Recovery begins in areas in Lawrence and Barry counties

LAWRENCE COUNTY, Mo. — The National Weather Service confirmed an EF-1 tornado ripped through rural areas in Monett and Aurora, with very few reported injuries.

Kevin Davis lives on a county road separating the two counties, and his road remains littered with debris.

“My wife and I were sitting on the porch watching the weather coming in and paying attention to the radar and watches and warnings and a big wall of water. We could see it coming,” Davis said. “About that time it hit and you hear stuff slamming up against the house. Just a minute [after], it was gone and we came outside and seen all the damage to the trees. I mean, it uprooted some big old trees and they’re pointing different directions.”

Several homes on his road saw substantial damage.

“My neighbor over here, he lost the barn and it was 225 years old and it’s gone. My other neighbor down here part of his roof blew off and it was raining in his bedroom and he’s got a big fifth wheel camper [that was damaged],” Davis said. “Our electric pole feeds electric to our house that went right there. It was broke off at the ground and there was power lines laying everywhere with the road out here.”

In Monett, while out of the path of the twister, other residents like the Campbell family, weren’t immune to damage.

“I work an hour from here, so I had an entire drive home of thinking about what I’m going to come home to. The only view I had was my security cameras, and they stopped working right as soon as the storm hit,” Malachi Campbell said.

Video provided to OzarksFirst shows winds snapping and breaking his fence like toothpicks.

“I had no idea was coming home to,” Campbell said.

The two say they’re glad it wasn’t worse and there have been few reported injuries.

“I’ve had a lot of calls and a lot of volunteers to come and help and I’ve got some guys, they’re going to come and cut up these big trees because they want the wood, you know, and my neighbors, we all get together and help each other and they’ve got smaller tractors and we’re going to get together and clean it up and plant some new trees,” Davis said. “It was plenty scary, but it didn’t last long enough to be scared very long.”

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