Tornado delivers severe damage to Wheaton
Multiple homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed by the confirmed tornado in Wheaton on Tuesday night, April 30. Above, Southwest Auction Service was completely destroyed. Photo by Brandon VanDalsem.
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Above is another photo of the damage sustained during the tornado in Wheaton at Southwest Auction Service. Photo by JR Beeson.
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Cassville sustained straight line wind damage in the storms that blew through the area on Tuesday evening. Above, a large tree was blown over just off of Main Street in Cassville near downtown.
May 1, 2019
Charlea Estes-Jones
Severe storms in Barry County left trees and limbs down, power poles snapped, hundreds without power and at least two homes destroyed in the Wheaton area. According to David Compton, of Barry County Emergency Management, there was at least one confirmed tornado and a couple others are still under investigation.
Compton said, “We’re investigating a couple other potential tracks. NWS confirmed the tracks today, and we know we had a tornado that went through the Wheaton area. We’re also assessing a track that is in the Pleasant Ridge area around VV Highway.” The Pleasant Ridge area also experienced strong enough storms to snap power poles.
Compton added that there was a suspected tornado in the Shell Knob area at the corner of Barry and Stone Counties, but he suspects that is straight line wind damage. In the Shell Knob area, there were resident reports of down trees and multiple carports flipped over, but no substantial damage to homes.
He added, “We had some reports that there was some damage in the Washburn area, but we haven’t been able to verify that. It’s unsubstantiated at this time.”
While Cassville residents saw street flooding and plenty of down limbs and trees, Compton said the damage in the county seat was from straight line winds, as well. There were also claims of roof damage to homes. Monett’s damage scope was the same, according to Compton.
The southern part of the county is similar to reports from Cassville: trees and limbs down.
Wheaton suffered the brunt of the damage with reports of two or three homes destroyed and others with significant damage. The tornado warning led school officials to decide to keep buses at the school until the threat passed. Wheaton Schools also cancelled school today, Wednesday, May 1, due to power outages and damage to the area.
When the tornado first hit the area, roads were closed except for emergency personnel. Compton said, “We had lots of trees down, lots of power lines down and lots of damage over there. But there were no injuries.”
Wheaton’s power outages spanned a good portion of Wheaton and the surrounding area, but Compton said those customers are being brought back online really quickly. He said, “Barry Electric had about 600 meters out mostly over in that west central and southwestern area of the county, so Wheaton and south. They are actually reducing that number pretty quickly. There were also power outages in Purdy, Butterfield and Monett last night, but all of those are back on now.”
Wheaton residents were initially told to conserve water use after the tornado first hit. Due to power outages, the city’s well could not run. However, Barry Electric managed to get the city’s electricity to its well back operational before other solutions were needed.
Compton shared, “We were a little afraid, because they were going to have a water issue, but we actually made arrangements to bring a generator down to keep their water system pressurized, but Barry Electric was able to get power back on to their power system before it was even here.”
Mutual aid from county fire departments assisted in limb removal, as well as MoDOT crews to make sure roads were clear.
Kelly Johnson, of Wheaton, said she and her children were at the school when the first round of sirens went off Wednesday afternoon. She said her family and neighbors took shelter in her basement when the storm hit.
She said, “The first siren went off around 3:15 p.m. I was in the parking lot at the school when the sirens were going, and school officials were trying to get kids back in the building.
“When we got home and in the garage, it was surreal. The wind was blowing, and it was raining a little. We watched the radar and looked out the window before going down the basement. When we looked out the window facing south, we saw a dark straight funnel cloud coming down to the ground. My son yelled that it had debris in it. Then, it went across a field in the distance.
“About 20 minutes later, we went upstairs and looked and that’s when we saw the damage and roofs were gone and there was so much debris and trees down.”
Johnson said her home wasn’t affected by damage. She even noted that her neighbor had a blanket on a clothes line that was still hanging. She said, “My neighborhood was fine. The power went out, but that was it. It was crazy that there was a house with a roof gone 200 yards from us, and we didn’t have anything happen here.
