Tornadoes Archives

May 1, 2013

Iona Cemetery

Old tombstones are generally the most interesting, but here’s a contemporary one in the Iona Cemetery that was worth a second look. James R. Peters was born in 1946, and he ordered his tombstone well in advance of its need. He died in 2010, so the font is slightly different.

It reads:

I WARNED YOU THIS WOULD HAPPEN

TOO MUCH INFO. HE HAS READ

TOO MUCH INFO. IN HIS HEAD

TO MUCH INFO. – NOW HE’S DEAD

Peters was an author

Peters wrote under the pen names George L. Bond and George Gray. Someone who actually knew the man described him as a bit of an odd duck, but I can’t find my notes. Maybe they’ll chime in.

You pretty much have to know what you’re looking for to find the cemetery. It’s up a steep gravel lane on the north side of Route V outside Oriole. (If you have to ask where Oriole is, you’ll probably NEVER find the cemetery.)

John McLard served in War of 1812

Some of the graves date back to the mid-1800s. John McLard, it is noted, served in the War of 1812.

Tornado scrambled stones

LaFern Stiver, who was guiding me around the Oriole – Indian Creek area, said an isolated tornado touched down on the hilltop cemetery in June of 2003, knocking over tombstones and carrying some away. A Missourian story said that it may never be possible to place all the stones in their proper places because the cemetery was never plotted.

Nearly 200 internments

The Missourian reported the Iona Cemetery Association had compiled a list of 120 internments in 1984, and said only a few people have been buried there since. The FindaGrave website, on the other hand, lists 198 names.

Martha “Marty” Humes Manes on that site has done an excellent job of documenting many of the people interned there.

December 31, 2012

Wrapping Up 2012

I ran this photo back in May with some basketball tournament photos, so I hope that either everybody is so hung over they won’t bother to read the page on New Year’s Day or that they have gotten to the age where their short-term memory has gone blank.The Happy New Year sign was on our living room window.

I never was fond on New Year’s Eve

I don’t have a lot of fond memories of New Year’s Eve. I never cared much for parties and particularly didn’t like to be out on “amateur night,” when the streets had drunk drivers roaming around. One night in particular, and I remember it as New Year’s Eve, but I can’t swear to it, I was on my way home when I rolled up on a fresh wreck. Car vs. utility pole with the vehicle on its side and the wires sparking all over the place.

STAY IN THE CAR

Somehow or another, I managed to convince the people in the car to STAY THERE. As long as the car isn’t on fire or about to explode, you’re a lot safer inside. The metal body works like a Faraday Cage, with the electrical charge riding the surface of the vehicle. If the occupant gets out and gives the power a chance to use his body as a path to ground, things get ugly. If you can’t jump completely clear of the vehicle, then you are better off waiting until the power is cut off.

I don’t know if I had to load my camera in the dark and in the excitement, but I didn’t get the end of the roll of film engaged in the takeup spool and it slipped off when I hit the advance lever. I was clicking away like mad, but there was no film being pulled through to be exposed. After the power had been shut off and the victims transported, I left. I’m not sure how long it was before I checked the camera and discovered my mistake, but by the time I got back, all I was able to shoot was a mugshot of a car with a power pole on top of it.

I never loaded a camera again without reaching for the rewind knob and making sure there was resistance, indicating that the end of the film was firmly on the takeup spool.

Let’s put another myth of rest: your rubber tires won’t keep you safe. I worked a cherrypicker that tangled with a power line. The voltage was high enough that the charge arched from the steel rims of the huge truck tires to ground, melting the rubber. One of the workers had the good sense to stay on the truck. The other panicked and tried to get down. He evidently had one hand on the truck when his feet hit the ground because all that electricity found him a more convenient path than having to arc through the air. THAT was an object lesson you don’t forget.

Tornado time

We had an elderly woman, Helen, living across the street from us who enjoyed Southern Comfort and shrimp cocktail. We invited her over to ring in the New Year with us. I had just poured the first drink and reached for the first shrimp when I got a call from the office: a rare winter tornado had swept though an RV park on an island in Lake Okeechobee near Belle Glade. There were reports of injuries and power lines down. It was late, but could I get somebody out there and back in time to make deadline?

I knew where the park was and I knew I was sober, so I saddled up and drove 50 miles through driving rain, dodged arcing power lines, shot off enough frames to show that SOMETHING had happened and jetted back. I made deadline with some not-so-memorable photos, but sometimes that’s all you can hope for.

So, I am going to be as happy to be sitting here at home on New Year’s Eve, hoping all that ammo our neighbors are shooting up into the sky will come down on them and not rain down on our house.

March 2, 2012

“Titanic Collision” Spawns Tornadoes

What The Missourian described as “the titanic collision of warm, moisture-laden air from the south with a rapidly advancing cold wave from the northeast brought not only severe weather over Southeast Missouri, but the prospect of up to three inches of snow.

