BATES COUNTY, Mo. — What would normally be a driveway now is a graveyard of trees, left behind in the aftermath ofMonday’s thunderstorms with 40- to 70-mile per hour winds.
"I was up and awake and all of a sudden it got really dark,” said Bates County resident Willow Oringderff, whose driveway is littered with tree debris. “The wind started picking up, and I was like, ‘Wow, this doesn't sound good.’”
From Butler to Ballard, Bates County bore the brunt of sporadic damage that hail and high wind speeds caused as storms passed through areas south of Kansas City, Missouri. One person also died after a tree fell onto a house.
"There was a constant siren going off, but it was just wind and then there was a lot of cracking and popping, and I look and all of a sudden there's a tree in my window,” Oringderff said with a laugh, knowing help was just around the corner.
"Well, the thing is we have awesome neighbors,” she said. “I had a neighbor who's a contractor. He stopped by an hour after it happened and he helped me clear part of the driveway, and then another neighbor of ours is an electrician. Well, he's retired, but he stopped by and made sure that the lines were clear again."
Oringderff took shelter in the center room of the house where she was able to distantly watch as trees fell around her family farm. None of the nine animals on the property were hurt.
"They're all OK. It's like - like a miracle,” Oringderff said. "It is beautiful because everybody is having a hard time right now, but still everybody is nice and kind and so supportive and helpful."
