A tornado with wind speeds of up to 120 mph caused damage to a fire station, elementary school and several other buildings in southwest Missouri, the National Weather Service said Wednesday.
Meteorologist Mike Griffin said the twister that hit around 7 p.m. Tuesday in Goodman has been classified as an EF-2.
One person was transported to a hospital with a possible broken ankle, but no deaths or serious injuries have been reported. The small town is about 30 miles south of Joplin, where an EF-5 tornado killed 161 people in May 2011.
Deana Bunch told The Joplin Globe she was checking on her 78-year-old mother, who was unable to make it to the basement before the storm hit Goodman, damaging barns on the property so badly that they will have to be removed.
“They had planted trees, 23 trees, one for each grandchild as they were born, and every one of them is wiped out,” Bunch said, adding that she was grateful her sister was with her mother and that both are OK. “Everything else is replaceable.”
McDonald County Sheriff Michael Hall said the roof of the fire station was taken off and that a wall of the school was toppled. Hall also estimated that one or two dozen homes sustained damage.
In the nearby community of Neosho, minor damage was reported at the airport, including an aircraft being blown over.
The damaged Goodman school is in the Neosho School District, which canceled all classes Wednesday. A call to the district wasn’t immediately returned.
There also were scattered reports of large hail and other damage in an area that includes Springfield and south-central Missouri, the National Weather Service said.
by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS GOODMAN, Mo. — Apr 5, 2017, 1:57 PM ET
