Missouri digs out from another deadly tornado

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. -- For the second time in less than one week, a rural Missouri community is reeling in the aftermath of a series of deadly tornadoes.

Violent storms that tore through four Midwestern states late Wednesday killed three people in northern Missouri. Hundreds of homes were damaged, and on Thursday thousands remained without power.

Authorities reported at least two tornadoes touching down in Adair County, the first hitting Novinger just before 6 p.m. Wednesday. The second twister touched down minutes later just north of Kirksville, a regional agricultural and manufacturing hub that is also home to Truman State University. A third, unconfirmed tornado struck Knox County east of Kirksville, a local emergency management director said.

The Kirksville-area tornado damaged at least 65 buildings, including a car dealership on the northern edge of town where employees arrived Thursday morning to a parking lot littered with overturned vehicles and a showroom with 12-foot-high plate glass windows completely blown away.

A couple living in a modular home died when their home "just exploded" from the force of the wind, said Adair County coroner Brian Noe. He identified the victims as Gustavo Ochoa, 47; and Alisha Brune, 29.

The couple had just bought the home two weeks ago and were newly engaged, Noe said. Ochoa, a native of Mexico, was a Bank of Kirksville vice president who worked at the branch inside the town's Wal-Mart.

Don Williams rode out the storm in his basement with his wife and four children. He described a "wall of rain shooting sideways" that ripped the roof off his home.

"It just tore everything up," he said. "It was just a blur. Insulation and trees blowing everywhere. I could see stuff just flying through my house."

To the west, 56-year-old Joyce Green died Wednesday night when her mobile home four miles east of Milan was thrown an estimated 40 feet by the storm and then collapsed, said Emergency Management director Rick Gardner. The woman's husband, who was working in his wood shop in an adjacent building, survived.

Green was a cook for the Head Start program in Milan.

Six people were treated for storm-related injuries at Northeast Regional Medical Center, but their injuries were considered minor.

The Kirksville-area tornado was half a mile wide and stayed on the ground for about a mile and a half, county officials said Thursday morning. Of the 65 damaged buildings, 10 homes were destroyed and 15 others suffered major damage.

An additional 150 buildings in the county also were damaged, and that number was expected to go up. Local officials also were inspecting a million gallon water tank that had some broken support bracing, but otherwise appeared intact.

Kirksville Police Chief Jim Hughes said the city was fortunate more people weren't harmed, given that the tornadoes touched down during the evening commute home.

"We feel very blessed in this city," he said. "We mourn for the two people who lost their lives, but to be able to get through that type of event with just six minor injuries is phenomenal."

Nixon surveys damage

One day before the Legislature's scheduled adjournment, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon flew from the state capital of Jefferson City to Kirksville to assess the damage and meet with emergency officials.

That followed similar trips by the governor last week to Carl Junction, Fair Grove and Fredericktown. Four people died in the earlier storms when at least a dozen confirmed tornadoes ravaged parts of southern Missouri. Among the victims were two people killed near Poplar Bluff when wind knocked a tree onto their sport utility vehicle.

"We have literally been to the Kansas and Illinois borders [tracking storm damage], and today we're close to the Iowa border," Nixon told a group of about 25 state and local emergency management officials gathered in a basement meeting room at the Kirksville Police Department.

In the background, scenes of the recent devastation played silently on a large video screen broadcasting The Weather Channel.

Nixon urged Missourians affected by the recent rash of storms to cooperate with one another as well as local law enforcement.

"If it takes a number of days to get the power back on, people can get stressed," he said. "We've got to make sure everybody stays calm."

In Caddo County in southwest Oklahoma, a possible tornado damaged homes and businesses in Gracemont and Anadarko, authorities said.

Dozens of inmates were evacuated from the Caddo County jail because of a gas line break, said Caddo County Emergency Management Director Larry McDuffey.

In northeast Oklahoma, a 100 mph wind gust was recorded west of the Bartlesville airport in Washington County, authorities said. The high winds downed trees and power lines, with 8,000 power outages reported at one point.

Central Indiana saw wind gusts of up to 60 mph and street flooding was reported in Vincennes, Linton and Rockville, authorities said. Utilities reported 8,000 were without power in and around Indianapolis early Thursday.

In Illinois, a range of windy storms dumped as much as 3 inches of rain within 50 minutes. National Weather Service meteorologist Ed Shimon called the accumulation "unbelievable," comparing it to heavy rainfall in the tropics.

The storm was continuing in Southern Illinois early Thursday, with lightning, heavy rain and strong wind gusts, Shimon said.

By midmorning Thursday in Kirksville, the focus had shifted from rescue and recover to damage assessment and repairs. At the Comfort Inn motel, where Williams and his family spent the night, the father of four tried to console his scared children.

"Don't worry, we'll get a new house," he said.

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Associated Press writer Rochelle Hines in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.