By Roger McKinney

rmckinney@joplinglobe.com

COLUMBUS, Kan. — A heap of debris was all that remained of a mobile home struck by high winds in Friday’s storm as it moved south of Columbus.

Richard Green, who lives nearby, owns the mobile home. He said the occupant wasn’t home when the storm struck.

“He went to work early, or he would’ve been in it,” Green said. He said he rode the storm out in Chetopa, where he was when it came through. He mentioned casually that he had previous experience with bad storms. Julie Green, his wife at the time, died in a 2003 tornado.

There were no storm-related injuries in Cherokee County, said Sheriff David Groves.

Dana Hilderbrand had walked with her youngest son Friday morning to the school-bus stop. When the storm’s intensity increased, they walked back to their mobile home, next to Faulkner Grain.

Once they were inside the mobile home, one of the large, metal grain bins blew loose, striking the glass door and entering their kitchen. The mobile home was moved about two inches off its foundation while she, her husband and her two children were home.

“It was just a weird storm,” Hilderbrand said. “We didn’t think it would be this bad.”

Hilderbrand joked that the only time Faulkner has as much traffic as it did Friday was during harvest.

Several businesses in downtown Columbus were damaged by the storm. Roof material and bricks were hanging from the top of a row of buildings on the north side of Maple Street, which is home to Columbus Tae Kwon Do and the offices of Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services.

Sherry Conner, Westco manager, had the help of several friends sweeping glass from the broken front window on the sidewalk on the south side of Maple street. Conner said the broken glass damaged some of the furniture, lamps and other accessories.

She said the business would be open today, if electricity was restored.

Just south of Westco, John White, owner of White’s Garage and Welding, was waiting for the insurance adjuster. The wind had peeled the metal roof off the building.

“I’ve got one car in there I need to get out,” he said.