12 Houses Significantly Damaged, One Injured In Dekalb

At least a dozen homes damaged significantly, downed trees prominent after a tornado touched down in Dekalb County Monday afternoon.

Dekalb County EMA Director Charlie Parker said the one injury occurred when a tree fell just a few feet in front of a driver. He said the woman sustained a minor injury after crashing into it. Parker said the houses with the most significant damage are around Allons Ferry Road, right on the edge of the Smithville city limits.

“The second roof level, floor level of the house, half of it’s gone,” Parker said. “Another end of it’s completely gone. Another one’s got a hole in the side of the roof. You could probably put two cars in where it took the gable end out.”

Monday’s storms flared quickly. Parker said a storm that becomes so severe so quickly can be particularly challenging to prepare for. He said by the time many people got the emergency notification on their devices, the most dangerous part of the storm was a few short moments away.

“It was kind of a quick spin-up,” Parker said. “I mean it kind of rained. The sun shined here today. It’s been, you know, pretty nice, but when it started, it was just, you know, a few dark clouds. We got some notifications from the weather service. Tornado warning, right off the bat, so, it wasn’t even what I would consider a heavy thunderstorm at that time.”

Parker said several barns and garages took significant damage and some were completely demolished. As of 10pm Monday night, Parker said all county roads remain open and crews are working to repair some fallen power lines.

He said several people have shared video of a funnel cloud touching down just north of Smithville city limits late Monday afternoon.

“It went straight to a tornado warning and got notified from the weather service looking at the radar, it looked like we had one that was rotating close to the ground,” Parker said. “And they spotted debris in it too.”