After a severe storm Monday morning, the residents of Glasgow, Missouri, came together to begin cleaning up.
Tanya Monnig cleans up debris on Monday in Glasgow. “They said tonight’s going to be really bad too,” Monnig said. “At least there’s not as many trees left.”
The town was ravaged by high winds that pulled massive trees from the ground and ripped roofs off buildings after tornado sirens sounded around 7 a.m., prompting a state of emergency from Glasgow’s mayor. Neighbors loaned chainsaws, families drove through the storm to help, and local bakers delivered and donated sandwiches.
Glasgow is more than 40 miles northwest of Columbia and has a population of 1,079. The town was full of people lending tools and helping remove fallen trees from backyards.
Residents clean up debris on Monday in Glasgow. Certain parts of the town have been inaccessible due to branches and power lines blocking the road. “It seems like every road you go down is closed,” Tommy Yung said.
Fallen tree limbs surrounded resident Kaitlyn McMillan’s house. Her roof and backyard were littered with debris and damage. She said with all the damage, the storm must have been more than just strong winds or a severe thunderstorm.
“We’ve never had anything like this happen,” McMillan said. “It was so calm outside, and then all of a sudden it got really dark and the wind started blowing really hard. It was blowing so hard I couldn’t tell, like the trees, everything was going so fast, and then I made the girls get in our basement bathroom and we could hear limbs falling on our house.”
Hadley McMillan, 4, sits in her play car on Monday at her home in Glasgow. Hadley’s toys were blown into the neighbor’s yard due to the storm.
Although McMillan said the high winds seemed to pass through in about three minutes, they left plenty of carnage in their wake.
“It seems like every road you go down is closed,” Glasgow resident Tommy Yung said.
Downed trees blocked roads into the city and throughout it, cutting off access to many parts of town. The storm caused power outages, property damage and damage to the water tower. Yung said his neighbors’ trampoline sailed over his backyard and into the front of his yard.
Power lines hung limp from fallen wooden utility poles, including ones ripped in half by the high winds. The city of Glasgow Facebook page said electricity is expected to be down for the next two to three days and will come back on sporadically.
Toys sit in a yard after being blown from the storm on Monday in Glasgow. “You couldn’t even see out there,” Glasgow resident Nicole Dickerman said. “The wind just picked up and tore through here.” The Glasgow School District canceled school Monday and Tuesday.
The Fayette Police Department and the Howard County Sheriff’s Office helped Glasgow police respond to the storm, Glasgow Police Chief TJ Livermore said. The city of Glasgow urged residents to limit water usage as the water tower was affected by the storms. Police officers handed out cases of water to residents in need at city hall.
“We’ve had a lot of people show up and help and take care of all the clean up,” Livermore said. “It’s been a great community effort getting that taken care of.”
Glasgow Police Chief TJ Livermore watches as crews cut down fallen branches on Monday in Glasgow. Livermore said several roads were blocked due to storm damage.
The Glasgow School District was closed Monday following the storm and will be closed Tuesday as well. School is also canceled Tuesday at Glasgow Head Start and St. Mary K-8 Elementary School.
The local state of emergency will last for at least the next 72 hours and allows the mayor to govern the city by proclamation and exercise additional powers.
City officials said energy crews will be doing repairs, and streets with orange cones should be avoided due to downed power lines.
Roofers begin to rebuild the roof of the Tri-County Trust Company on Monday at 103 Commerce St. in Glasgow. The severe storm that swept through Glasgow in the morning damaged roofs and downed power lines.
A tree and limb collection site has been set up at the John Donaldson baseball field for residents to drop off trees knocked over by the storm.