Cleanup continues after weak tornado hits Chariton Co.
Strong winds brought down several trees and left a small town without power Thursday night, in what the National Weather Service called a “weak tornado.”
Chariton County EMA Director Eric McKenzie tells ABC 17 News the storm damaged some homes in Mendon, a town about 30 minutes from Marceline.
McKenzie said no one was hurt, but several roofs suffered damage, including the tin roof of a coffee shop blown off the building.
“There was no warning whatsoever, nothing showed up on the radar, no one had a clue it was coming. It came and went in a matter of 10 minutes,” said McKenzie.
McKenzie said Kansas City Power & Light crews were working to restore electricity for the town, which lost several power lines in the storm.
Power was restored around midnight last night.
No one was physically injured in the storm.
Mendon’s Mayor, Chase Young told ABC 17 News he was shocked when the tornado hit his house.
He said even though his brother called him to warn him of a funnel cloud, Young couldn’t find anything on radar indicating a tornado.
ABC 17 Stormtrack meteorologist Brittany Beggs said, “Unfortunately it happened, but we have to remember we are only dealing with the data that we have. We have a radar in the Kansas City area and we have a radar in the St. Louis area and in Springfield. So there are three Doppler radars in Missouri, the next one is in Iowa, so there is a large gap in the data that we have.”
Which made it difficult to see the low-level rotation in the storm since it was a small cell.
“It’s just something that happened and unfortunately where we live sometimes it’s hard to detect,” said Young.
However, just as quick as the tornado hit, Mendon residents were ready to help their neighbors.
“The community has really come together, everyone started pitching in right off the bat,” said McKenzie.
“I probably had 100 people at my house last night,” said Young.
(Editor’s note, 5/15, 12:11 a.m.: An earlier version of the story called the company providing electricity for the city ‘Kansas City Power Light.’ The article now shows the correct name of the company.)
