STORM BLOWS THROUGH AREA; CAPE POLICE BUSY

A fast-moving storm from the south blew through Southeast Missouri Friday causing hail, a funnel cloud, gusting winds and accidents.

Twenty-three accidents, involving 49 vehicles, were reported in Cape Girardeau in a nine-hour period. That's one of the busiest nights for accidents the Cape Girardeau Police Department has had since Feb. 6, 1995, when 50 accidents were caused by snow and ice.

Police Cpl. Joyce Statler was on duty both those nights. She said Friday night was crazy but didn't compare to the one two years ago.

The accidents included a series of fender-benders that occurred around a major accident at the Missouri base of the Mississippi River bridge. Sixteen cars were involved in five accidents between 5:26 and 6:20 p.m. in that area.

Betty Pigge, the charge nurse at the Southeast Missouri Hospital emergency room Saturday night, said emergency room personnel treated a number of accident victims but few were serious.

"They had a pretty quiet night actually," Pigge said.

St. Francis Medical Center's emergency room reported a high volume of patients from the accidents but few of them were serious.

"Mostly sprains and bumps and bruises," Mary Spell, St. Francis spokeswoman, said.

The storm that was a contributing factor to most of these accidents also dumped half-inch to inch-sized hail north of Commerce. Gusts of wind up to 60 mph were reported in Poplar Bluff. A funnel cloud was sighted near Highway 61 two miles north of Sikeston but didn't touch down.

The area also received between a quarter-inch and 1 3/4 inches of rain, said Gregory Lamberty, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Paducah, Ky.

The heaviest rainfall totals were recorded in narrow bands of severe weather. A 5-mile-wide band cut across southern Cape Girardeau County southwest into a portion of Stoddard and Bollinger counties. Another band went across Perry County into Madison County.

Lamberty said this area felt a fraction of the devastation the storm caused in Mississippi and Alabama.

Several tornadoes and hail were reported from Louisiana to north Georgia. Strong winds caused damage to an airport hangar and a school near Greenwood, Miss., and an apartment building in Huntsville, Ala., according to the weather service.

Lamberty said the storm was caused when an intense low pressure system moving across the nation from the Pacific Ocean ran into warm, moist air moving north from the Gulf of Mexico.

The system was moving about 70 mph to the northeast Saturday and was bringing high winds and rain to the East Coast.

The weather service was calling for the possibility of rain again Wednesday and Thursday.