Landspout tornado touches down near Joplin in Carl Junction

CARL JUNCTION, Mo. (KSNF) — A landspout tornado touched down north of Joplin near Airport Drive on Thursday. It happened at about 1:30 p.m.

Homeowners in the Dogwood Trail Loop area in east Carl Junction are now focusing on cleaning up.

Authorities with the Carl Junction Fire Protection District are describing the damage as downed trees, some roofs torn off, fences down and vehicles under fallen trees.

The damage path lies just west of the Joplin Regional Airport, but Joplin officials say the path stopped short of impacting the airport and the homes to the north and east.

Tornado video

Residents react to landspout

Gary and Phyllis Ward, residents in the area, are dealing with their roof, fence, and a downed play structure in the backyard. They say it all happened so quickly.

“I heard banging on the roof and stuff, and then Holy Toledo — What’s this? And everything was done by then. The tornado was gone. The damage was done. Nothing you can do about it but pay for it,” Ward said.

About a mile from where the tornado touched down, Bruce and Colleen Smithey said they saw the tornado as it lifted from the ground and then passed directly over their home near Gum Road.

They say the funnel was near the top of the tree line when it reached them. They say what stood out was how quickly it came and went.

“It was crazy, we were looking through the front window here, and my wife said, ‘Something’s wrong,’ it got too dark too fast. So, we stepped out here, and all of a sudden, in just a second, the whole top of the tree started spinning and twisting, the whole top, and I knew we were in trouble. It was blowing the hardest I’d ever seen it,” Bruce Smithey said.

The Smithey’s say the strong winds did break off several large tree limbs and knocked down power lines in their neighborhood. Liberty Utilities crews were able to restore power a few hours later.

Past tornadoes

Unfortunately, Carl Junction is no stranger to tornado damage. It’s been almost 21 years since the north side of town was hit. On May 4, 2003, a tornado claimed two lives, injured 15 others, destroyed more than 100 homes and damaged 500 others.

Another tornado more recently was on May 22, 2019. That was an EF-3 in the Briarbrook area, damaging more than 330 homes.

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