Windstorm causes damage to Cape hangars, airplanes

A freak windstorm hit the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport on Friday and caused substantial damage to hangars, planes and the airport terminal.

The gust occurred at about 5 p.m. Friday and damaged the wings of two planes. It also bent the door of one hangar, and a piece on the corner of another hanger was blown off. Some terminal windows also were broken after the wind caught under the canopy of a portable passenger boarding ramp and tossed it through the glass.

"It was appropriately secured and everything, and the wind still picked it up and pushed it against the building," said airport manager Bruce Loy.

Instruments in the airport control tower clocked the wind speed at about 48 mph, but Loy said this was about a quarter mile away from where the worst damage occurred. He estimated that the wind may have actually reached speeds of 60 to 70 mph.

Loy said the wind was part of an isolated storm that was so small it didn't even show up on the radar at the National Weather Service in Paducah, Ky.

"This just absolutely came out of nowhere, and there was no time to respond," Loy said.

Airport and insurance officials are still trying to estimate the total cost of the damages.