The Dec. 21, 1967, story said the rare winter storm spawned tornadoes that struck McBride, Frohna and Potosi. Temperatures dropped from 30 to 35 degrees in a short period of time.

The McBride storm struck the Beldex Company hangars at the Perryville Airport.

The State Highway Patrol reported 18 injuries to workers who had been in one of the hangars that had been built when the airport was used a World War II flight training center. The airport is located about two miles northeast of McBride, near the Mississippi River.

Plane flipped on its back by the wind

A more complete story the next day dropped the number of injured from 18 to 13, the most serious a fractured hip.

Brad Estes wrote that a funnel cloud hidden by fog and sheets of rain demolished two hangars where workers had no warnings.

“It all happened in about 20 seconds”

David Bierk of Perryville, who was not injured, said that it was raining very hard, getting dark, and then the lights went out. “A man working with me called my attention to a roar, but I didn’t hear anything. That was just before the walls and windows started collapsing. Everybody tried to crawl under benches and tables. It all happened in about 20 seconds. We then took roll call to see if anyone was covered up.”

The Beldex plant, which repaired aircraft commercially, employed about 110 men and had leased space from the City of Perryville for about 15 years.

The storm moved from the south to the northeast. It took down power lines, cutting power to an electric clock in a nearby grocery store at exactly 11:43 a.m. Only one building of a five-building complex at the airport was not damaged. It contained 10 planes, ranging in size from large jets to small single-engine planes.

Seven aircraft received considerable damage.

Three DC-3s were sitting outside and the winds flipped one over. Four other airplanes were in the demolished hangar. The roof fell on a Convair, two jet Sabreliners and a smaller single-engine aircraft.

East Perry Lumber Company hit

What was thought to be a different storm hit Frohna about 11 a.m.

Its force was concentrated in the area of the East Perry County Lumber Co., where it destroyed a warehouse filled with lumber and equipment. Lumber and debris were scattered all over the 40-acre yard.

Three houses across the road suffered only minor damage. The worst was a house owned by Omar Steffens. One wall of an attached garage was torn loose, but the roof stayed intact and a car inside appeared undamaged.

Potosi tornado killed three

A tornado that dropped out of a pre-dawn thunderstorm killed three and injured 52 in Potosi. The town of 2,800 is about 50 miles west of Perryville.

Gallery of McBride, Frohna tornado photos

Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the image to move through the gallery.

March 1, 2012March 1, 2012

Puxico’s Leap Year Day Tornado

I checked the weather before I turned in around 2 a.m. Wednesday and saw a fast-moving narrow band of ugly weather headed toward Cape. When I got up, news reports indicated that Cape had dodged the bullet, but some other local communities, including Puxico, hadn’t. That was significant because Wife Lila’s brother, John Perry, had come down to do some odd job repairs for us. His Wife Dee’s parents and brother live on farms near Puxico.

Tree came through roof

She called him to say that her brother Don’s house was destroyed and he was feared dead.

He was later dug out of debris in his basement. He was pretty badly battered, but didn’t go to the hospital. Her parents, D.L. and Fern Douglas, who live nearby, had a tree come through their roof, several outbuildings destroyed and a tractor blown into a pond. A neighbor in a mobile home was killed.

Dee’s Facebook updates

Here are some of Dee’s Facebook posts to friends and family Wednesday evening. John and Dee’s son Wyatt was kind enough to share these photos.

WOW, what a day!

9:21 p.m. – WOW, what a day!……The storms in Puxico flattened my brother’s house. My parents’ farm and home look like a war zone. Everyone is fine, shook up, but fine. My heart just breaks for everyone…..I spent the afternoon doing what I could do for my parents with Wyatt. I just cried when I saw my brother’s house. I am so thankful that everyone is alive.

We thought my brother was dead

9:46 p.m. – My brother was thought to be dead. That was told to my Mother, so we were touch and go for awhile, I thought it was going to put her under, but she is one strong woman. My brother is pretty banged up, but I got to kiss him and hug him and that is all that matters!

10:41 p.m. – [Referring to wire service photo of her dad looking at his barn] He is so pitiful, all he has ever worked for was on that farm, but I still have him and Mom and the rest of my family, so for that I am thankful!

Pine trees snapped off

11:08 p.m. – As Mother puts it – and I saw it – it’s like a war zone, but I can tell you, that it was really awesome to be able to hug and kiss and talk to each and every one of my family. It almost took my knees out from under me…….it was so hard to have to stay at work today.

John’s on his way home

John’s Missouri family needs him more than his Florida family does right now, so we’re putting him on a plane Friday morning to help his in-laws dig out. Wife Lila says the folks at Southwest Airlines were great in letting him change his return flight with no additional charge.

Tag: Tornadoes