WINDS, RAIN THRASH AREA

A rush-hour storm that whipped through the area Thursday brought high hinds and heavy rains but left little damage in its wake.

The Missouri Weather Cooperative at the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport recorded .75 inch of rain from the storm and winds gusting to 30 mph.

In Cape Girardeau, the winds peaked at 40 mph, knocking down some power lines, but causing no serious damage.

Rains began falling shortly after 5 p.m. and ended by 6:30 p.m. Parts of western Bollinger County and southwest Perry County received as much as two inches of rain in less than an hour, but no flash flooding was reported.

Brian Miller, Cape Girardeau County emergency operations coordinator, said his agency received a call from the National Weather Service shortly before 5 p.m., advising them of a strong storm system moving through the area.

"The first cell headed through Bollinger County and on in to Jackson before moving into Illinois," said Miller. "The second system, the stronger of the two, started at about Gordonville and hit Cape Girardeau and Scott City as it headed east."

Some Gordonville residents were without power for a few hours Thursday night, but no widespread power outages were reported.

"It dumped what looked to be a pretty good amount of rain on us," said Miller. "But the storm was not as bad as the National Weather Service had predicted. They told us to expect winds up to 50 miles per hour and half-inch hail."

Miller said he received a few, scattered reports of quarter-inch hail in the area.

Evening traffic was slowed by the storm, but area law enforcement agencies received no major property damage reports from residents.

"We needed a good, soaking rain," said Miller. "That's what we got."