Two dead as tornadoes hit southwest Missouri

The Associated Press

CHESAPEAKE, Mo. -- An unusual band of December thunderstorms that swept into southwest Missouri during the night touched off tornadoes, killed two people and injured at least 20 others.

The turbulent, slow-moving storms continued to pose a threat for more damage into Wednesday evening, the National Weather Service said.

Marjorie Hawkins, 47, was killed and 15 other people, including her husband, were injured late Tuesday night near Chesapeake, west of Springfield, when an apparent tornado leveled a mobile home park and damaged four nearby homes in Lawrence County, sheriff's officials said.

In Barton County, farther to the north and west, emergency management officials said one person was killed and five people injured when an apparent tornado touched down south of Kenoma. At least two homes, one mobile home and some outbuildings were destroyed.

Hawkins lived in a home just south of the Lucky Lady Mobile Home Park. Her home was destroyed, and her husband was blown out of a window into a field, Lawrence County Sheriff Doug Seneker said. The husband was being treated at a hospital in Springfield.

Seneker said two of the injuries were serious but none life-threatening. He said 14 of the injured were residents of the mobile home park, where trailers and debris were strewn around.

Few of the estimated 30 trailers remained standing. When asked how the residents were able to survive, Seneker said: "By the grace of God."

With no warning sirens in the immediate area, the sheriff said that after officials got word that a violent storm was approaching from Barry County, deputies were sent to the region.

Seneker said one of his deputies, Rob Mobley, "was right at the entrance of the trailer park when he heard the roaring sound and saw the thing coming through the mobile home park, just throwing everything in all directions."

The sheriff said the trailer park was temporarily uninhabitable, and people were being kept away.

"Debris is teetering and it's not a place for people to be wandering about," he said.

Residents were evacuated to a hotel in Mount Vernon and to the homes of relatives.

In Barton County, residents cleaning up after the storm before dawn Wednesday morning said the person killed there was a young woman in her 20s who had been married only about a week. Nothing was left of the mobile home where she and her husband lived except debris and a couple of vehicles parked in the drive.

About five miles away, a modular home was destroyed and the second floor of a two-story house across the road was blown away. Only the foundation of the modular home was still there.

The two story home belonged to Michael and Susan Ball. Only Susan Ball was at home when the tornado hit shortly before 2 a.m., and her sister, Jeanie Gastel, said she was being treated at a hospital for cuts, bruises and an injured ankle.

Gastel said her sister had been sleeping.

"She went to change her clothes and felt something in her pockets," she said. "They were full of glass."

The Balls' son, Brad, 19, was away at Crowder College, and he returned to find his bed crushed and his room completely gone.

"It's a good thing I wasn't home tonight," he said.

The Balls also lost a barn and silo, and a large mound of debris near where they stood included bales of hay and various pieces of farm equipment. Gastel said about 30 head of beef castle were missing.

"We're waiting for daylight so we can get a four-wheeler and go look for them," she said.

Larry Abshier of Empire District Electric said crews were working to restore electricity lost due to the storm. He said about half a dozen utility poles in the area had been snapped off.

Despite the damage in Lawrence County, Seneker described the tornado, which followed a four-mile path on the ground south of Interstate 44, as "small to medium." Authorities planned to survey the wreckage from the air Wednesday morning.

"What we're viewing here is atrocious," said National Weather Service meteorologist Lanny Dean. "There are Christmas presents mud-strewn and unwrapped lying all over the ground. Only God knows where they came from."

Jim Kramper, the warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service in St. Louis, said a strong storm system developing over the Upper Plains was pulling a lot of warm, most air up from the Gulf of Mexico into the Midwest.

"It's a slow-moving system, just winding up, pulling an awfully lot of moisture here," he said. "A cold front is starting to move into the Plains now, trying to push the warm air out of the way."

"They don't like each other, and they kind of battle it out," Kramper said.

In addition, he said, there were some very strong winds in the upper atmosphere, causing the air to rise.

"It's kind of like a springtime system in December," he said. "It's not like it never happens, as this part of the country can get it any time of the year, but it is unusual. We have to work our way through this and hopefully get back to a normal winter."

Kramper said the storm seemed to be winding down as it moved on into areas of central Missouri.

"It looks like we might have a break for a while, but the potential is going to be there for severe weather all through the day and possibly into the evening," the meteorologist said.