SEVERE WINDS BATTER REGION; WIDESPREAD POWER OUTAGES ACROSS CITY

A large portion of the AmernUE building's roof blocked the entrance to the office on Minnesota Street, but the employees inside remained busy with more than 22,000 customers without power after Monday afternoon's storm.

Roofing from a newly remodeled apartment building at 45 S. West End Boulevard blew across the street as high winds ripped through Cape Girardeau Monday afternoon.

John O'Malley, left, and Richard Lynn used handsaws and tree pruners to clean up fallen trees in O'Malley's front yard in the 500 block of Country Club Drive late Monday.

Jackson Bahn taped off a tree in the road in front of his house at 1000 N. Henderson Monday afternoon shortly after a heavy wind storm passed through the Cape Girardeau area.

High winds ripped the bubble off Central Pool and rooftops from their buildings while snapping huge trees like twigs as a severe thunderstorm moved across Cape Girardeau and Southeast Missouri Monday afternoon.

The storm hit about 3 p.m. and came without much warning. The National Weather Service in Paducah, Ky., issued a severe thunderstorm warning just as the storm hit.

Only a few minor injuries were reported. Most of the damage reported involved downed power lines and tree limbs strewn across city streets.

Weather spotters reported winds up to 78 mph in the city. The Cape Girardeau Regional Airport reported wind gusts up to 62 mph. No one confirmed whether a tornado touched down, although funnel clouds were seen.

The storm moved southwest through the city before crossing the Mississippi River and heading to Southern Illinois.

After the winds subsided, crews from AmerenUE worked to restore power to 22,500 customers in the Cape Girardeau area who lost electricity when the storm hit. Additional crews from Dexter, Charleston, Hayti and St. Francois County were called in to help restore power.

AmerenUE district manager Doug Groesbeck said, "If we weren't in the tail of a twister it was just about as much damage."

Workers at the AmerenUE administrative offices on South Minnesota Avenue scrambled to cover computers and equipment in plastic when the wind blew off part of the roof.

Groesbeck, who saw a tornado in 1968, said he couldn't remember any time when more customers were affected by a power outage. "It's the most we've had out because of a storm in five or more years," he said.

Parts of the city were still without power late Monday evening. Many customers would likely be without electricity for 24 hours, though some areas were restored by 5 p.m.

The storm knocked out power to Southeast Missouri State University for some two hours and disrupted final exams. People huddled in the basement of Academic Hall when the storm hit.

Traffic lights at most major intersections weren't operating, so police directed traffic or put out temporary stop signs.

Any minor accidents weren't being worked by police who instead tried to clear streets of limbs and other debris.

"We're asking people to exchange information and just report it later," said Sgt. Carl Kinnison, public information officer.

During the height of the storm, police and 911 dispatchers were getting conflicting damage reports. But the majority were calls of downed lines and limbs. "We've had widely scattered damage but nothing serious," Kinnison said.

Central Pool probably had the most damage when winds ripped a gash in the insulated bubble. Damage was estimated at $70,000 by city parks staff. The pool is owned jointly by the city and public schools.

Normally it takes about two weeks to deflate the bubble, which had been set for removal later this week.

Doug Gannon, pools supervisor, expected the pool to reopen on its regular summer schedule June 7. The parks staff will assess damage today and then remove the bubble.

"It will just be taken off ripped instead of intact," Cannon said.

Because of the amount of damage, particularly at the pool, Nicholas Palisch thought a tornado had passed through the area.

Palisch, a weather specialist for the National Weather Service, tracked the path of the storm from the western part of the city to the river. He reported straight-line winds clocked between 60 and 70 mph in the city.

"I can't confirm a tornado," he said. "But I've had people say there was a possible funnel and that they saw a rotation."

He estimated that with the spotty damage and path, the Weather Service could classify the storm as a tornado later. "It was a thunderstorm that collapsed."

And as the storm collapsed, so did trees across the campus at Southeast Missouri State University. The storm damaged 22 trees across campus.

Dr. Dale Nitzschke, Southeast's president, was driving back from Sikeston as the storm approached Cape Girardeau.

"By the time I hit West End, it was knocking down trees and branches. All sorts of debris was flying," he said.

Chris Donze, Donovon Collier and Zack Stackle worked to clear limbs away from Donze's motorcycle that had been knocked over by an uprooted tree on North Pacific Street. The parking spot "looked good earlier," Donze said.