Dan Steinbeck, Contributing writer
Baring, MO – A tornado may have moved in an unusual path on the night of August 4 and heavily damaged this town of 125 people, but Missouri Disaster Relief moved in a typical way.
Many times, a tornado moves toward the east or northeast. This tornado, with estimated maximum winds of 122 miles per hour moved to the northwest. It heavily damaged several of the senior housing apartments, from which people had to be rescued; the post office was all but leveled, the roof of the town’s only restaurant was partially blown off, as was half of the town’s fire station.
Minor injuries were reported to two people and more than a dozen residents were displaced. Various vehicles were damaged and larger items like shipping containers, livestock feeders, and anhydrous ammonia tanks were scattered about the town and several farm buildings were also damaged.
The next day, sixteen members of the Mt. Salem/Wyaconda Southern Baptist Association (MSWSBA) Disaster Relief team assisted in tree limb removal clearing two trees that blocked access to neighboring residential front doors. At one house, the only storm damage was a lone broken window.
On Sunday, August 6, five members to the MSWSBA distributed about 30 roof tarps, 20X 100 feet, provided by the Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief in Jefferson City. Other emergency response teams brought tarps that could be used to drape over resident’s private belongings gathered in a central room.
Monday, several of the MSWSBA team distributed pallets of empty boxes, also provided by Jefferson City for residents to store personal items.
On Wednesday, August 9, half-dozen MSWSBA team members helped serve meals at the Edina Community Center for the MARC (Multi Agency Resource Center), where storm victims could find what help was available from various agencies. Ninety people were served lunch and approximately 150 were served supper. The head cook was Kandy Derden from Sedalia.
Since then, NEMO regional coordinator Al Groner has organized teams to assist with clean-up, feeding and chaplaincy, and a gift card giveaway.