BUFFALO, Mo. — Communities hit hard by last nights storms are counting their and their losses. At least two tornado touched down in Southern Missouri overnight. One twister in Buffalo, Mo.left a woman dead and tore apart several mobile homes.
Buffalo is just north of Springfield. Rescue crews say downed power lines were a huge problem on Tuesday night. The lines were keeping them from helping people.
The National Weather Service has evaluated the damage and is calling the tornado an EF-2.
People who lived through it are calling the situation terrifying and say they wouldn’t want to go through it again. Johnnie Ray checked out the damage on his property on Tuesday
Looking at the pile of twisted metal and scattered debris, it’s hard to believe there was a mobile home there. Ray, his son and their two dogs were inside when the tornadoes hit.
“Hail hit the house and next thing I know I’m rolling across down the hill,” he said. “When I come to I was down at the corner of my place.”
Ray is pretty banged up and has cuts on his shoulder and a swollen knee. He couldn’t find his son right away.
He was relieved to find his son climbing out of the rubble.
“His ribs are hurting his neck stuff like that,” ray said. “We took a pretty good tumble.”
His neighbors up the hill were also hit hard.
“There was a trailer house up there, too, it’s all scattered from the plum to the pond,” he said. “We’re both lucky to be alive.”
Just across the highway, the tornado destroyed or damaged 12 homes in a trailer park. Rescue crews say it was chaos when the call first came in about fires burning and people screaming.
The woman who died was found in the middle of a field. She was apparently sucked from her home.
“I just thank God that we’re still here,” said neighbor Vernice Cusick. “It felt like the ground was shaking when it was coming over something. I don’t want to live through it again.”
Power has been out in Buffalo most of the day. The tornado hit a station that supplies power to the town. It could be three to four days before the power is restored.