KSHB 41 reporter Ryan Gamboa covers Miami County in Kansas and Cass County in Missouri. He also covers agricultural topics. Share your story idea with Ryan.
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Monday night brought severe weather across the Kansas City metro area.
Residents near Belton, Missouri, felt Mother Nature’s wrath during the first round of storms.
“This is a first for us,” resident Melissa Hibdon said. “Within 30 minutes, I would’ve been starting dinner, and I would’ve been in the kitchen where the tree came through.”
Hibdon has lived in her home, north of Loch Lloyd, for almost 40 years.
She told KSHB 41 she was watching a rerun on television with her son in their living room when they heard a loud boom.
“The tree just came through the kitchen,” she said with a laugh. “After you jump up and find your shoes, so you don’t step on anything, you start making phone calls.”
Hibdon said the first phone calls she made were to her other kids. They immediately came to help.
The tree that hit her home from the backyard made such a loud noise, she was unaware another tree in the front yard fell across the street.
“Looks like we’re the only ones who got it today,” she said.
The tree in the front yard temporarily blocked 145th Street in western Cass County and caused some minor damage to a neighbor’s vehicle.
Hibdon escaped an afternoon that could’ve ended in tragedy. She remained in a great mood and was grateful for the outpouring of support from her neighbors and kids who stepped up in the clean-up efforts.
“There’s a country song about that, 'Who’s going to drop everything and jump in their car and help you,'" Hibdon said. "The whole family and the neighborhood, it’s amazing to watch. We got good people out here.”
Hibdon’s next steps were to get as much cleaned up from the damage as possible, cover any holes in the roof, and find a place to stay for the night.
“I think with all the help we got out here, we’ll find somebody,” Hibdon said with a smile of gratitude.
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