ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – Debris and tree limbs could be found across south St. Louis County after Wednesday’s storm.
“We’re trying to get a little bit cut up at a time. Maybe cut that end off, and maybe we can get it off there,” said Tom Carter.
He said Thursday morning that he came home to chaos.
“I got four trees in the back that’s down. This whole privacy fence is down,” Carter said. “The roof off the shed and the roof off my house is tore up.”
He estimated around $8,000 of damage to his roof and has already filed an insurance claim.
“Pay insurance. You’re going to use it one day. I paid 30 years and I never used it, but I will now,” Carter said.
Down the street, Ameren trucks and tree cutters flooded the streets.
“I’ve already got power back; they’ve been out here all night, and they did a phenomenal job,” said Clint Cafolla.
He said the strong winds didn’t last long.
“I didn’t hear the typical, you know, it sounded like a freight train; there were no sirens, no nothing,” Cafolla said. “It just sounded like a big wind for about 10 minutes maybe 15, and that was it. The first I saw was my shed wrapped around my neighbor’s tree in the back, and I couldn’t believe that and my lawn furniture everywhere, and I came out here and saw that and realized it was a lot more severe than I had anticipated.”
He said despite the damage to cars and lawns neighbors feel lucky.
“We got so fortunate that none of these trees came down and cut anybody’s house in half. I mean we got very, very lucky,” Cafolla said.