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Carthage, Jasper County

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May 9, 2009

No injuries reported in Cherokee County after storm

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.

Several other businesses had broken windows.

The press box at the Columbus High School football stadium had toppled onto the bleachers. Campers were damaged at H&K; Camper Sales.

In Galena, a tree uprooted by the storm had landed on the front porch of a house along Seventh Street. Another tree also was uprooted nearby.

Sheriff David Groves said other damage to houses and buildings was reported in Scammon and Weir. He said Southeast Kansas Railroad had reported that the wind had blown a train off the tracks in the northern part of the county.

Crawford County

According to the Crawford County Sheriff’s Department, the communities of McCune and Cherokee sustained some of the worst damage in that county. In McCune, 63 buildings were damaged. A semi-truck sitting in a parking lot was blown over and the driver sustained minor injuries.

In Cherokee, 130 structures were damaged, including the roof of Southeast High School.

Another 20 structures in the county also were damaged.

The preliminary damage estimate for the county came to $1.1 million, according to the sheriff’s department.

Emergency shelters have been set up at the McCune Community Center, 410 E. 5th St., and the First Baptist Church in Cherokee, in the 200 block of Vine St. The Salvation Army also will provide lunch today at both shelters for community members and volunteers.



Well-being checks

Cherokee County Sheriff David Groves said emergency workers were spending the rest of the day checking on the well-being of residents, including those who were dependent on oxygen containers.

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