Sat, Nov 21 2009
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Published May 08, 2009 05:27 pm - A powerful thunderstorm with sustained winds in excess of 85 mph early Friday ripped across the Tri-State Area, damaging thousands of homes and businesses, and uprooting thousands of trees. NWS official: Windstorm ‘like an inland hurricane’ w/ Wally Kennedy reporter's notebook interview By Wally Kennedy
wkennedy@joplinglobe.com A powerful thunderstorm with sustained winds in excess of 85 mph early Friday ripped across the Tri-State Area, damaging thousands of homes and businesses, and uprooting thousands of trees. Three people with minor storm-related injuries were treated at Freeman Hospital West. After surveying the damage in Cherokee County, Kan., and Jasper County, Mo., Bill Davis, head of the National Weather Service (NWS) station in Springfield, said, “It was a massive windstorm that covered all of Southwest Missouri. It was like an inland hurricane. The winds were of hurricane force. “We knew it was going to happen, but we were expecting it around midnight. It was about 4 a.m. in the Wichita area when it got going. It was like pulling a string on a top, and off she went. It was lined up for Missouri.’’ Andy Foster, a meteorologist with the NWS in Springfield, said, “Once it got organized, it started accelerating to the east. The storm itself was traveling at 60 to 70 mph. It was covering a lot of ground in a hurry.’’ Said Davis: “It was one of the fastest ones I’ve seen in a long time. There was damage ahead of it and damage behind it. It was an amazing storm.’’ Unlike a tornado in which the damage is confined to a single track, this storm caused 75 to 90 mph wind damage over a wide area, Davis said. The high-wind swath was bordered on the north by Sherman, West Mineral and Scammon in Southeast Kansas. In Missouri, the northern edge of the swath went north of Asbury and through Jasper. The southern edge of the swath went through Melrose and Galena in Kansas, and through Joplin and Carthage in Missouri. “I could write a book about the various types of damage I saw today (Friday),’’ Davis said. “Trees were broken off and uprooted, roofs were torn off, outbuildings were destroyed, power lines were down and trailers were flipped over. “That’s why I’m so surprised so few people were injured.’’ He said he saw no evidence of a tornado in either Cherokee or Jasper counties. But, a survey team will travel to Lamar to look at the possibility that a small tornado struck in that area. Keith Stammer, emergency management coordinator for Joplin and Jasper County, said, “The National Weather Service told us at 6 a.m. this (Friday) morning that this storm would pack a one-two punch. We were told that winds would be a concern on the front side and the backside. That’s exactly what happened.’’ The city’s storm sirens were sounded at 7 a.m. for three minutes. The storm’s squall line or leading edge struck Joplin about 7:10 a.m. The sirens were activated again for three minutes at 8 a.m. when residents of the Iron Gates area reported seeing rotation in the backside of the storm in the southwest part of Joplin. 
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