ASScroft's RED state smackdown: Tornadoes rank among worst in bistate history
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http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascitystar/5810234.htm
Tornadoes rank among worst in bistate history
By KEVIN MURPHY and MIKE SHERRY
The Kansas City Star
Two tornadoes hit the Kansas City area with winds exceeding 200 mph
and contributed to more than $125 million in property damage in two
counties alone, officials said Wednesday.
In all, nine tornadoes touched down in the metropolitan area Sunday.
Two of them were at F4 strength, which is the second-highest rating,
the National Weather Service said. Only 2 percent of twisters reach
that intensity or higher.
The weather service findings were released on the same day that
officials in Clay and Platte counties provided their damage estimates.
Clay pegged its losses at $91.4 million and Platte put its at $33.9
million.
Clay, Platte, Wyandotte, Leavenworth and Cass counties and Johnson
County in Missouri reported more than 1,900 structures were damaged or
destroyed.
As officials in Kansas and Missouri continued to assess the damage,
the Kansas City area braced for more severe weather today. The weather
service forecast thunderstorms and conditions ripe for tornadoes.
On Wednesday, Missouri officials requested that additional counties in
the eastern part of the state be added to the list of 39 counties
already declared disasters. Storms hit the eastern section of the
state on Tuesday.
Sunday's tornadoes made history in Missouri.
"It's the most widespread damage we've had from a tornado or
windstorm," said Buck Katt, Missouri deputy director of the State
Emergency Management Agency.
Joy Moser, public affairs officer for Kansas Emergency Management,
said structural damage was widespread, but did not know whether it was
the worst on record.
"But I do know that it is terrible," she said. "These people have
nothing left for the most part. They have to start from scratch."
Though no final tally on losses is available, Sunday's storm that
struck six states could rank fifth in terms of insurance claims, said
The Insurance Information Institute of New York.
Based on a survey of insurers, claims could be at least $325 million
in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Nebraska and South Dakota.
The largest loss in history, $1.6 billion, occurred across 18 states
in 1999.
Sunday's storms killed 40 persons: 18 in Missouri, seven in Kansas and
15 in Tennessee. In the Kansas City area, Ralph Dary of Kansas City,
Kan., was killed by the storm.
F4 punch
The National Weather Service team came to its conclusion about the
local tornadoes after viewing damage such as 100-foot-tall metal
utility poles bent to the ground in Kansas City, Kan.
Winds of more than 200 mph are categorized as F4 tornadoes under a
measure known as the Fujita Scale of Tornado Intensity, which has a
top level of F5. Only about 20 of the roughly 1,000 twisters that
occur annually reach F4 or F5.
"It's a very rare event. It's really quite something to deal with in
the community," said Lynn P. Maximuk, the meteorologist in charge at
the weather service office in Pleasant Hill.
Team members said the top-level winds occurred only in certain spots
along the path of the two tornadoes, including an area at 91st Street
and Leavenworth Road in Kansas City, Kan.
That tornado continued across the Missouri River to the intersection
of U.S. 169 and Interstate 29. The crumpled power poles were also in
Wyandotte County, on Cernech Road between 77th and 79th streets.
The other two areas hit by the high-intensity winds were around
Gladstone just south of Pleasant Valley Road and Brighton Avenue and
in Kansas City near 63rd Street Trafficway near Jackson Avenue.
Wyandotte County has not experienced tornadoes of that magnitude since
1961, while Clay County's last F4 twister was in 1977.
As bad as some of the tornadoes were, conditions could have produced
much more damaging tornadoes, said Charles A. Doswell, a member of the
weather service team that measured the twisters' velocity.
"Kansas City was lucky," said Doswell, a tornado expert from the
University of Oklahoma, who has investigated more severe tornadoes.
"It could have been a lot worse."
Even after three days of aerial and ground surveys, the team was
unable to complete its review of the storm. They have yet to visit
Liberty to assess the wind speed of the tornado that touched down
there.
Clay County damage
Clay County bore the brunt of the storm's devastation with damage to
1,091 structures, said county officials.
Gladstone alone had 389 structures damaged or destroyed. Inspectors
Wednesday looked at 42 houses deemed unsafe in the Carriage Hills
subdivision.
"I have never seen anything like this," said Mayor Les Smith, a
lifelong Gladstone resident. "I have seen something different every
day I've been out here (in Carriage Hills)."
Liberty's historic downtown square struggled to get back to life as
streets and a few businesses re-opened for the first time since
Sunday's storm struck.
Several other buildings remained closed, cordoned off with orange
fencing, barricades and police tape. The bright orange signs in the
windows said it all: Dangerous Building.
The city declared 11 of the square's buildings unsafe. On Wednesday
workers hauled off ruined carpet and began repairing roofs. Ralph
Lewis' law office was still was drying out Wednesday, his computer and
leather couch ruined.
"I'm just really worried about this next wave of storms," he said,
looking up at the plastic make-shift roof on his building. "But this
building is strong -- it will survive. We'll be fine."
Across the square, one wall of the Country Boutique on the corner of
Main and Franklin streets appeared ready to collapse at any moment.
City officials said the building would be demolished Wednesday evening
or today.
Two hard-hit towns outside of the Kansas City area continued to take
stock of their losses on Wednesday. Officials in Pierce City were
evaluating if any of the 40 damaged buildings could qualify for
historic preservation funds.
Neither Pierce City nor Stockton, Mo., had a financial estimate of
their losses. Most of their downtowns were destroyed, along with
scores of houses. Stockton even lost its tornado siren warning system
because it is activated by telephone lines, which were disabled by the
storm. If a tornado threatens, fire trucks will sound sirens.
"It's not as desirable as the acute warning system," said Ian Hafer,
director of emergency services for Cedar County. "But it's better than
nothing at all."
Meanwhile, residents in Kansas and Missouri called the Federal
Emergency Management Agency assistance hot line (1-800-621-3362). On
Tuesday, President Bush declared parts of Missouri and Kansas disaster
areas. Federal officials said they did not know how many calls they
received Wednesday.
After getting called, FEMA will send an inspector to assess damage,
said FEMA spokesman Joe Klocek. The agency will help line up repairs
and relocations and issue checks, if warranted, for various emergency
expenses.
"We look at immediate needs people have and try to satisfy them,"
Klocek said. Individuals or families can qualify for up to $25,000 in
assistance, but there are limits of $5,000 in each of numerous
categories, such as building repairs, he said.
The Star's Mike Rice, Summer Harlow, Mark Wiebe, Angela Schneider, and
The Associated Press contributed to this article.