VIOLENT THUNDERSTROM STRIKES INFLICTING HEAVY DAMAGE HERE

A brief but fierce lightning and wind storm struck Cape Girardeau and environs Thursday night, causing at least one house fire and more transformer fires, downing power lines and trees all over the city and flooding out cars on many streets.

"Cars are floating in some places," said Officer David E. Felton of the Cape Girardeau Police Department.

Power still was out in northern, southern and downtown sectors of the city at 10:30 p.m. Thursday, affecting an unknown number of customers.

During the height of the storm, street lights and stop lights went out all over the city. Police directed traffic at what intersections they could. Motorists cautiously navigated others.

High winds broke tree limbs, and hurled large rocks and trash cans out into the streets.

Marble-sized hail fell for a few minutes, sending anyone in the street running for cover.

Gusts of 30-50 mph one was clocked at 76 mph by KFVS-TV instruments blew rain horizontally across the city, swamping key intersections such as Independence and West End Boulevard, where the water was 2 feet deep.

Similar flooding was reported along South Kingshighway, particularly susceptible when Cape La Croix Creek overflows.

After about 30 minutes of high winds and torrential downpours, the storm suddenly stopped. Water-soaked motorists waded out to their cars to assess the damage.

The first rain began falling at 7:40 p.m. and became heavy at 8:05 p.m. By 9:30 p.m. the Missouri Weather Cooperative at Municipal Airport had measured .80 of an inch of precipitation.

At 9:30, a staffer said the office was operating on emergency power and that the wind gauge, which clocked a relatively tame 35 mph gust, no longer was working.

"The main part of the storm was north of us," he said.

KFVS' instruments measured 1.78 inches of precipitation in the city.

At 9 p.m., the county Emergency Operations Center reported that every fire truck in Cape Girardeau was in use, verified by the sound of sirens screaming across the city.

Fire Chief Robert Ridgeway said the department had responded to more than 40 calls by 10:45 p.m. Thursday night.

High water caused more problems.

"Highway 74 and Bloomfield Road are under water," said Rick Neace, an EOC staffer who was called to duty.

Near the Themis Street floodgate, opened Thursday for the first time since the Mississippi River went over flood stage, the downpour caused new flooding along Water Street. Late Thursday, employees at Port Cape Girardeau were squeegeeing the remains of six inches of water that at one point covered the bottom floor of the restaurant.

Kevin McMeel, assistant public works director, said about a dozen trees were down across the city and that power had been lost at the city's wastewater treatment plants.

According to the National Weather Service in Paducah, the storm system stalled over Cape Girardeau. The storm struck so suddenly that no warning was issued until it already was upon the city.

Transformer fires, most often caused by power surges and electrical shorts, were reported all over the city.

There were reports of trees down at 101 and 105 S. Sprigg and in the 400 block of Koch St. A tree blocked Sprigg Street between Broadway and Bellevue.

At least one police vehicle was among the many stalled out by high water running in the city streets.