BARING, Mo. – It was another wild weekend of severe weather across the bi-state, with a few tornado touchdowns doing significant damage to rural communities. One community hit hard was Baring, Missouri, in Knox County.
“They had propane tanks spewing; people are yelling; people are trapped; the power’s out,” said Echo Menges, a reporter with the Edina Sentinel.
Menges sets the scene following the EF-2 tornado that tore through the small town of Baring Friday night shortly after 11 p.m., damaging 62 buildings, with 32 homes beyond repair.
Victim Terry Fast described his experience.
“I woke up and the ceiling started coming down, and I didn’t hear no sound or nothing, so I didn’t know what was going on,” he said. “I just tried to do the best I could. Everything was raining on me; I had to get my umbrella out.”
Fast only suffered minor injuries. Remarkably, no one was killed or seriously injured in the storm, which produced winds over 120 miles per hour.
Menges is extremely proud of their emergency response.
“We don’t have any paid firefighters in our county. It’s all volunteer. These are all people who are getting out of bed and rolling out to help from all over the county, and also neighboring counties,” she said.
The community is coming together in the cleanup effort. The Weaverland Disaster Service alone had over 100 volunteers out on Saturday, but they weren’t the only ones.
“Every contractor, every able-bodied, every person with a truck, a trailer, a tractor, a backhoe, a track hoe, a skid loader loaded up and went to Baring Saturday morning, because we were able to get the news out so fast,” Menges said.
They all began clearing away the aftermath of the storm.
“The effort to clean up just getting the tree limbs off the road, which was extensive. I’ve never seen anything like that. Hundreds of people. Hundreds of people,” she said.
Menges says thanks to all this support, the entire cleanup should be done by Tuesday night, but there are still other ways they need assistance.
“There’s a lot of need there. I think the rebuilding process is going to be very hard without some kind of financial outside support,” Menges said.
The Knox County Ministerial Alliance has set up an account to help support the victims of the Baring Tornado. Donations can be made directly to the bank.
Citizens Bank of Edina
117 S. Main, Edina, Missouri 63537
660-397-2266
In addition, the Knox County Chamber of Commerce has set up a Venmo donation link. The attached QR code will take you to that link.