“It was really strange.”
Despite damage, no injuries were reported from the tornadic storm. Compton said, “If nobody gets hurt, everything else is fixable.”
Charlea Estes-Jones
Severe storms in Barry County left trees and limbs down, power poles snapped, hundreds without power and at least two homes destroyed in the Wheaton area. According to David Compton, of Barry County Emergency Management, there was at least one confirmed tornado and a couple others are still under investigation.
Compton said, “We’re investigating a couple other potential tracks. NWS confirmed the tracks today, and we know we had a tornado that went through the Wheaton area. We’re also assessing a track that is in the Pleasant Ridge area around VV Highway.” The Pleasant Ridge area also experienced strong enough storms to snap power poles.
Compton added that there was a suspected tornado in the Shell Knob area at the corner of Barry and Stone Counties, but he suspects that is straight line wind damage. In the Shell Knob area, there were resident reports of down trees and multiple carports flipped over, but no substantial damage to homes.
He added, “We had some reports that there was some damage in the Washburn area, but we haven’t been able to verify that. It’s unsubstantiated at this time.”
While Cassville residents saw street flooding and plenty of down limbs and trees, Compton said the damage in the county seat was from straight line winds, as well. There were also claims of roof damage to homes. Monett’s damage scope was the same, according to Compton.
The southern part of the county is similar to reports from Cassville: trees and limbs down.
Wheaton suffered the brunt of the damage with reports of two or three homes destroyed and others with significant damage. The tornado warning led school officials to decide to keep buses at the school until the threat passed. Wheaton Schools also cancelled school today, Wednesday, May 1, due to power outages and damage to the area.
When the tornado first hit the area, roads were closed except for emergency personnel. Compton said, “We had lots of trees down, lots of power lines down and lots of damage over there. But there were no injuries.”
Wheaton’s power outages spanned a good portion of Wheaton and the surrounding area, but Compton said those customers are being brought back online really quickly. He said, “Barry Electric had about 600 meters out mostly over in that west central and southwestern area of the county, so Wheaton and south. They are actually reducing that number pretty quickly. There were also power outages in Purdy, Butterfield and Monett last night, but all of those are back on now.”
Wheaton residents were initially told to conserve water use after the tornado first hit. Due to power outages, the city’s well could not run. However, Barry Electric managed to get the city’s electricity to its well back operational before other solutions were needed.
Compton shared, “We were a little afraid, because they were going to have a water issue, but we actually made arrangements to bring a generator down to keep their water system pressurized, but Barry Electric was able to get power back on to their power system before it was even here.”
Mutual aid from county fire departments assisted in limb removal, as well as MoDOT crews to make sure roads were clear.
Kelly Johnson, of Wheaton, said she and her children were at the school when the first round of sirens went off Wednesday afternoon. She said her family and neighbors took shelter in her basement when the storm hit.
She said, “The first siren went off around 3:15 p.m. I was in the parking lot at the school when the sirens were going, and school officials were trying to get kids back in the building.
“When we got home and in the garage, it was surreal. The wind was blowing, and it was raining a little. We watched the radar and looked out the window before going down the basement. When we looked out the window facing south, we saw a dark straight funnel cloud coming down to the ground. My son yelled that it had debris in it. Then, it went across a field in the distance.
“About 20 minutes later, we went upstairs and looked and that’s when we saw the damage and roofs were gone and there was so much debris and trees down.”
Johnson said her home wasn’t affected by damage. She even noted that her neighbor had a blanket on a clothes line that was still hanging. She said, “My neighborhood was fine. The power went out, but that was it. It was crazy that there was a house with a roof gone 200 yards from us, and we didn’t have anything happen here.
“It was really strange.”
Despite damage, no injuries were reported from the tornadic storm. Compton said, “If nobody gets hurt, everything else is fixable.”
