TREES FALL IN 50 MPH WINDS AT JACKSON

JACKSON -- Amy Lucy counts herself among the lucky ones after a strong thunderstorm delivered winds up to 5 mph, hail and rain about 4:30 a.m. Thursday.

Trees were uprooted and limbs broken. Many power lines were knocked down and thousands of Jackson power customers were without service.

At Lucy's home, 131 Elmwood, large tree limbs fell onto the garage.

"Between 4:30 and 4:45, the wind was howling and we heard the hail," she said. "I got up and looked out the window. It was all foggy, and I couldn't really see anything out the windows."

So she went back to bed. When she got up Thursday morning she was surprised to see the devastation the storm had left in Jackson.

City crews were out before 5 a.m. working on power lines and cutting trees.

"There were quite a few uprooted trees," said Lisa Floyd of Jackson's utilities and public works department. "We had a tree laying over a house on Oak Street. We had a lot of trees laying in the roads."

Many businesses and offices in Jackson were without power throughout the morning Thursday.

"Pretty much the whole city was without power at some time," Floyd said.

She said the downed trees and limbs took down the power lines.

By Thursday afternoon power was back on to most customers and streets were cleared. But Floyd expected cleanup to continue into next week.

Lucy said: "We were lucky. Nothing actually hit the house. Some limbs did hit the garage, but it was not major."

Tree limbs knocked out the neighbor's telephone lines.

"There were branches and limbs everywhere," she said. "But it's all pretty much cleaned up at our house. It's in huge piles at the front of the house."

Most Jackson residents escaped the strong storm that hit the region earlier this week.

In Cape Girardeau, cleanup continues from a similar thunderstorm early Wednesday morning. Cape Girardeau city crews were still picking up tree limbs and cutting up large branches on Thursday.

The weather forecast calls for a threat of showers and thunderstorms through the weekend.