On May 13 at approx. 5:30 PM, a tornado touched down less than 1/4 mile from our house, jumped Rt. 6 and ripped through the little town of Novinger. The tornado then bounced over land and came down towards
It continued across US 63 and tore through a subdivision of new brick and stone houses, destroying some, unroofing many and damaging many more.
The tornado was one of several that came through the area. When we rode our horses around our property we were able to see the twin paths of two tornadoes the ether simultaneously or in rapid succession went through town. It seemed like they joined up just as they entered Novinger. One was running down the south side of highway 6, the other was tearing up trees north of the highway. The storm ripped roofs off several houses, flattened a mobile home and damaged a total of 59 houses a church and a couple of old brick buildings.
We could see that a third tornado tore down a 100 year-old Maple tree in the yard of our nearest neighbor to the south. Then it went across Hwy K tearing the tops off trees along Davis Creek. Driving along Rt. 6 past Novinger, we could see the path of destruction to the woods across the farm fields. That was a separate storm than the ones that went through Novinger. It appeared that the tornadoes didn’t actually touch the ground but tore threes in half, snapped power poles in half and damaged lots of roofs in town.
This house in Novinger was damaged and the camper-trailer was turned over and destroyed.
The damage was also found West of Novinger, as the storm began at least as far to the west as the town of Milan and also caused damage in Green City and Greencastle.
On Thursday, it was bright and sunny. That's when we took most of the pictures you see. Friday , the rain came down in sheets as wave after wave of thunderstorms rolled through. We collected over 5 inches of rain on Friday. The workers from Ameren UE were out in force in Novinger. At one point, I counted 60 trucks replacing broken poles and stringing wire. They continued working through the torrential rains on Friday. But, were continually set back as lightning struck nearby. Saturday was sunny and clear and temperatures rose to the mid sixties. Our power was restored at 5:30 on Saturday.
Our telephone lines were down on Thursday evening. That really isolated us as our TV and internet service all came through the telephone lines. The telephone also supplies our internet connection and television. Telephone service was finally restored on Monday morning.
By Saturday, the cleanup in Novinger was in full swing. the Fire House Kitchen was pressed into service as an emergency Food Service area for residents and the crews from the Electric and Telephone Companies. The Missouri Trial Lawyers set up a booth to offer free legal advice for the victims of the storm. Volunteers came from all over, all the able bodied townspeople pitched in to help their neighbors. Local businesses brought in heavy equipment and a Church group from Nashville, Tennessee brought is truck loads of bottled water and other supplies.
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