Cape Girardeau County sends personnel and equipment to tornado-stricken St. Mary

Cape Girardeau County Office of Emergency Management director Mark Winkler said the county sent personnel and equipment Thursday to St. Mary, Missouri, after an EF3 tornado ripped through the town Oct. 24.

"Paul Koeper, 1st District County Commissioner, went to assist, as did representatives of the county's highway, buildings and grounds and parks departments," Winkler said.

The quartet of helpers spent time moving debris, Winkler said, and took north with them two excavators and a dump truck.

According to reports, the twister touched down in St. Mary at 8:30 p.m. and rapidly moved east into Chester, in Randolph County, Illinois.

Felix Meyer, Ste. Genevieve County Emergency Management Agency director, said the entire hamlet of St. Mary was left without power when the destructive storm went through.

According to 2020 figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, St. Mary has 340 residents.