A tornado damaged two buildings at Brookdale Farms, but no one was injured, Eureka Fire Protection District spokesman William Stamberger said.
He said the tornado was detected at about 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 18.
The National Weather Service reported today, April 19, the tornado was classified as an EF-1, which produces wind gusts between 86 to 110 mph. The National Weather Service reported the worst damage was in northern Jefferson County along Twin Rivers Road.
Brookdale Farms is located at 8004 Twin Rivers Road.
The National Weather Service also reported the tornado traveled 7.8 miles and had a maximum width of 40 yards.
Missouri American Water has issued a precautionary boil water advisory for parts of Eureka. The advisory started at about 8:15 p.m. Thursday and will be in place to about 9:15 p.m. Saturday, April 20.
Missouri American said water should be boiled before drinking in the area north of I-44, west of Meramec Boulevard, south of Forby Road and east of Workman Road. For more information about the advisory, go to amwater.com.
Along with the damage at Brookdale Farm, Jefferson County Emergency Management Director Warren Robinson said a tree fell on a mobile home in High Ridge. He said no injuries were reported.
“There were a bunch of wire and trees down,” he said. “Nothing else of significance has been reported to us.”
Brookdale Farms office manager Marnie Schneider said there were 25 people in the wedding venue for a rehearsal when the tornado came through the farm.
“Two of our assistant wedding coordinators were there running the rehearsal, and they did an unbelievably fantastic job of getting everybody into our shelter,” she said. “We didn’t have a scratch on anybody.”
Schneider said Brookdale Farms did not have power as of this morning, April 18, and two field trips were canceled.
She said Ameren workers are clearing trees on Twin Rivers Road, where power lines went down.
“We have everyone here who needs to be here,” Schneider said. “We have people here to help rebuild. A Jefferson County building inspector is going to be here. We are on track to be able to pull this wedding off tomorrow (Saturday).”
Schneider said everyone at Brookdale Farms is relieved only buildings were damaged by the tornado.
“We can replace everything that was damaged, but we can’t replace people,” she said. “We have a lot to be grateful for today.”
Schneider said Brookdale Farms mainly holds weddings and other events on the weekend and field trips on Friday at this time of year. She said normal operations are expected to resume on Monday, April 22.
“It is amazing the number of people who we have reached out to and asked if they can come tomorrow because we need to be able to do this for this bride and groom who are supposed to be married here, and everybody has said yes,” she said.