Residents cleaning up storm damage in Clifton Hill

Monday, residents in Randolph County are left cleaning up after a large storm causes damage in Clifton Hill.

According to the National Weather Service in Kansas City, the damage is consistent with straight line winds of 60 to 65 miles per hour, not a tornado as many people thought.

Many residents were sawing off branches and picking up fallen tree branches in their yards Monday. Clifton Hill resident Darrell Manroe said there is still a lot of work to be done.

“It’s a big cleanup effort, a lot of us throughout the town are working together,” Manroe said. “Got some storm damage, some trailer damage, a little bit of home damage. But other than that, just a lot of cleanup and thanking God we’re alive and safe.”

Manroe said he and his neighbors are waiting for the insurance companies to come to the town tomorrow to assess the damage. The storm even took the roof off one building and winds peeled back tin roofs off a couple others.

Abc 17 Stormtrack Meteorologist Jessica Quick said straight winds can sometimes cause more damage than tornadoes.

“Sometimes we have weak tornados that actually produce about the same wind speeds as damaging winds that can be up to 60 to 65 miles per hour,” Quick said. “And then sometimes we have storms that are not classified are not classified as tornadoes and they can bring winds up to 70, 80 or even 90 miles per hour and they can do more widespread damage, because usually when you have a tornado the area of the highest wind speed is rather small compared to a damaging wind event you have more widespread damage.”

Quick said another problem in Randolph County is that the radar coverage is limited in the area. The closest radar is more than 120 miles away. That could be why the National Weather Service did not issue a warning Sunday.

Clifton Hill Mayor Oliver Penton said the local volunteer fire department came to the town Sunday night to help start cleanup efforts.