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NewsNovember 15, 1993

A recreational trailer is blown over in Chaffee on Dorothy and Lary Glaus' farm during a tornado Sunday morning. The Glaus' also had damage to their barns, chicken house and power lines. A barn adjacent to Blomeyer Junction convience store in Delta is destroyed by a small tornado which hit the area Sunday morning...

A recreational trailer is blown over in Chaffee on Dorothy and Lary Glaus' farm during a tornado Sunday morning. The Glaus' also had damage to their barns, chicken house and power lines.

A barn adjacent to Blomeyer Junction convience store in Delta is destroyed by a small tornado which hit the area Sunday morning.

Emergency workers were busy Sunday afternoon and into the night trying to repair the damage caused by a tornado, high winds and flash flooding that struck the region earlier in the day.

Rains, meanwhile, led to flash flooding and evacuations in Marble Hill, Old Appleton and Burfordville.

At 7:30 Sunday night, motorists still were unable to cross the Whitewater Bridge at Burfordville because of high water.

The tornado struck between 10 and 10:30 a.m. Sunday near Blomeyer and Delta. Brian Miller, coordinator of the Cape Girardeau County Office Emergency Preparedness, said the type of damage caused and debris left led emergency management officials to conclude that a tornado had struck.

"The way it appeared to have been wrapped around and picked up, we surmised it had been a small tornado," Miller said.

A tornado watch had been in effect since midnight. No one was injured in the "small" tornado, which caused "light damage to heavy structures and heavier damage to light structures," according to Mary Traughber, a meteorologist intern with the National Weather Service in Paducah.

Nancy Glueck, who owns the Blomeyer Junction convenience store at the intersection of Highways 77 and 25, said five people were in her store Sunday morning when they heard a sound "like a freight train."

"We got in the bathroom and got down close," she said.

A barn attached to the store was destroyed and her house now has a hole in its roof. Her in-laws' garage was blown down.

A farmer reportedly lost several machine sheds near Blomeyer, and two barns were blown down along Highway 25.

An elevator was knocked over Delta Supply Inc, a fertilizer supply company in Delta.

Winds demolished a barn, a recreational vehicle and chicken house on a farm owned by Lary and Dorothy Glaus between Delta and Chaffee. No one was injured but, "All the adults were scared just like the children," Lary Glaus said.

High winds blew a truck off the road on southbound I-55 near the Diversion Channel. The truck, which the driver said was traveling only about 20 mph, flipped onto its side on the median.

The driver, Kenneth Pittman of Russellville, Ark., was not injured.

A wind gust of 48 mph was measured before the Missouri Weather Cooperative's gauge at the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport was knocked out by the storm.

The system that included the tornado produced only about .25 of rain at the airport, but .9 inches fell since midnight Sunday.

The North County Fire Department began evacuating people along Apple Creek shortly after 1 p.m. Sunday after a woman called the county to report that water was coming into her home.

"We turned it over to the North County Fire Department," said Martha Vandivort, deputy coordinator of emergency preparedness for Cape Girardeau County.

"They assessed the situation and we realized it was about to become critical."

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The Millersville Volunteer Fire Department also was evacuating people living along the Whitewater River in Millersville. Up to two feet of water on the roadway closed Highway 72 at Whitewater River during part of the day. More evacuations occurred along the river in Burfordville Sunday afternoon.

"We're really keeping a close watch on anybody who lives along the Whitewater or Apple Creek," said Vandivort.

Cape La Croix Creek in Cape Girardeau also was being watched closely.

The National Weather Service at Paducah issued flash flood warnings for Bollinger and Cape Girardeau counties at 10:26 a.m. Sunday morning, later adding Bollinger County to the list at 12:19 p.m.

The service extended its flash flood warnings for the three counties until 6:15 p.m. Sunday, when they were canceled.

No injuries were reported in Cape Girardeau or Scott counties due to the flooding.

But two people died in Madison County, according to Mark Winkler, regional director of the state Emergency Management Agency.

One man was swept away from the top of his truck near Marquand and another person in a truck drowned near Captain's Creek. A survivor in that incident was taken to Southeast Missouri Hospital.

Two more deaths were reported in Iron County. Three people in a jeep were swept into Crane Pond Lake. Two were rescued and one died, Winkler said.

An elderly woman also was killed when her trailer was swept away near Annapolis.

The storm and tornado knocked out power in large parts of Cape Girardeau, Scott City, Chaffee, Fran, Delta and Dutchtown. An estimated 20,000 customers were affected.

By 5:45 p.m. Sunday, only Delta and isolated spots remained without power. "We've got some problems on the line that feeds Delta," A.D. Cox, district superintendent for Union Electric, said Sunday evening. "Hopefully before very long before have that together."

One of the remaining trouble spots was along Nash Road, where six utility poles were down near Biokyowa Inc.

Several roofs were blown off buildings in the vicinity, according to A.D. Cox, district superintendent for Union Electric.

In Scott County, most of the storm damage occurred near Oran. A mobile home blew over with a woman and child inside but they were not injured.

"Roofs were torn off barns, trees and utility poles are down and we've been without power since 10:30 (a.m.)," Scott County Sheriff's deputy Jim Chambers said Sunday afternoon.

He estimated the wind gusts at more than 50 mph. "I drive a big Suburban. It was rockin' and rollin'."

In Bollinger County, Tracy Mesey, wife of Sheriff Dan Mesey, handled incoming calls while her husband and sheriff's deputies helped with the evacuation along Crooked Creek Sunday. The creek runs between Marble Hill and Lutesville.

High winds reportedly damaged school buildings in Zalma, destroying a modular building housing classrooms.

School was canceled in Marquand today due to the flooding.

There were reports of trees down in Thebes and Olive Branch, Ill., Sunday, "but nothing really serious," a sheriff's department spokeswoman said.

The National Weather Service forecast rain showers Sunday night tapering off this morning. Chances of rain were 30 percent today increasing to 50 percent Tuesday.

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