At Least Five Tornadoes Hit Area; Massive Flooding and Rains Wednesday

At least five tornadoes struck the area Wednesday along with massive flooding and anywhere from 6-13 inches of rain. In Sheridan, rain started around 4 pm and around four inches of rain fell over the next two hours. Rain fell throughout the night as a tornado watch, originally set to expire at 10, was extended to midnight.

Among the tornadoes spotted, two were spotted in Denver and did extensive damage to trees, broke windows, and flooded homes. One more was spotted near Gentry, one large one was spotted near Maryville, and one was spotted north of Sheridan just across the Iowa line. 

The Sheridan twister, which was visible from the town, destroyed a home and all the outbuildings around it, knocked down power lines and trees, and tore the roofs off three hog confinement facilities.

Flooding was bad, with some places that had escaped the Flood of 1993 being flooded. At one point, it was not possible to get in or out of Sheridan as the bridge east of town is still closed until September and ditches south of Gaynor and north of Gary Hart’s jumped the bank and went over the road. Route H was nearly impassable north of Sheridan, with one truck hauling hay having to plow its way through water to get out. The Rodeo Grounds were underwater, as was the street just west of MFA. By contrast, the Flood of 1993 came up to the edge of Sheridan, but never inside it.

There were plenty of other places that were flooded as well. Runoff from the flooding was so bad that the West Fork and Middlefork jumped the banks between Stanberry and Albany. Casey’s was not able to pump gas for customers there. Route 136 north of Ravenwood was closed due to flooding, making it difficult Thursday morning for people to get to work in Maryville that day.

Power was out in Sheridan from 6:30 to 10:30 in the evening Wednesday, with power once again going out from 9 to 10:30 Thursday morning as Ravenwood was hit hard by the storm. In Grant City, the power was out all night until 11 Thursday morning. In Denver, multiple power lines and tree limbs blew over Route M, forcing the closure of that road.

One Denver resident, Joe Marshall, said that the Jam Session ended early in Grant City Wednesday night due to the storm. He attempted to go home the normal way, on Route M, but the road was already closed due to power lines being down. He said he had to go around through Allendale and had to stop and remove some tree limbs from the road in the driving rain in order to get back home. He said that one twister had come from Ravenwood, while the other one came from Stanberry. “As far as I’m concerned, they can keep their tornadoes,” he said.

Correction -- The damage to the Allendale Rodeo Grounds was done by a storm the week before.