National Weather Service preliminary survey shows EF2 tornado damage in Dexter, Mo.

STODDARD COUNTY, Mo. (KFVS) - Severe storms on Saturday night, July 10 caused damage in parts of Stoddard County.

The damage shows signs of a potential EF2 tornado with top winds estimated at 120 miles per hour, according to preliminary surveys on Sunday by the National Weather Service in Paducah.

The tornado’s path was 5.5 miles long. It started around 8:18 p.m. 2.5 miles west-northwest of downtown Dexter and ended at 8:29 p.m. 3 miles east of downtown Dexter.

According to the National Weather Service, some of the damage included at least 150 homes. They reported lost of shingles, facia and siding, as well as damage from fallen trees.

The NWS also reported several mobile homes were damaged or destroyed and one mobile home was flipped on its roof.

At a hospital sustained major damage, including several windows blown in, ceiling panels blown down and one attached structure was blown away. Several vehicles at the hospital had their windows blown out or were damaged from flying debris.

According to SoutheastHEALTH, they had to evacuate patients and the emergency department at SoutheastHEALTH of Stoddard County due to the storm damage. No one was hurt.

The NWS said hundreds of trees were snapped or uprooted.

The survey is still ongoing.

Meanwhile, Stoddard County Emergency Management requested non-essential travelers stay off the roads to leave room for crews to work. This is meant to speed up the time it will take to clean up and restore power.

At one time, Ameren Missouri reported more than 1,600 customers without power in the county.

Most of the outages were in and around Dexter and Essex.

Electric crews were out in force after the storm and early Sunday morning working to restore power and make repairs.

Road crews were also seen hard at work removing debris and clearing blocked roads.

So far, no injuries have been reported in the county, and first responders want to keep it that way.

Dexter Fire Chief Don Seymore urged residents and businesses to hold off on cleaning up storm damage.

He understands the want in removing debris and setting things to rights, but said it’s best to wait for safety reasons.

“The public really needs to know all the powerlines on the ground still could be hot and we’d rather them not be out moving tree branches today,” said Chief Seymore. “Let Ameren do their work first and then you can clean up your yards because we do have lots of major power lines down.”

For help with housing assistance or food or water, contact the Stoddard County Emergency Management Agency at 573-614-5155.

To request help with cleaning debris or for supplies like tarps, gloves, and hand tools, contact the Dexter Fire Department at 573-624-3425. This is for any residents in the impacted area, not just those in Dexter city limits.

The City is asking that all homeowners in city limits put their debris on the edge of the street and not in the street. They will send crews to pick up debris as soon as they can.

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