Cleanup rakes up stories from tornado

Blair Oaks teachers Danette Bax, front, and Dana Fitzpatrick rake debris Friday near a home on Holiday Road. The pair decided they could help the homeowner, who also teaches in Blair Oaks, after learning about damages from Wednesday's tornado.
Blair Oaks teachers Danette Bax, front, and Dana Fitzpatrick rake debris Friday near a home on Holiday Road. The pair decided they could help the homeowner, who also teaches in Blair Oaks, after learning about damages from Wednesday's tornado.

Restoration and recovery.

Those two words will be heard for the next several weeks in Jefferson City and Cole County as residents start putting their homes back together.

Starting just after dawn Friday, the sounds of chainsaws and other equipment pierced neighborhoods as work crews for various utility companies, public works employees and residents themselves got out into yards.

As families begin cleaning up the debris left by Wednesday's storm, the stories about the night the EF-3 storm with 160 mph winds hit begin to emerge.

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On Tanner Bridge Road, Zana Stevenson was out with one of her children, raking leaves, brush and any glass together Friday as she recounted her encounter with the storm.

"It was terrifying," Stevenson said about how it felt Wednesday night. "We were in our basement bathroom just riding it out. This wasn't my first tornado. The first was in 1995 in Moberly."

While the storm did rip a hole in their roof, things could have been much worse if a tree in their yard had fallen about a foot in another direction, Stevenson said.

"It would have taken off a corner of our house, so, yeah, we were lucky," Stevenson said. "After the all-clear was given, those of us who live around here got out in the street and checked on people."

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A few blocks away to the north, the tornado did more damage to homes on Mesa Avenue and Holiday Drive.

For Mesa Avenue homeowner Susie Stonner, it was unusual to be a victim of a tornado. For several years, she was spokesperson for the State Emergency Management Agency.

"We heard the sirens go off, and as we were headed down to the basement, we could feel the house shaking," Stonner said. "It was pretty terrifying, but we're safe."

She said they were lucky they had only tree and roof damage; they were thankful their power was restored Friday as temperatures were near 90 degrees.

"I've never been through a tornado, and I worked for SEMA for almost 18 years," Stonner said. "I was always at SEMA when these things happen. I was there when the tornado hit Joplin. So this was fun - question mark."

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Just down from Stonner's home, on Holiday Drive, Grant Chapman said he and his wife were lucky to get to their basement before the storm hit.

"There was a very loud noise, followed by some crashes, and we'd gone downstairs - my wife was right behind me, and she no sooner got through the basement door than our attic lid blew off, and that sent insulation down onto us," Chapman said. "That was probably at the same time the storm took the corner of our roof off."

Chapman said they were thankful a large tree in their yard missed the house.

"The important thing is we're both safe," Chapman said. "Ironically, the other day a friend and I were talking that we couldn't remember a tornado hitting Jefferson City."

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Another Holiday Drive resident, Chris Leroux, who works for University of Missouri Emergency Medical Service in Columbia, found himself in need of help, and he got it thanks to friends and family.

"I'm lucky to have a big family, and they responded en masse," Leroux said. "They got a big tree from out of the front of the house. The EMS family and our neighbors have also just been fantastic."

Leroux was working when the tornado hit, but his wife was at home.

"I didn't have to go out during the storm, but I was needed at home, and after I got the call from my wife, that's where I was headed," he said. "Our neighborhood has come together as an extended family, trying to help each other out and giving whatever help we can."

In his job with EMS, Leroux has responded after storms, but he has never been affected by one.

"I actually came home around midnight and couldn't see anything at first, but then I was mortified when I saw the trees and the damage to the roof," he said. "I got to the house and started screaming for my wife - and finally she answered me. The not knowing and what I saw was horrifying."

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The storm traveled north toward Jefferson City High School, causing damage to facilities there and continued to nearby Jackson Street, where Melinda Henry and her family live.

Henry was pleased Friday to see utility crews on her street ready to restore her electricity.

"When the storm hit, I think the best way to describe it is like you were being squeezed by a polar bear," Henry said. "The pressure in your ears is incredible. All of a sudden the sirens shut off and instantaneously the power went out, and it hit us that quick."

Fortunately, their home is made of rock and it is very sturdy, Henry said. She put two elderly residents staying with her in an upstairs bathroom, while she and the rest of her family ran downstairs.

"I'm from California, and they talk about it feels like a train coming through in an earthquake," Henry said. "Here, this was just the loudest roar that I've ever heard."

While their home is damaged, Henry said, the important thing is they can rebuild and her family is intact.

"The one thing that was hard for us was the damage to our backyard," she said. "It was tree-lined with walnut trees that were probably 50 feet high. The storm took those out, and now we have a vista view of Lincoln University. Only one tree out of about 25 is still standing."

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Down the street from Henry, Qunicie Hickmon said she looked around at what had happened after the storm and could see how fortunate she was that her home had not suffered some of the damage others in the neighborhood had.

"I'm blessed to a certain point because I didn't lose a family member, and I still have most of my house, other than the roof. But I look at my neighbors, and I'm more sad for them than for myself because a lot of them lost a lot," Hickmon said. "There's a lady who is 90 who lives across the street, and we got into a competition on if we could outdo each other for decorations at Christmas and Fourth of July. She lost her whole house."

When the tornado hit, Hickmon was at work and her daughter was at home.

"Her friends came over, and at first they thought they'd stay here, but they decided to go to Columbia," Hickmon said. "As they left, she said they could hear a loud roar, and it got real dark so they drove away as fast as they could.

"They could see the tornado coming in the rear-view mirror. After she heard it hit, she came back and called me and said, 'Mom, you don't want to go over there.'"

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When the tornado swept by the Jackson Street home of Marcia Hollandsworth, she was pinned in her bed by falling debris.

"I was in bed, upstairs, where my roof is gone now," Hollandsworth said. "Part of the rafters fell on me, but the front of the roof didn't come down on me."

Hollandworth's daughters made it to the basement, and her husband tried to get up the stairs to get her but couldn't because one of the brick walls caved in and blocked the stairwell.

"When I eventually got out from under the debris, I stood up and looked around and could see my neighbor and the house next door, so it was pretty frightening," she said.

She said she never had been through a tornado before and she never wants to go through one again.

"It's not my way to fly," Hollandsworth laughed. "It will take time to get fixed, but we've been here 11 years, and with God's grace, we're going to try and stay here."