Severe storms rip up trees in northern Boone County, damaging homes

HALLSVILLE, Mo. (KMIZ)

Fast-moving severe thunderstorms that swept through Boone County late Thursday left downed trees and powerlines, some of which collapsed roofs and fences.

The storms hit northern Boone County including Sturgeon, Hallsville and Centralia.

They touched off tornado warnings but a twister had been ruled out Friday afternoon. The National Weather Service logged several damage reports from northern Boone County, including a tree falling onto a moving vehicle on Route B.

Winds were clocked up to 80 mph, according to the ABC 17 Stormtrack Weather Team.

The weather service also logged a report of hail in Monroe County.

John Hodge of Hallsville said he was sitting in his living room just seconds before a tree crashed through the ceiling. He had fortunately felt the urge to get up shortly before the tree went down.

"I walked into the kitchen to look out the window, and I couldn't see the street, and I looked out the window and the wind was blowing so bad, and the trees were just bending over," Hodge said. "And I decided, well, my wife was in the bedroom and that it wasn't safe, and we needed to take shelter. So, I started to walk down the hall and when I was walking down the hall is when the tree came through the roof where I was sitting."

Gale Blomenkamp, an assistant chief with the Boone County Fire Protection District, said Hodge is lucky he wasn't hurt after seeing the damage done to the area where Hodge was sitting just seconds before he got up.

Boone County emergency management leaders said late Friday that a "programming issue" had caused northern Boone County storm sirens to fail.

There have been no reports of injuries.