Dateline: April 23, 2003

Tornado damages Clarendon homes

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

Neita Draper looks at part of the roof from a nearby garage which came to rest against her back porch today.   Enterprise Photo

A nice spring shower turned ugly for some Clarendon residents Wednesday when what is being described as a “small tornado” hit the southeast side of town.  

The storm was later officially classified as an F1 tornado with winds up to 80 mph.

Sheriff Butch Blackburn said the damage appeared to have been caused by a small funnel, despite assurances from the weather bureau just moments before that there was nothing to worry about.

Emergency personnel responded quickly to block of traffic around the storm’s path, and city crews worked to clear streets of tree limbs and debris.

No injuries were reported.  Blackburn said the damage reached from Barcus Street at Carhart to the 600 block of E. Second Street and mostly consisted of tree limbs.

A vacant house owned by Carl Draper in the 300 block of E. Montgomery Street seemed to have sustained the most damage. There a second story room and the front porch were ripped off. The roof of the garage was also torn apart.

Some residents said they saw a funnel, others said they saw only swirling trash and debris.

Draper, whose double-wide trailer house next door also suffered damage to the roof and windows, said he had just made a sandwich about 12:30 p.m. when he looked out the front door and saw a small funnel drop down on Carhart Street between Barcus and Burkhead streets.

“It sounded just like a freight train,” Draper said.

He told his wife to hit the floor just as the storm passed through his block. He said the storm then picked up and dropped down again before picking up and heading out north of town.

Damage reports were still coming in at post time and included accounts of a mangled swing set, a warped trampoline which hovered at roof-height before being slammed onto the neighbor’s property, a small out building that was blown away or destroyed, roofs damaged, and fences knocked over.

A full report will be available in next week’s print edition of The Enterprise.