Nixon meets with Joplin faith leaders

JOPLIN, MO - Governor Jay Nixon met with faith leader in Joplin on Wednesday as they struggle to support victims of the devastating EF-5 tornado that left the southwest Missouri town in rubble.

The governor says that is he confident that Joplin will rebuild … but he is not sure if stronger building codes will do much good to prevent another disaster like this one.

"I don’t know that man can build something strong enough to handle the damage of the strength of what came through here. I know that we can tie things down," Nixon said. "I know that we can use a little different material. But when you have an EF-5 tornado moving as slow as this one does, I mean, this is as strong a force as has ever touched this state, that’s for sure."

The death toll from Sunday’s tornado now stands at 125.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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Storms rip through Southeast Missouri

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - Powerful thunderstorms ripped through Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois last night, spinning off funnel clouds and tornados.

The National Weather Service reports that a tornado touched down near Elsinore in Carter County. The tornado damaged homes and left a 3 miles debris field west of Elsinore.

Trained spotters also report at least two injuries from a tornado that touched down in rural Wayne County.

In Bollinger County, winds between 70 and 80 miles per hour were reported throughout the county.

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Red Cross does not need item donations for Joplin tornado victims

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - The American Red Cross’ job has gotten a little bit harder this week.

Their Southeast Missouri volunteers are already working closely with those displaced from their homes due to flooding. But as Cheryl Klueppel, the chapter’s Executive Director explains, the group is also reaching out to Joplin area residents affected by the recent tornado.

“Our Red Cross has mobilized volunteers to help families, to be of support, to shelter, provide mental health, health services to families in the Joplin area,” Klueppel said.

Klueppel says the Red Cross is not currently in need of item donations. But those interested in giving other types of aid can make a monetary donation at redcross.org or call 211 to volunteer their time with partnering organizations.

Cara Wilson, KRCU

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Death toll grows in Joplin

JOPLIN, MO (KBIA) - 116 are confirmed dead in Joplin.

Police and rescue forces spent Monday searching for survivors amongst the rubble. Seventee people were found alive.

Senator Claire McCaskill will visit Joplin today. President Barack Obama says he will tour Joplin on Sunday.

14,000 residents in Joplin remain without electricity.

Scott Kanowsky, KBIA

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State responds to tornado in Joplin

The State Emergency Management Agency continues to work with Missouri state and local agencies to deploy all available response resources to Joplin following the deadly tornado that ripped through the city Sunday evening.

Sunday evening, Gov. Jay Nixon activated the Missouri National Guard to respond to the area. The Missouri State Highway Patrol has also sent additional troopers to the Joplin area.

The State Emergency Management Agency is helping to coordinate the deployment of search and rescue teams, a disaster medical assistance team, communications vehicles, mobile command vehicles, heavy equipment and an incident support team.

The incident support team will provide support to the emergency operation center.

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Tornado rips through Joplin

JOPLIN, MO (KSMU) - Officials in Joplin fear the death toll from Sunday night's tornado is as high as 89.

Eastern Kansas and southern Missouri were pummeled by severe thunderstorms Sunday evening, the strongest of which struck Joplin around five o’clock.

The National Weather Service in Springfield says that the tornado’s path wasn’t particularly long, especially for a tornado of this strength, but it was devastating because it hit a heavily-populated area, according to meteorologist Andy Boxell.

"Some of the pictures we've seen thus far do suggest the tornado was likely at least half a mile wide in some locations, so it was a very large, a very strong tornado," Boxell said.

St. John Regional Medical Center in Joplin evacuated nearly 100 patients after the hospital took a direct hit from the tornado.

Some were moved to Freeman Hospital in Joplin while others were being moved to St. John’s Hospital in Springfield and to a hospital in Arkansas.

At least two National Weather Service survey teams will head to Joplin early this morning to begin to assess the damage.

"They'll go out and evaluate the structures that were damaged," Boxell said. "Meteorologists and engineers in the past have done studies to determine what kinds of wind speeds result in a particular amount of damage for a particularly built structure, whether it's a commercial building or a single-family home, an apartment complex, things like that, and so, by evaluating that damage, we should be able to start to get an idea that suggests how strong that tornado was."

Southwest Missouri isn’t out of the woods yet. Boxell says the area has a chance for strong to severe storms through Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has activated the National Guard following Sunday’s storms. President Barack Obama says the Federal Emergency Management Agency is working with state and local agencies in response to last night’s tornado. He says the federal government is prepared to provide help as needed.

Michele Skalicky, KSMU

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Region pummeled by more severe weather

Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois communities braced for yet another round of torrential rain last night as thunderstorms rumbled across the region.

The storms left more water on already saturated ground, increasing the risk of flash floods. River crest prediction were raised.

Flooded streets were reported in Jackson, Cape Girardeau, and Anna, Illinois.

Funnel clouds were spotted west of Marble Hill, where the roofs were blown off of barns, trees were splintered, and at least one trailer was snapped in half.

Law enforcement agents also reported a funnel cloud near Doniphan in Ripley County.

And a possible tornado was spotted west of Poplar Bluff, where more rain fell on the already flooded city.

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More severe weather is on the way

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - More rain continued overnight, putting stress on storm drains and contributing more water to an already swollen Mississippi River.

Meteorologist Kelly Hooper with the National Weather Service in Paducah, Kentucky says that there were no severe storms overnight, though flash flood warnings exist for much of the area. Most areas received another half inch of rainfall.

And more severe weather could be on the way.

Hooper says that another line of powerful storms will affect the area tonight … and the storms should be more severe than this weekend’s storms.

“What’s happened is this cold front has stalled over the area. Impulses in the upper levels are rotating through, creating these daily or nightly rounds of thunderstorms, or both in some cases. But coming tonight they’re going to try to push that front on through us, and that’s going to create more favorable wind profiles to get some rotating storms, or possibly some tornadic storms,” Hooper said.

