Monday storms leave behind property damage

Monday night's dramatic temperature change brought with it heavy rain and high winds, resulting in trees on the campus of Lincoln University being destroyed.
Monday night's dramatic temperature change brought with it heavy rain and high winds, resulting in trees on the campus of Lincoln University being destroyed.

Near the intersection of Lafayette and East Dunklin streets Tuesday morning, people worked to repair telephone poles and clean up debris while others tried to remove large trees that had been uprooted on Lincoln University's campus. Debris was scattered around the intersection, most of it from the roof of the Second Christian Church of Disciples of Christ's annex.

The Second Christian Church Disciples of Christ's annex had its roof blown off after a storm carrying high-speed winds swept through Jefferson City on Monday night.

Walking into the annex at the corner of Lafayette and East Dunklin streets, Deacon Farrell Roundtree looked up at the sky through the gaping hole in the roof. Jagged-edged boards jutted out from inside the building, and pink insulation was spewed across the building and nearby field.

"I don't know if they officially classified it as a tornado or not, but I've never seen anything like this," Roundtree said.

The annex was used for classrooms and Bible studies and housed some equipment like computers. No one was in the building at the time of the storm, and Roundtree said he was not sure how much damage was done to the equipment.

"Thank God there was no one here and no one got hurt," he said. "If it had been somebody's home, they would be out in the street."

The annex no longer has electricity, as the storm damaged the utilities and even broke the meter box on the side of the building.

Approximately 1,000 Ameren customers lost power for about three minutes at the height of Monday night's power outages, Ameren Communications Executive Jeni Hagen said.

Second Christian Church Disciples of Christ's church, located at 703 E. Dunklin St., had several broken windows and missing roof shingles but was still intact.

Roundtree said the insurance company will look at the damage this week.

Second Christian Church Disciples of Christ, which celebrated its 112th anniversary in October, is coordinating cleanup efforts. Anyone interested can call Roundtree at 573-353-4306.

Across the street, several trees were uprooted on Lincoln University's campus. Lincoln University spokeswoman Misty Young confirmed some university buildings had roof damage, too.

She said the university was still assessing the rest of the campus for storm damage.