Residents in the Northeast Missouri’s Shelby County fared much better Tuesday morning than people in Newton County did over the weekend when tornadoes roared through that area. In contrast to the millions of dollars in damage and loss of life that occurred as a result of severe weather in Southwest Missouri, Tuesday morning’s tornadoes in Shelby County caused no injuries or damage.
“We had no damage at all,” said Glenn Eagan, emergency management director for Shelby County.
This was not the first time the county has dodged a severe-storm bullet, according to Eagan.
“We have many times,” he said. “There’s a tornado alley, that’s what I’d call it, in southern Shelby County and northern Monroe (County). The last five times there’s been any tornadoes in this area they’ve been within four to five miles of the same area. We’ve just been lucky that they haven’t went through any towns that are close by here.”
Tuesday’s storms erupted near Clarence, which didn’t allow much time to issue warnings to nearby communities such as Shelbina.
“There wasn’t anything and it developed about Clarence and it built from there,” said Eagan. “That’s the kind of storm that gets people in trouble because you don’t have any warning. We did survive and everything went pretty well.”
The initial storm report came in at 9:39 a.m., according to Eagan.
“Someone on Highway 36 reported a tornado west of South Shelby and then about 10 minutes later we had a call from a state patrolman four miles north of Maud, which is just a small little community south of Clarence, that he spotted a tornado on the ground,” he said.
Additional funnel clouds were also spotted.
“There were a couple of tails of a tornado reported near the city of Shelbina. The tails were up quite a ways in the sky,” said Eagan. “They did sound the tornado sirens three times in Shelbina.”
Spotting the tornado near the South Shelby High School/Middle School was Patrol Officer Steven Kelly.
“It was in a farm field,” he said. “I sat and looked at it for a little bit, called the sheriff’s office on the radio and informed them about it. At that point I turned around, went back into the city and started notifying businesses that may not have been able to hear the sirens for the tornado.”
Kelly estimated he was 1 1/2 to two miles from the funnel.
“I didn’t feel any threat to me by it,” he said. “It was moving northeast. I was east of it so I was OK.”
It was the first time Kelly had seen a tornado in person.
“It was an experience,” he said.
Shelbina Police Chief Jenni Rash said the tornadic weather came as a surprise.
“I knew that the weather was supposed to get bad in some spots but I didn’t know we were supposed to get some tornadoes,” she said. “I was actually on my way back from Clarence when I got the news we were having some tornadoes.”
Rash sensed that residents of Shelbina were on edge after the sirens sounded.
“I think everybody was a little nervous,” she said.
First responders and firefighters were out scanning the sky in Shelbina along with law enforcement personnel, reported Rash.
“We’ve had some funnels up in the air, but nothing touched down right in Shelbina,” she said.
