Two dead in Missouri storm

PARIS, Mo. (AP) -- Two residents of rural northeast Missouri were killed early Thursday when high winds -- perhaps a tornado -- struck their mobile home.

Kent Ensor, 44, and Kristy Secrease, 25, died when winds pummeled the home near Paris, Mo., a town of about 1,500 residents 55 miles northeast of Columbia. The Missouri State Highway Patrol said the bodies were found 400 feet from where the mobile home was sitting.

National Weather Service meteorologist Scott Truett said there have been reports that the winds were from a tornado, but the weather service has not yet confirmed that.

High winds in the area downed trees, power lines and utility poles. Authorities say some of the falling trees left minor damage to homes in Callaway, Audrain and Monroe counties.

"We had damage scattered around central and eastern Missouri and into southwestern Illinois," Truett said.

High winds in Jefferson City blew done the lone remaining flag pole at the Capitol. Winds had blown down the Capitol's other flag pole in August.

Authorities said two tornadoes touched down Wednesday in southwest Missouri. No injuries were reported, but a home near Chesapeake in Lawrence County was reportedly destroyed, and a barn was badly damaged.

Lawrence County Sheriff's dispatcher Becky Burton said several power lines were downed in the storms but that power had been restored by Thursday morning.

The area also had heavy rains and strong winds. The tornadoes passed between Mount Vernon and Aurora, Burton said.

The first tornado hit Lawrence County about 5:58 p.m., the National Weather Service reported. It touched down in the Verona and Chesapeake areas, said Andy Foster, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Springfield.

The storm system moved northeast from Barry County, across Lawrence County and into Greene County, Foster said.

He said in Greene County a tornado touched down near the Cave Spring area, which is south of Morrisville.

The second round of storms hammered southwest Missouri late Wednesday, starting about 10:30 p.m.

In the St. Louis area, nearly 10,000 customers of AmerenUE were without power Thursday morning from wind, lightning strikes and downed trees.

The southern Illinois town Murphysboro had to shut down schools because classrooms lacked power.

Truett said that in the Midwest, high winds are mixing with warm, spring-like weather on the ground. "That's a real good setup for severe weather," he said. The weather service believes the severe weather should be over by Friday.