Forecasts show that most of the severe weather will occur in areas south of Cape Girardeau … from West Plains to the Bootheel.

Hooper says flash flooding typically occurs when we receive an inch of rain per hour. The ground is so saturated now, though, that the National Weather Service is receiving reports of flash floods with half-an-inch per hour.

There is an end within sight. The rain should stop by Thursday morning.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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Lambert Airport resumes 70 percent of flights

ST. LOUIS, MO (ST. LOUIS PUBLIC RADIO) - The director of Lambert-St. Louis International Airport says it’s “amazing” that the tornado-damaged facility is up and running as well as it is.

Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge says when she first surveyed the damage from the EF-3 tornado Friday night, she would not have expected to be able to handle 100 flights just 36 hours later. That’s about 70 percent of Lambert’s usual capacity.

“We had so much support and so many people pulled together and everyone went by the playbook as to who’s got to do what and organized stuff,” she said.

Hamm-Niebruegge says the heavily-damaged C Concourse remains closed indefinitely. “We took the four carriers that were there and relocated them. So it should not be an economic impact to us in terms of revenue because the airlines should be fully functional on their new homes," Hamm-Nierbruegge said.

She says the airport is structurally sound.

Insurance should pay for most of the repairs, she says, and the airport will also be looking for any state and federal assistance.

Rachel Lippman, St. Louis Public Radio

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Cairo airport struck by tornado; Cape airport to resume flights to STL

The airport at Cairo, Illinois was hit by a tornado Saturday night. The tornado ripped apart the hanger and damaged the office and at least one airplane, according to the Associated Press and The Southern Illinoisan newspaper.

The Cape Girardeau Regional Airport will resume flights to Lambert International Airport on Tuesday, according to a press release.

Cape Air flights will use Concourse D.

The Cape Girardeau Regional Airport was not affected by storms. Local operations are normal.

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Confirmed tornado struck Patton

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PATTON, MO (KRCU) - Repair crews are rushing to fix roofs and haul off debris in several communities across Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois following Tuesday night’s powerful storms. 

In the Bollinger County town on Patton, metal roofing rests twisted across pastures and massive trees lie toppled. Power was lost through much of the area.

The National Weather Service confirmed that a tornado touched down southwest of Patton Tuesday night.

Weather Service senior meteorologist Chris Noles says that the tornado’s path was a mile long and 100 yards it length, where it leveled trees and power lines and shore the roof off of a barn.

Noles says that the EF-0 tornado produced 80 mile per hour winds, which complicates separating tornado damage from straight line wind damage.

“With this broad swath of wind damage that we had across Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois Tuesday night, an EF-0 tornado’s wind speeds are pretty much right in line with the wind speeds we saw Tuesday, on the order to 70, 80, 90 miles per hour,” Noles said.

Residents of Patton say that they feel fortunate that nobody was harmed in the tornado.

Sonya Fulton suffered damage to the exterior of her home. The tornado blew bricks off the side of her garage and bowed her garage door. It also lifted her porch off the ground, she says.

Like many Patton residents, her roof lost shingles. Fulton’s husband was busy putting tarps on the roof.

Court clerk Dana Mayfield says that trees were twisted out of the ground and crashed onto her porch, and the walls of her storage shed look like they were squished together by a pair of giant hands.

Bob and Teresa Eachus feel fortunate that their Thousand Oaks Winery escaped any major damage. Like many of their neighbors, they were without power Wednesday afternoon, but a generator kept their food and beverages cool.

Bob noticed some similarities between Tuesday’s tornado and the inland hurricane that struck in 2009.

“The Patton area which got hit hard two years ago by that big storm looks like it did it again today. We did notice a lot of roofs off. We noticed a lot of barns blown apart. Tin all across the fields. A couple of travel trailers that were overturned. But we were very fortunate and we are thankful for that,” Eachus said.

More storms will be advancing through the region today and this weekend. Meteorologist Chris Noles says the storm is still developing and at the moment does not appear as capable of severe weather. However, he cautions that it could still produce isolated patches of hail and could even stir up occasional powerful storms and perhaps even another tornado.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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Violent storm strikes Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - The strong winds and heavy rains that pulverized Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois left downed power lines, shattered trees, and damaged roofs throughout the region.

The National Weather Service reports that winds in Olive Branch, Illinois – in Alexander County – reached between 90 and 95 miles per hour last night as the storm rushed through that area.

In Cape County, winds at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport touched 58 miles per hour. In Daisy, a barn was blown over and tree damage is widespread.

Damage was reported throughout Bollinger County. Marble Hill experienced straight line winds between 70 and 75 miles per hour. Most of the damage was reported west and north of Marble Hill, and includes some homes that lost their roofs. An unconfirmed tornado was reported west of Sedgewickville in Bollinger County, as well.

There was an unconfirmed tornado spotting near Randles, southwest of Chaffee.

Near the Mississippi County-New Madrid County line, 70 miles per hour winds were reported to have physically moved vehicles.

The National Weather Service’s Rachel Trevino says that most of the damaged was caused by the straight line winds.

"No confirmed tornadoes. Obviously, that time of night, when it’s dark, we have a hard time identifying anything. Usually you can’t tell if it’s tornado damage unless you put people on the ground. But we do believe that almost everything was straight line winds last night," Trevino said.

Power outages were widespread over night. The lights seem to be turning back on for most Ameren customers, though. As of six o’clock this morning, most of the Ameren outages are occurring in Cape Girardeau and Farmington. 137 Ameren customers are without power in Cape Girardeau. 281 Ameren customers are without power in and around Farmington.

There are also reports of outages in Delta and Oran.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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