ORRICK, Mo. — First there was a tornado, and now residents in Orrick, Missouri, have rising flood waters to contend with after this weekend’s severe weather.
There haven’t been any injuries reported from either the tornado or flooding from Saturday night’s storms. The tornado, which experts have determined was an EF-2 in strength with winds around 127 MPH, damaged several buildings around Orrick and Sibley in Ray County.
Residents say that the waters began to rise and pond in area fields on Sunday morning. Farmer George Gowing says it will cost him $20,000 to redo the chemicals he just applied to his soybeans.
He says that after decades of being a farmer, the physical labor is wearing on him, and he isn’t looking forward to starting over again.
“I shouldn’t even be out here really,” said Gowing. “I mean not here. I’d like to retire and I will I like to do it, it’s the only thing I’ve ever done in my life. It’s hard to give up, but my old body is getting about worn out.”
Nobody in Orrick has been ordered to evacuate their homes yet—residents say that the last time that happened was in 1993.
“We are just glad to hear that nobody has been seriously injured, nobody has been killed,” said Orrick resident Eliot Rice. “But we will just pray to the Lord that some of these heavy rains stop and this water recedes.”
