Higbee mayor helps residents clean up houses, yards after storm knocks down trees across town

HIGBEE, Mo. (KMIZ)

After the storms and strong winds Thursday night, Higbee residents are cleaning up their homes and yards.

The 447-person town rallied Friday to clean up the aftermath of Thursday night's storm. Dozens of people were left with limbs in their yards and, some even in their homes.

Higbee Mayor Rick Switzer said he was out with city crews overnight and all day Friday, helping clean up after strong winds and a thunderstorm ravaged the Randolph County town.

"The next thing you know, the wind came hard," Switzer said. "We've got trees on houses, cemetery is a mess with trees that are down, we had four roads blocked last night, all due to trees."

ABC 17 News caught with Jeremy Bray and Brian Burkett at the large brush pile residents were gathering near the center of town. The two said the mayor helped them clean up.

"It tore the gate off of our fence and had a few limbs down in the yard that went on the roof," Bray said. "The city worker actually came by with his tractor and got up on the roof for us and pulled it down."

Despite the storm and damage, residents planned to gather Friday night for the town's rodeo. Switzer said a storm cannot stop the community from coming together.

"I always tell people, if you're from Higbee, you're pretty lucky, because it's more than just people know everybody," Switzer said. "It's you throw out a post on Facebook that you need help, or you go to any of these businesses around here and the whole community shows up."

Winds in Randolph County, like in neighboring Boone County, reached about 80 mph, according to the ABC 17 Stormtrack Weather Team. Randolph County was largely spared from power outages, with just a few dozen Howard Electric Cooperative members without power in the county Friday afternoon.