WINDS, RAIN THRASH AREA

Streets in downtown Cape Girardeau looked like fast-flowing rivers about 6:30 p.m. Thursday as a severe thunderstorm thrashed the area.

Water was more than waste deep on Water Street and inundated many downtown businesses.

In addition to water damage, high winds shattered windows and damaged roofs around the city. Also, a Union Electric official said power outages affected 8,500 customers in the area.

"The damage was city wide," said Capt. Steve Strong of the Cape Girardeau Police Department, "but fortunately no injuries were reported."

Several vehicles were damaged and travel was hampered due to uprooted trees and limbs scattered across many streets in the city.

"I don't know the extent of the damage at this point," Strong said Thursday night, "but I know Public Works is working on clearing the streets."

Union Electric was busy restoring power to much of the city and surrounding areas throughout Thursday evening.

Doug Groesbeck, district manager for the utility, said the storm knocked out power in Cape Girardeau, Scott City, Chaffee and the surrounding area.

He said homes and businesses would be without power for two to 16 hours, depending on their location and the extent of the damage.

"We are servicing 200 separate locations," Groesbeck said. In addition, the utility company responded to many individual homes that lost power due to tree limbs crashing down on power lines.

Union Electric called repair crews from Dexter and Hayti to help address the problems, Groesbeck said.

Kathleen Wolz, who was downtown for a Riverfest Committee meeting, parked her car on Water Street moments before the storm hit.

After the storm, she bailed water out of her car, which had floated onto the curb. The seats were soaked, and water filled the drink holders.

"I just moved this car from Spanish Street," she said. "Someone came to where we were meeting and said our cars were floating away. We thought he was kidding."

Mark Goodson, manager of Papa Bear's Daiquiris at 2 N. Main, rushed to the window of the business when the storm hit. He said the wind caused the window to crack and he tried to keep it from shattering.

"As I was holding it, it just blew out and the water came in on me," he said.

Goodson said the business didn't suffer any significant water damage, and none of the 15 customers in the business when the storm hit were injured.

Customers and staff evacuated Port Cape Girardeau, 19 N. Water, when the storm hit. Dennis "Doc" Cain, the restaurant's owner, said much of the south side of the restaurant became flooded. The carpet in the restaurant's lounge was soaked.

The downtown flash flooding was exacerbated by the high river level and by a power failure.

Andy Juden of the Main Street Levee District explained that when the Mississippi River is above flood stage, stormwater must be pumped, with electric pumps, from sewers into the river.

But when the electricity failed, the levee district crew was forced to wait until Union Electric crews disconnected the pumping station from the electric lines before starting a backup generator.

"If we don't do that, we might kill a man working on the lines somewhere with our backup generator," Juden said.

Without the stormwater pumps running, though, Juden said water on the inside of the floodwall might have been as high as the flooded river on the outside. He said water could have accumulated to "eight or nine feet" at the corner of Themis and Water.

The high water on Water Street also prompted officials to consider canceling this weekend's Riverfest '95 celebration.

After a meeting late Thursday, Riverfest Committee Chairman Tom Ross announced the 17-year tradition would go on as planned.

Sheriffs' departments in surrounding counties reported plenty of property damage but no injuries. In Scott, Cape Girardeau and Bollinger counties, trees were uprooted and power lines knocked down.

The Sikeston Department of Public Safety said a tornado might have touched down west of the city, but there were no injuries and little property damage reported.

Perry County escaped with rain and wind but little damage, and Missouri State Highway Patrol personnel in Poplar Bluff reported only strong, but brief, winds and light rain.

There also were unconfirmed reports of tornadoes in Alexander and Pulaski counties in Illinois. One might have touched down near Thebes, Ill., around 6:30 p.m.

At about the same time, the Pulaski County Sheriff's department received calls about tornado sightings near Mounds and Mound City. Roofs were blown off some buildings near those cities, but no injuries were reported.