Wind damage dealt for parts of Monett

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) - A line of thunderstorms made their way across the Ozarks very early Monday morning from west to east prompting severe thunderstorm warnings and a few tornado warnings.

While there were no tornado warnings out for Lawrence or Barry counties early this morning, the storms packed a punch as they worked through Monett. Joshua Drinkwater, a Monett resident, and lifelong Missourian says the storms that came through were something else.

“I’ve dealt with storm after storm,” says Drinkwater. “We love our high winds here. But this was wild and completely out of the norm for us.”

Drinkwater was watching the news and some late night TV before the storms came into the area. He said he noticed the wind and rain picking up like most storms he encountered. Right as he was going to bed around 1:30 in the morning, his trailer started rocking.

“It’s shaking with stuff flying off our shelves,” Drinkwater said. “I heard the glass shatter in the bedroom window. I also heard the wood creak and the metal ripping.”

As quickly as the storms came in, they quickly moved on out. Drinkwater describes what the storms did to his trailer.

“I’m missing about a third of the roof,” says Drinkwater. “The entire skirting that goes around the trailer is gone. It knocked the trailer off of one of the foundation bricks on the front end. I have a broken bedroom window. I have side panels on the backside of it that have come off.”

Plus, he noted that the winds were strong enough that the main water line connected to the trailer completely snapped and disconnected from the trailer. Drinkwater says while the repairs appear minor, the trailer is unlivable and will take time to make those repairs. He also described how his neighbors fared.

“My neighbor directly across from me has almost nothing but minor skirt damage around the bottom,” Drinkwater says. “My neighbor to the south, three to four times the distance from me, is missing part of his roof. Almost all of his skirting is at least pulled down if not away.

Some of the roof off Drinkwater’s trailer actually blew across Business US 60 toward a part of the Blue Ridge Estates subdivision. Across the street, the damage was minimal with residents dealing with mainly downed tree limbs and some downed fencing.

Despite this localized area of damage, Monett Fire Department and police from Monett & Lawrence County came to the area to check on everyone. Nobody got hurt, and Drinkwater says he’ll be better prepared by paying closer attention to the next storm threat and have some supplies ready to go.

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