Tornado-torn towns begin picking up wind-tossed pieces

MARQUAND, Mo. -- As mayor of this 268-resident town that's barely a speck on a map along Route A, Warren Huffman mustered a smile Thursday while surveying what was left of the rural outpost.

A day after a dinnertime tornado came calling, the Madison County community a few blocks long and without even a stop light already was clearing debris from the storm from the tiny firehouse reduced to a mangle of collapsed lumber and particleboard.

Crews were doing the same at the cinderblock post office that lost its roof, not far from the "City Hall" where most of its top was peeled away. A cafe -- the local gathering spot -- stood ruined, its ceiling collapsed in places by bricks dumped onto it from the building next door.

"It's a huge loss for a small town," said Huffman, a roofing contractor who has been mayor the past four years in this town about 100 miles south of St. Louis, tucked among rolling hills of pastureland along the winding, two-lane road.

Still, he pledged, "We will rebuild."

Such was the case at several southeast Missouri communities that fired up the chain saws and grabbed the roofing hammers Thursday, intent on moving beyond the severe storms said to have dropped tornadoes in at least six counties, destroying several homes and businesses.

At least 18 people were injured. Three persons who were transported by Air Evac from Poplar Bluff to St. Francis Medical Center with storm-related injuries were still hospitalized Thursday, said Maria Swan, a hospital spokeswoman.

One was in critical condition, while the other two were in fair condition.

It had initially been reported that four persons were brought by helicopter to St. Francis late Wednesday from Poplar Bluff. However Swan said the fourth person had not suffered injuries related to the tornado. No one died.

In Marquand, officials said, two people escaped with just slight injuries.

Throughout southeast Missouri, more than 100 homes were destroyed, with hundreds more damaged, state emergency-management officials said.

Many of the injuries were around Poplar Bluff, where about 30 destroyed homes included many at the Pine Cone Estates subdivision where seven people required hospital care, most for minor injuries.

Gov. Bob Holden declared a state of emergency for Butler, Carter and Madison counties. He visited the devastation at Poplar Bluff and flew over other damaged areas.

Tornadoes also were spotted in Dunklin, Washington and Stoddard counties.

Jimmie Johnson who resided near Pine Cone Estates, west of Highway 67, lost a trailer home and five cars to the tornado. He was at work when it hit. "I don't have a home, don't have a garage. It totaled five cars, pretty well wiped me out," Johnson said.

The AssociatedPress and Daily American Republic contributed to this story.

"Certain things line up just right and -- boom! -- you get these thunderstorms that can form and these kinds of things can happen," National Weather Service spokesman Jim Kramper said.

Marquand was hit at about 5 p.m. Wednesday. Tammy Homan heard the tornado warning on the radio and scrambled to pass it along at the cafe run by her daughter, Stacie Sitze, and son-in-law Denny. The handful of diners bolted for a back room in Sitze's Cafe and braced themselves.

Minutes later after the storm roared past, Marquand folks ventured outside.

At first glance, Huffman said, "My thought was, 'Mercy sakes."'

"It was like a war zone when we got here," added Madison County Sheriff David Lewis.

Said Homan: "This town's small, so there's not much here anyway. What was here is gone."

Locals helped clear trees toppled across Route A just outside of town, opening up a path for emergency vehicles to make their way in.

The tornado's width stretched a half mile to twice that, officials said, taking out the firehouse, peeling back much of the City Hall's roof and blowing out its windows. It tossed a sport utility vehicle onto its side, all the while leaving a nearby log cabin untouched in the town's park and the local school for grades kindergarten through 12th grade unscathed.

"My home's two blocks from here, and we didn't even get a tree limb bowed," Huffman said.

Even the First Baptist Church escaped with only a few patches of missing shingles.

"The roof was bad anyway," Calkins said, looking for the positive. "In that case, the tornado's probably a blessing."