacherous task.
In Columbia, emergency officials said the tornado was as strong as a
1995 tornado that destroyed 300 buildings in nearby Moberly.
``It's a miracle that we all made it out of here,'' said Adam Lock,
surveying the damage at his duplex in south Columbia.
About 2 a.m., Lock heard the wind howling against the windows. A
gust shattered the glass, sending him to the floor.
When things calmed down, he learned that his cousin, Matt Lock, had
been pinned by his mattress against the wall of his bedroom. When
the wall crumbled, Matt was blown over a rail and into the living
room.
He escaped with only a few cuts.
Matt Lock's escape was the talk of his block, which is heavy with
students from the University of Missouri who share fairly new
duplexes.
As the residents waded through the rubble, the neighborhood was a
surreal setting. In one home, a man walked up the stairs and opened a
door. He had no roof over his head and only two walls around him.
Gusty winds blew flakes of insulation onto cars and lawns, creating
what looked like snowfall.
The executive director of the Boone County chapter of the American
Red Cross said it was the most powerful storm in her 10 years at the
agency.
Eric Evans, with the State Emergency Management Agency's office of
disaster operations, said the storm was just as powerful as the
Moberly tornado although the winds were more narrowly
concentrated.
Slabs of lumber flew through the air with such force that they
penetrated walls and ceilings. One resident reported that the lid from
a barbecue grill sped through an open window and narrowly missed
his head.
Phil Weber swept dust from the front seat of his car. A two-by-four
had flown through the passenger window. The right side was dented.
The antenna looked like a wet noodle.
Still, Weber considered himself lucky.
When the first winds hit, Weber was sure it was a tornado. He held
on to a door frame as the gusts blew through. Like several other
residents, he could see flashes of light in the sky.
``The boom shook the entire house,'' Weber said. ``When it all
stopped, I was debating whether I even wanted to go outside. ''
He will be able to move back in, and the Missouri Students
Association donated $2,500 to the Red Cross for students who are
now homeless.
In Kansas City, lightning struck the left side of an Emery Worldwide
DC-8 cargo plane Monday around 11 p.m. as it was approaching
KCI, said spokesman Joe McBride.
The plane was about 15 miles from the airport when it was hit, so the
pilot called for an emergency landing as a precaution, McBride said.
No one on the plane was injured. The plane landed without incident,
and the aircraft did not sustain major damage, he said.
Heavy winds Tuesday challenged pilots, but no problems were
reported throughout the day, McBride said.
High winds also closed the Longview Lake Marina, which sustained
considerable structural damage in Monday night's storm. The dock
and all utilities were damaged, but no one was injured and no boats
were lost.
The marina will remain closed while repairs are made. On Tuesday,
the Jackson County Legislature allocated money to make the repairs.
The National Weather Service said winds up to 80 mph were
reported south of the metro area in Linn County. In most areas, the
winds topped out around 50 mph, said Kevin Polston, a
meteorologist.
Kansas City Power & Light crews worked through the day Tuesday
to restore power to the last several hundreds homes that lost
electricity in the high winds, said Pam Levetzow, a KCP&L
spokeswoman.
About 10,000 customers lost power in the storm. By early Tuesday,
at least half were awaiting reconnection. Most had power restored by
noon Tuesday, Levetzow said.
``We did have a lot of lines on the ground, and we were asking
people to be very cautious,'' she said.
In Independence, only 75 customers sustained power outages, said
George Morrow, the city's Power & Light Department director.
Power to most of those homes, Morrow said, was restored within an
hour.
Outages were reported in Harrisonville, Drexel, Amsterdam, Belton
and Grandview, said Debbie Leonard of EnergyOne. Most were
restored by mid-morning. ``We brought in extra crews,'' she said.
Falling tree limbs caused most outages, but in a few cases the power
poles were damaged by the high winds.
To reach Oscar Avila, Missouri correspondent for The Star, call
234-4902 or send e-mail to oavila@kcstar.com.
The Star's Donald Bradley, Shawna A. Hamel, Michael Mansur,
Glenn E. Rice and Mike Rice contributed to this article.