PRAIRIE TOWNSHIP, Mo. — The strong winds from Tuesday's tornado uprooted massive trees across eastern Jackson County. Many of them ended up in backyards, others ended up blocking the roadway.
In Prairie Township that proved to be a challenge for the local fire department until one man and his bobcat came along.
Brian Snyder, who owns KC Mowing and More, got bombarded with calls from neighbors as violent winds swept through.
"They pretty much told me that I just needed to get here quick," Snyder said.
And so Snyder made it to his block on Howard Road near Colbern Road.
"Pulling up, you couldn't — I mean it was a zigzag going down the road. There wasn't a really great way to get down the road," Snyder said.
Which posed a problem for the Prairie Township Fire Protection District, prompting Snyder to break out his Bobcat.
"It's pretty nice to have a Bobcat with claws. So we went up and down and cleared it out and got escorted across Colbern and got it all cleaned up for them," Snyder said.
On Wednesday, splintered trees and broken limbs littered yards up and down Howard road.
Snyder's crews helped eight of his neighbors get rid of the mess and he wasn't spared as well.
The tornado damaged a building that houses one of Snyder's cars and some of his equipment
"Picked it up and pulled out the concrete out and everything so it moved the building I'd say probably 200 feet something like that," Snyder said.
Now his insurance will help replace it.
"It's kind of different in the Midwest. You hear tornado. No one thinks of it until it hits you," Snyder said.
Snyder plans to take all the wood he's collected from this storm over to a local recycling center.
