Patrol: Missouri tornado victims were in trailer or camper
By JIM SALTER and HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH
Associated Press
The five people who were killed when a tornado barreled through their rural Missouri village were inside a mobile home or adjacent camper that were obliterated, authorities said Thursday.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol released the names of the victims. Glenn Burcks, 62, lived in the mobile home in the rural village of Glenallen. Susan Sullivan, 57, also lived there along with her 37-year-old nephew, James Skaggs. Also killed were Sullivan’s 16-year-old granddaughter, Destinee Nicole Koenig of Sikeston, Missouri, and her boyfriend, 18-year-old Michael McCoy.
“My baby,” said McCoy’s mother, Stormiee Mayberry, in a direct Facebook message. “He was such a strong wonderful young man he was my everything.”
“I truly cannot talk right now,” she added. “It’s too much. Too much hurt.”
The tornado strafed a 22-mile (35-kilometer) stretch of southeastern Missouri, including Glenallen, starting shortly after 3:30 a.m. Wednesday.
It came during a week of violent storms and tornadoes in the central and southern U.S., including Kentucky, where the National Weather Service said Thursday that it was surveying damage from three EF-1 twisters that touched down. One death was blamed Thursday on one of the Kentucky tornadoes, with maximum winds of 110 mph (177 kph).
Glenallen, which is home to only about 60 people and sits in a hilly and isolated area of southeastern Missouri, got the worst of Wednesday’s tornado, which the weather service characterized as an EF-2, with winds of 130 mph (209 kph). A fire station and church were destroyed, and dozens of homes were damaged, many beyond repair. The mobile home and camper where the five people died were smashed beyond recognition.
Highway Patrol Sgt. Clark Parrott said investigators aren’t sure if any of the victims were in the camper when the tornado hit.
The mobile home essentially exploded, leaving only scattered debris and a rusted metal chassis. Some shards of metal stuck to tree limbs. Tattered remains of furniture sat in a field. A few old photos, videotapes and even baseball cards dotted the mud near the home’s concrete pad.
McCoy’s uncle, Rustin Kinder, said the teenager’s dad and another uncle hurried to the trailer once they heard about the tornado. The uncle found McCoy badly injured in a field. Kinder said his nephew was rushed to a hospital but “just couldn’t hang on.”
Kinder described McCoy as charismatic and funny and said he was “young and in love” with Koenig, calling her McCoy’s “whole world.”
“He basically had a bright future, you know, but he didn’t even get a chance to have a family,” Kinder said. “And, you know, it’s just sad, really.”
Koenig was a sophomore at New Madrid High School and loved animals, especially cats and dogs. Principal Justin Poley said the school is offering help for students dealing with the loss of their classmate.
“She did have quite a few friends that are having a difficult time right now,” Poley said.
Burcks was “a sweet and giving man, and he’d give the shirt off his back for you,” his sister-in-law, Dorothy Burcks, said. He considered Sullivan and her relatives family.
Burcks had worked at a saw mill but was in ill health and was retired, Dorothy Burcks said.
“He lived out in the country all his life,” she said. “He loved country. He didn’t like the town life orthe city life.”
Sullivan worked as a teacher for Head Start for about 15 years, according to her obituary. She had a fondness for her dog, “Baby,” and for pigs.
Skaggs “loved to take pictures, have fun and be the life of the party,” his obituary stated.
In Kentucky, Jefferson County Deputy Coroner Steve Moran identified the victim as Billy Corum, 30, of Louisville. Moran said Corum was walking his dog near his home Wednesday when high winds knocked over a tree that struck Corum in the head.
Preliminary findings on Thursday indicated that the tornadoes struck two areas of Louisville, meteorologist Brian Neudorff said. The storm toppled trees and power lines and tore the roof off an apartment building.
A separate tornado with maximum winds of 110 mph (177 kph) touched down in the Brandonburg area of Mead County, less than an hour southwest of Louisville, Neudorff said.
Bob Oravec, a lead weather service forecaster, said more severe weather was possible Thursday in an area stretching from eastern Texas to the mid-Atlantic states.
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Salter reported from O’Fallon, Missouri, and Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas. Jennifer Garske and Nancy Benac in Washington, D.C., and John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia, contributed to this report.
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What to do if a tornado hits your home: https://apnews.com/article/tornado-home-destroyed-what-to-do-42ab3f90a3b129acf6b1d2ddaded754b
