Tornado determined to have hit Columbia on Easter Sunday

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

An EF-1 hit Columbia on Easter Sunday, the National Weather Service determined.

Weather service crews were in Columbia assessing damage Monday. The Boone County Office of Emergency Management said in a news release Monday afternoon that an EF-1 tornado was responsible for the damage, including at the city's landfill and recycling center.

The release said the tornado touched down briefly.

Columbia's city manager also signed an emergency declaration ahead of Monday night's city council meeting.

City of Columbia utility workers were replacing 15 broken high-voltage poles along Paris Road, the utility said in a social media post Monday morning.

About 100 customers are affected, the utility said.

"The current estimate is it will take 72 hours to complete the repairs," the post says.

About 4,000 customers were dark at the peak of the outages on Sunday. Boone Electric Cooperative also reported about 4,000 members without power, but power was restored to nearly all of them by early Monday.

Boone County Office of Emergency Management Deputy Director Jake Waller said in an email that Boone County's Community Emergency Response Team deployed 12 volunteers to conduct preliminary damage assessment throughout the community.

The assessments, in partnership with Columbia-based Missouri Task Force 1, was ongoing Monday.

National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Beitscher said Monday afternoon that the assessment could take days or even weeks. He said no deaths were reported in the storms and just one injury -- in New Bloomfield.

"We encourage anybody who has damage that they have not yet reported to either local law enforcement or the National Weather Service to do so," Beitscher said. "The surveying process starts today, but it takes days, weeks, sometimes months to finalize, and any new information is very helpful. So any information they can provide about damage when it occurred, and pictures would be fantastic."

The damage appears to be from a mix of straight-line and tornado winds, Beitscher said. Winds gusts of over 60 mph were recorded in Columbia on Sunday evening.

In a news release from the city, the Columbia Fire Department reported damage around Creasy Springs and Paris Road. CFD also responded to around 30 calls, including damage to about five homes and several city buildings.

Columbia Utilities also reported significant damage to the City of Columbia Material Recovery Facility. The city's recycling has been suspended indefinitely. City spokeswoman Sydney Olsen said the biogas plant at the landfill -- which harvests methane to generate electricity -- was also damaged.

City of Columbia Communications and Outreach Supervisor Jason West says resident are urged to hold onto their recyclables for now as they work to figure out options to move forward.

"Make sure everything is properly vetted, hopefully thats just going to be a couple of days and we can start up some type of service but maybe a partial service," West said.

The facility is located off Route B in northeast Columbia and has been in operation since 2022. It is a manual facility meaning employees sort materials by hand. However the city was already in the process of getting a new building.

"Recommendation was a brand new facility, it would probably be a different location on the landfill property itself," West said. "It would be more automated, instead of a two stream it would be a single stream that does all of the sorting, that is something we are talking to the city council about,"

"This will probably expedite the process," West said.

Olsen said Columbia residents will get details about the resumption of recycling as soon as possible.

According to West, about four employees were at the facility conducting service drop-offs and left at about 5:15 p.m., which was about 15 minutes before the tornado warning in Boone County.

Employees were told not to show up for work Monday. The city says it is working on a temporary placement for staff while clean-up is underway.

"Obviously we'll have some clean-up out here that they could help with as well but then we'll find another spot for them in the city as we're working on the next step,"West said.

If you do have storm debris that you need to get rid of, West said it can be dropped off at the landfill or at any of the mulch sties in Columbia as those are still open.

The city is responsible for the clean-up as it is in the city limits but it hopes other agencies will step up to help out.

As for payments made to the city for recycling services, West said that's still being worked out and he's asking residents to be patient as they figure out next steps.

Columbia's Public Works Street Division crews responded to downed trees, street debris and temporary street flooding. The department will continue monitoring conditions and cleaning up debris in the area as the week progresses.

Residents are asked by Columbia Utilities and the Columbia Fire Department to avoid any remaining downed power lines and to never attempt to move them.

If you see downed lines, stay at least 30 feet away. If you see a downed transmission line, stay 100 feet away. To report a downed line, Columbia Utilities can be reached at 573-875-2555.

Residents can report property damage to the Boone County Office of Emergency Management at EM@BooneCountyMo.org. The United Way of Mid-Missouri is also providing resources to residents impacted by the storm and can be reached at 800-427-4626.