[LeArc] [Fwd: Tornado/Chesapeake, MO]

Thu, 19 Dec 2002 21:44:14 +0000

Received this message from a friend that lives in SW Missouri. Thought I would
pass it along for those interested in reading. Mike works for a telephone
company.

73 Jay

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Tornado/Chesapeake, MO
Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 12:42:44 -0600
From: Mike Sanders <[email protected]>
To: William Jackson <[email protected]>, W0taMchsi Com <[email protected]>,Rich
K�GSV <[email protected]>, Phil Rand <[email protected]>,Paul Haefner
<[email protected]>, Pat Rank <[email protected]>,Michael Simpson
<[email protected]>,Mark Ammann <[email protected]>, Larry Lambert
<[email protected]>,K0FF <[email protected]>, K0FF <[email protected]>,Jon Pearl
W4ABC <[email protected]>, Jkredn6aol com <[email protected]>,Jerry Buckner
<[email protected]>, Jeanette Conner <[email protected]>,Jay Rupar K�ETC
<[email protected]>,Jay Hainline <[email protected]>, DJKAZ730aol com
<[email protected]>,* AA�PO * <[email protected]>

Well, it was another close one. Tuesday night one of the guys from St. Louis
was down here doing
some upgrades to a couple sites. I was on the phone with him off and on as I
watched the weather
news on TV. Kept giving him updates to let him know his status with his
location and the weather.
We had a really bad one pass by just a bit over a mile to the West of me
that was headed right for
him. I told him so on the phone and to stay put as I expected this one to
pass right by him in 10 to
15 minutes. You could hear the freight train chugging in the chimney as it
passed by. The storm with
tornado stayed right on track and moved just North of his location.
Looking at the weather maps and warnings I told him he was all clear about
10:15 or so and that he
should only see rain and such as he moved down to Joplin next. I went to
bed.
Just before 11 I heard the wind howling and the hail starting up again. The
power dropped off and on
at the house and then off. I got up to get a flash light and check on what
was up. The storm on top of
us was another bad one and mostly out of the blue I guess. Not uncommon for
them to start out right
on top of us or just to our SW. Almost immediately after the power went out
we started hearing
emergency vehicles. Then more of them and more of them and they kept coming.
Stopping a half mile
or so down 174 towards the interstate from our place. Nothing between me and
where they were stopping
but the little trailer court was right there. The emergency vehicles kept
coming and coming. At least a
couple dozen ambulances alone and not sure how many fire trucks and fire
rescue rigs along with countless
volunteers.
Got a call from the Nextel OPs center in California that I had power out at
several sites. I told them the
story as I knew it that we had storms in the area. One of the sites was the
MT Vernon site just a mile
or so West of my place on 174. I called the Electric Coop emergency number
to report the outage as they
would already know but it is part of my job responsibilities. The guy at the
Coop told me what was going
on. Another tornado had come in through Lucky Lady (trailer park) and wiped
it out. I said what do you
mean wiped it out? He said it's gone. He also gave me the particulars on the
AC outage  and what they knew
at that time. Crews were already on the scene along 174 along side and
helping the emergency folks.
Our guy from St. Louis was at Joplin but had driven through some rough stuff
on the way. I told him
he just ran against the North side of a tornado as he ran past us here. He
said it was at MT Vernon
that things got scary. Anyway he was OK and at the site in Joplin back in
business.
1 Dead behind the trailer court and 15 in the trailer court injured. You
have probably heard or seen
that part on the news. Only 5 tenths of a mile from our place. 3 miles long
and 1/4 mile wide according
to aerial photos the next day. We have lots of debris (as usual) in the
fields as do all the other neighbors.
If it had been just an 1/8 mile East or West it would have had only open
fields mostly. Lucky Lady is
the most densely populated area/place in this part of the country for miles
and miles.
Only been here 3 years now but have seen several storms that were bad ones.
Two right after I got
here actually hit this place. The second one took out over 2 dozen big trees
next to the house but the
house was OK as were the barns and other buildings. The house is very well
built brick and we were very
lucky. The tornado before this last one came up hwy K a half mile to our
East and ran along the highway
for miles before dying out. Did a lot of damage. Still have corrugated steel
in the trees from that one.
If this one had been just a quarter mile east it would have taken my
antennas but bet the house would
have been OK and suspect that Lucky Lady would still be standing.
I get the feeling Mother Nature is just taking target practice with these
and one of these days we will
be the bulls eye. I am betting the tower survives a direct hit but of course
the antennas will be gone. I
could be wrong and the tower fail but my guess is it is built pretty well
right. Unfortunately I am guessing
we will find out one of these days.
We were amazed that they restored the power at about 2 AM or actually a
little after.

73 de K0AZ (still on the air)