SEDALIA, MO. -- People in Sedalia continue to clean up after an EF-2 tornado ripped through their city on Wednesday afternoon.
Authorities said 65 Sedalia homes were destroyed and as many as 25 are said to have significant damage.
Storm victims said they are just happy to be alive.
Authorities said it was miracle that no one was killed by the tornado.
As many as 25 people suffered minor injuries.
The quarter-mile wide tornado destroyed 2 Sedalia trailer parks, as well as several homes and businesses. 135 mile per hour winds had no mercy as they tore apart everything in their path south of Sedalia along Highway 65. Maria Flores was in the process of moving out of the Hillcrest Mobile Home Park when the tornado hit.
Flores said, “There’s 3 windows broken. The door on the other side is totally messed up. It took the garage away. We don’t know where it is. We had a dryer there. It’s all the way over there, if you can see by the tree.”
A truck was smashed by the tornado before catching on fire. Somehow a dog named Buster crawled out the tangled mess without a scratch.
Tornado victim Amos Preece said, “We couldn’t find our dachshund dog. We found it inside the truck pinned underneath the passenger seat. We worked for about thirty minutes and got the dog out unharmed. Buster was in the truck for about 2 hours. It was a happy ending. We took him into the restaurant and gave him some bacon and some water, so he was fine.”
Authorities say there was a heightened sense of awareness following the massive tornado that struck Joplin on Sunday.
Pettis County Sheriff Kevin Bond said, “Being that we are in tornado alley and Sedalia has historically been hit by tornadoes in the past, I think people heeded that warning. I think that helped tremendously.”
At one point, more than 2,000 homes and businesses were without electricity in Sedalia.
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