Overnight storm Sunday causes 1,500 power outages
Wind gusts pushed through Barry County in the overnight hours Sunday, leaving a trail of mostly tree and limb damage in northeast and central barry County.
David Compton, Barry County Emergency Management director, said the majority of the damage was in the Monett, Purdy, Butterfield and Wheelerville areas.
Limbs or trees were blocking the roadway on Business 37 and 5th Street in Butterfield, Highway 76 and Highway M, Highway Z south of Highway 60, Highway 248 and Highway C, and highway 248 and Highway D.
“I think we easily had 50or 60-mile-per-hour wind gusts, but our sustained winds were less than 40, closer to 30,” Compton said. “The warning for 80-mile-perhour wind gusts came from Lamar and Golden City and through Lawrence County to Mt. Vernon. Golden City may be out of power for 3-4 days, and Mt. Vernon, Verona and Aurora had more power outages than us. We were fortunate to be on the edge of this storm.”
Compton said in Barry County, about 1,500 meters were down overnight. By Monday morning, only 274 outages remained, with 121 for Barry Electric, 153 for Ozark Electric and 9 for Carroll County Electric.
There have been no reports of home damage as of Monday morning, but Compton expects at least a few will be made.
“I know we had trees fall on some homes, and I know in Monett there were trees on or around houses,” Compton said. “I think as people get out and look around it’s reasonable we will have some damage from trees and limbs or some shingles blown off.”
In other reports, according to the National Weather Service, Central Crossing Fire Protection District reported a tree down across Highway YY near the Barry and Stone County line, and trees blocked the roadway at Highway 97 and Highway B. The highest measured gust in the reports was 74 miles per hour in Nevada at 9:51 p.m., more than an hour before the cell entered Barry County.
Earlier in the day Sunday, an afternoon thunderstorm rained half dollar-size hail for 15 minutes at Roaring River State Park.
