PAIR OF TORNADOES MAY BE TO BLAME FOR HEAVY DAMAGE

What was first described as a "small" tornado which struck the Delta, Chaffee and Blomeyer areas Sunday morning may have been two small tornadoes or one "large" one which skipped and jumped.

This is the latest word from the Cape Girardeau County Office of Emergency Preparedness at Jackson Monday.

"There may have been a second tornado," said Martha Vandivort, deputy coordinator of the center. "There's evidence that several trees had been clipped along a region following the Diversion Channel."

The tornado, high winds and flash flooding left death and destruction in its wake:

-- Two people in the region died Sunday as they tried to cross rain-swollen creeks in their vehicles.

-- Twenty-four homes with major damage in the Delta and Blomeyer areas.

-- 27 homes with minor damage in the same areas.

-- Thirty-three outbuildings with major damage, 19 of them "gone."

-- 15 outbuildings with minor damage.

-- Major damage to Delta Supply Co. elevator.

-- Major damage to two camper trailers.

-- Minor damage to a dozen pieces of farm machinery and equipment.

-- Damage to several trees along the Diversion Channel.

-- Window and roof damage to Delta School, and damage at Zalma and Marquand schools.

-- Minor damage to Kelly Hardware in Delta.

-- Power outages in Chaffee, Scott City, Cape Girardeau, Delta, Dutchtown.

-- Half-dozen utility poles downed along Nash Road area.

-- Minor damage to 12 vehicles, major damage to four vehicles and one vehicle destroyed.

Dallas Landers, 60, of Patterson, Mo., tried to cross a flooded creek on Stony Battery Road, about five miles north of Patterson in Wayne County Sunday. The Missouri Highway Patrol said Landers, who was swept downstream, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Gary Freeman, 32, of Bernie was also swept downstream in his vehicle after trying to cross a creek about seven miles north of Fredericktown. He was trapped in his car and drowned.

Three deer hunters were rescued from atop a building near the Castor River in Bollinger County.

The rains forced the evacuation of many families from their homes in areas in Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, Perry and St. Francois counties. "A lot of people were evacuated from their homes along the Whitewater River and Apple Creek areas," said Vandivort.

The rainfall at the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport during the weekend was recorded at 1.43 inches. "But to the north, as much as nine inches of rain fell during the two days," said Vandivort.

Waters have subsided in most of the flash food areas now, says Brian Miller, emergency preparedness coordinator in Cape Girardeau County.

"There was still a lot of water in the Whitewater area, but without an additional rain that should be down today," he said.

People who were evacuated from their homes in Old Appleton Sunday afternoon returned on Monday, Miller said. But some evacuees in Burfordville still were unable to return to their houses Monday.

The Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau rose 7.5 feet between Sunday and Monday, from 22.2 feet to 29.7 feet. Dean Surface, construction inspector for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Cape Girardeau, said such a large jump isn't that unusual.

"Especially at a lower stage, it doesn't take that much because the channel is narrower," he said.

He said the river still is low enough that Illinois levees should not be threatened as they were during last summer's flood.

The Mississippi is expected to exceed the 32-foot flood stage today with a reading of 33.5 feet, and is forecast to continue rising until cresting Friday at 37 feet.

The Themis Street floodgate will be closed when the river reaches 36.2 feet.

Meanwhile, the area weather forecast calls for soft drizzle and showers over the next five days, but no heavy rains, noted Miller.

Tornadoes and severe thunderstorms which spawn tornadoes can occur at any time of year, says Vandivort. "The greatest risks of deadly tornadoes in Missouri and Illinois are between the months of March through June, but both spring and fall are really tornado seasons," said Vandivort. She said climatic changes during these two seasons make tornado conditions favorable.

"We're going from cold weather to warm weather in the spring, and from warm to cold weather in the fall," said. "This creates instability in the atmosphere, which creates tornado weather."

According to statistics from the National Severe Storms Forecast Center in Kansas City, about 1,000 tornadoes are reported in the U.S. each year.

Over the past 10 years about 600 tornado deaths were reported nationwide as a result of 3,400 reported tornadoes. Thirteen people have died in Missouri and 48 in Illinois during the same time period as a result of tornadoes.

The National Weather Service said that each year more than 100,000 thunderstorms occur in the U.S., with about 1,000 of those growing into deadly tornadic thunderstorms that spawn tornadoes. Of those tornadic thunderstorms, only 15 to 20 produce "killer" tornadoes.

The weather service has placed an increased emphasis on public awareness about the threat of severe thunderstorms. Forecasters have always been concerned that people do not pay as much attention to severe thunderstorm watches and warnings as they do tornado watches and warnings.

Forecasters said a well-developed severe thunderstorm is capable of inflicting as much if not more damage as a single, medium-sized tornado.

Vandivort says people should remain informed about weather conditions on days when severe weather is possible.

"When a tornado or severe thunderstorm watch is issued for our area, be on the alert no matter where you are," she said. "That means that weather conditions are right for a tornado or storm. And if a tornado `warning' is issued, be more prepared...that means a tornado has been spotted somewhere in the area."