Camden County endured heavy storms Friday morning, which resulted in damage around the area. National Weather Meteorologist Drew Albert says the storm traveled northwest to southeast and confirmed that an EF-0 tornado did touch down near Cedar Ridge Circle in Roach.
The majority of wind damage started at Gulliver Ridge and moved to the Little Niangua Arm. A tornado of this size is large enough to cause light roof damage and effect conditions of gutters and siding.
Ron Gentry, Camden County Emergency Management Director, says they are still calculating the total property damage. Throughout their current surveys, he says the most damage was done to trees. There is some power line and dock damage also present and very little house damage.
Albert says that, during their investigation of the area, much of the damage was caused on lakeside properties. His reports indicated that winds reached upwards of 80 mph and the majority of damage was inflicted by straight-line winds.
Based on radar reports, the majority of the storm lasted only around 10 minutes. The tornado seems to have touched down between 4:32 a.m. and 4:37 a.m. Besides wind damage, Albert says there were calls of some hail damage around the county.
Unfortunately, he says the weather service was not able to get off any sort of tornado warning before it touched down. He says the radar did not show any definite sign of this level of activity. The tornado was only present for under a minute and was not large enough to warrant an official warning.
Albert says he is thankful that the storm took place in the early morning and was not active while more people were commuting. He says this may have helped to limit more damage to traveling vehicles or pedestrians in the immediate area.
He warns that, if a storm of this caliber were to happen during daytime hours, people should not underestimate the power and damage that wind can cause.
by Mitch Prentice (2018, July 23) Lake News Online
