Environment

Kirksville Missouri tornado kills 3, damages dozens of homes

by amyjudd | May 14, 2009 at 07:41 am

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In Kirksville Missouri, a tornado touched down yesterday, killing three in the northern part of the state and damaging dozens of homes in four Midwestern states. Thousands of people are still without power.

Kirksville was the hardest hit as 30 to 40 homes were damaged and cars were flipped on their roofs.

"It just tore everything up," said Don Williams, who rode out the storm in his basement with his wife and four children. "It was just a blur. Insulation and trees blowing everywhere. I could see stuff just flying through my house."

A woman was killed in Sullivan County when a tornado struck her mobile home, and the other two people died near a car dealership, but none of the names have been released.

In some areas when the tornado touched down it was only 500 feet wide, which is quite narrow for a tornado.

School has been canceled in Gillespie, near St. Louis, because most of the town has no power.
School has also been canceled in Caddo County in Oaklahoma, and inmates had to be evacuated from the jail there because of a gas line break due to the storm.

High winds downed power lines all over the four states, in some places the wind was over 100 mph. Heavy rains also caused problems, with the weather continuing to be bad on Thursday morning.

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Misty Dawn (not verified)

at 10:34 on May 14th, 2009

I was there when the tornado hit. The photos with this article are the photos I took after the tornado passed through. I have written my story and experience (and have more photos), if anyone is interested.