Tornado victims identified

Tornadoes brought death and destruction to Daviess County Saturday evening. Three people died in the mammoth storm, rated as an F4 storm by the National Weather Service which means winds estimated at 260 mph were involved.

The tornado passed over the brick home of Wesley Harms at the junction of Route EE and Highway 6 to follow the county line Santa Rosa gravel road northward. Metal barn structures were damaged next to the Harms home and at the next home belonging to John Oaks. Then two houses belonging to Raymond Searcy were destroyed as was the Randy Fraizer residence. All these properties were on the Dekalb side of the boundary road.

Death occurred on the Daviess County side. Five people were in the modular home owned by Pete Bethards when it was lifted from its cement block foundation and demolished as it was blown westward across the road for about 50 yards into Dekalb County.

Mr. Bethards was pronounced dead at the scene, found still shielding his grandchildren amid the debris. Two of his daughters were injured, Melissa Bethards, 24, and Monica Bethards, 26. Both were taken to Liberty Hospital. Monica’s two daughters were also injured, 3-year-old Autumn, and 2-1/2 month old Adriana who was listed in serious condition as late as Monday evening with head injuries. The children are being treated at Children’s Mercy Hospital.

Two deaths occurred when the tornado struck the next residence along the road. Six people were at the home of John Stith, hoping to survive the storm. Pronounced dead at the scene on the Daviess County side of the road were Patricia Stith, 60, and Mary Riley, 79.

Injured were Christina Sharp, 34, taken to Cameron Regional Medical Center; Christina’s father, John Stith, 59, taken to North Kansas City Hospital; and two children, Derrick Sharp, 7, and Casey Sharp, 5. Both children were taken to Children’s Mercy Hospital and were still listed in serious condition as late as Monday evening.

The fatalities are the first local deaths resulting from a tornado in memory, perhaps the first ever in Daviess County. Likewise, the storm is considered among the biggest, if not the most damaging, in county history.

Thanks to warnings from the National Weather Service, anyone listening to the weather news had about a half hour’s warning before the tornadoes struck. As many as 12 tornadoes touched down at various times.

The storm’s center hovered in the Plattsburg area for quite some time before moving northward. It seemed to pause between Cameraon and Osborn before eventually crossing Highway 36, apparently heading directly toward Kidder and Gallatin. Interstate 35 was closed to traffic as a precaution; water and debris sprawling across Highway 36 forced that highway closing.

Kidder and Gallatin easily could have been the first towns victimized by the storm, but the fatal tornado inexplicably turned north to cross Highway 6 and level homes along the Santa Rosa gravel road. It then moved eastward damaging buildings and uprooting trees at old Pattonsburg and Coffey before it eventually lost its power in Mercer County.

The first caller reporting a tornado strike on the Santa Rosa Road was received by the Daviess County Central 911 Dispatch at 10:39 p.m. Responders dealt with numerous patients upon arrival, in varying degrees of injury, amid the total destruction of several residences in the immediate area.

The actual path of destruction went from Osborn in the south end of Dekalb County into Daviess County, continuing along the Daviess-Harrison County line. Approximately 18 to 20 houses were damaged or destroyed in the two counties, with an estimated 30 to 40 vehicles damaged or destroyed.

Numerous area law enforcement, fire and ambulance agencies arrived on the scene to assist in the search and rescue efforts. These included responders from Daviess, DeKalb, Gentry, Clinton, Cameron and the Missouri State Highway Patrol as well as other agencies and still more citizens and neighbors.

Several searches of the area were conducted in an attempt to locate any possible missing victims. After extensive effort, all people known to be at the scene when the tornado hit were accounted. Six patients were transported to hospitals, two transported by medical helicopter.

The tragedy commanded the attention of national media with television and reporters from the Associated Press and daily newspapers on the scene during the aftermath and cleanup. Twisted trees and debris offered evidence of the storm’s fatal force on location after location.

Many scenes were typical of horrendous tornado destruction so commonly repeated throughout the Midwest’s “Tornado Alley” where storm afflictions annually occur. For instance, a fire fighter from Hamilton describes grass stems blown like darts into the truck of a tree. A Pattonsburg farmer rescued a sheep blown feet-first into and thus hanging from a woven wire fence.

Others report trees cleanly tossed into cleared fields despite the additional weight of its roots still gripping a huge dirt bulb.

Cleanup activities are still underway, and electricity service is being reconnected by Farmers Electric Cooperative. Meals are being offered to volunteer workers and response personnel at the nearby Alta Vista Church.