Warren Robinson
Most of Jefferson County dodged the impact of severe weather that rumbled through the area late Monday night and into early Tuesday morning, said Warren Robinson, director of the county’s office of Emergency Management.
“To this point we have not gotten any significant damage reports from the system that came through,” Robinson said late Tuesday morning.
He said there appeared to be tornadic activity during the storm, but he did not believe a tornado touched down in the county.
Severe weather and tornado warnings and watches began being issued at about 8:30 p.m. Monday, according to the National Weather Service.
“Olympian Village was the first one warned,” Robinson said. “There were folks sending some pictures that looked like a funnel cloud to the National Weather Service. There were several videos that came out of that. I don’t know if that one ever made landfall. That was the first one, and it never got above a radar-indicated (tornado) from the National Weather Service.”
Robinson said there was one radar-confirmed tornado that traveled from Washington County into the most western portion of Jefferson County, tracking along the county’s border with Franklin County.
“The National Weather saw a debris signature on the radar,” he said. “That storm tracked right up our western border, which is extremely sparsely populated. I am not too surprised we didn’t get any calls for that one. It was right on the border between Jefferson and Franklin. That is as far west of De Soto you can get in the county without leaving it.”
The storm left more than 2,500 Ameren customers in Jefferson County without power, but by about 10 a.m. Tuesday, that number had dropped to 678, Robinson said.
He said it was fortunate the storm did not cause significant damage in Jefferson County.
Robinson said the National Weather Service will survey the western border of the county to see if there was any damage.
“It is sparsely populated, and I am guessing and hoping, that it is limited to trees and vegetation,” he said.