Storm pummels area

Torrential rainfall and high winds swept through the area overnight Monday, causing widespread property damage in Benton County and cutting power to at least three communities in the region.

Sedalia-Pettis County Emergency Management Director Dave Clippert said the storm rolled into the region just before midnight. About a dozen people took cover in the recently opened La Monte storm shelter as 60 mph wind gusts tore branches from trees and ripped roots from the ground, while heavy rain blocked off several low passing roads overnight in Pettis County.

Green Ridge and Smithton temporarily lost power until about 6 a.m. Tuesday morning. However, officials received no reports of major property damage in the county, as the most severe portions of the storm drifted south into Benton County.

“They did get a lot more of the brunt than we did,” Clippert said. “We could see that on the radar. It was a much more violent storm in Benton County.”

Cole Camp Emergency Management Director Michelle Leasure said the most severe portions of the storm went through Cole Camp just after midnight and lasted about 30 minutes. Torrential rains and straight-line winds reaching nearly 90 mph felled branches and utility poles, causing serious damage throughout much of the city, she said.

“Many residents here have pretty major damage, and lots of power lines were knocked over,” Leasure said. “Its not really located in one area, we have widespread damage throughout the city.”

On Tuesday, crews around the area continued to clean up the mess, and some businesses in Lincoln had to turn away customers as they waited for power to return.

Eva Prettyman, a clerk at Casey’s General Store in downtown Lincoln, loaded frozen and refrigerated goods into a van headed to the Casey’s in Warsaw with her husband James on Tuesday. They were concerned that power in Lincoln may not be restored until today while they told several customers that the store was closed because it had no power.

“We can’t sell anything or do anything,” Eva Prettyman said.

“We’ve been here 15 years, and this is the worst we’ve seen,” James Prettyman said.

Katie McDonald, spokesperson for Kansas City Power & Light, said the storm knocked out nine major subtransmission poles near Lincoln. In the area between Ionia and Lincoln, about 765 customers remained out of power as of Tuesday afternoon.

KCP&L crews from across the district installed two new subtransmission poles and had two others set for replacement, McDonald said. They estimated that power would be completely restored to the area by about 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Ronda Watts, KCP&L district manager, said at the height of the outages caused by Monday’s storms, nearly 41,000 customers were out of power. She said the Sedalia area dodged a bullet as most of the severe weather concentrated in the southern district near Drexel.

Debris from two fallen barns, several trees and part of the roof littered the yard of Lawrence and Deloris Eichler’s home near the intersection of U.S. Highway 65 and state Route HH, just north of Lincoln.

“I have never seen anything like this,” Lawrence Eichler said.

High winds ripped two barns on their 20-acre property out of the ground and threw debris across their yard and over the roof of the neighboring home, which belongs to their son, Jim Eichler. The wind also pulled off the roof over their kitchen and knocked out a corner of their sunroom. Thankfully, no one in the family was hurt as the storm passed.

“Wood and nails, you can replace them, but nobody got a scratch,” Lawrence Eichler said. “We’re just happy nobody got hurt.”

Deloris Eichler said she and her husband rode out the worst of the storm in the main floor of their house. She noticed broken tree limbs from their office while Lawrence braced the front door, which the wind was pulling off of their house. She said neither of them sought cover in the basement until after the roof was pulled off part of their home.

After the storm passed, Lawrence and Deloris Eichler spent the night in their motor home while Jim’s camper rested upside down in his front yard. The carpet, floor and cabinet doors in their home will all have to be replaced, Deloris Eichler said.

“We’ve had wind damage before, but nothing like this,” she said.

Friends, family and fellow members of the Eichlers’ church assisted in the cleanup effort Tuesday. They expected to restore the roof of the home by Tuesday afternoon, but they thought all the interior work could take several weeks to complete.

“We’re thankful that we’ve got a lot of wonderful help,” Lawrence Eichler said.

Watts urged residents to stay away from downed utility lines, because once power is restored they will become active. She also encouraged anyone continuing to experience outages to contact KCP&L customer service at 1-888-471-5275 or 1-888-544-4852.