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A brief but furious storm Tuesday, June 23, caused problems for the Liberty area, including downed power lines, toppled trees, damaged roofs, snarled traffic, and power outages at businesses and homes.

Dale and Shelly Martin, who live on South Liberty Drive, had a large cottonwood tree crash down on top of their house.

Dale said he and his son were in the back of the house about 5:45 p.m. when they heard a big boom.

“We ran outside to see what happened and there it was,” Dale said. “It might have been a microburst or wind sheer.”

He said in just minutes their house was covered in broken tree limbs. A vehicle that was parked under the tree was moved by the estimated 60 to 70 mile and hour winds but appeared undamaged.

“You couldn’t even see there was a house in there from the front,” he said.

Dale said he immediately called his insurance carrier and after getting approval, a tree service arrived to remove the fallen tree from their roof and take away the broken limbs. He said he wanted to make sure he got the roof covered before more rain arrived, which it did later that night.

Steve Hansen, public works director, said it appeared most of the damage was confined to an area in the western part of the city. A huge blue and white tent, selling fireworks in the parking lot next to Texas Roadhouse was blown down and the fireworks soaked. The next day it was back in business. Another fireworks tent along Missouri Highway 291 was also blown down. The roof was damaged on two buildings at the Wilshire apartments and there were a number of downed power lines, Hansen said.

“It was weird and it was a surprise,” Hansen said. “It wasn’t widespread and it had a definite path that was fairly narrow.”

Hansen said the city opened its tree disposal site on Missouri Highway 210 so that residents had a place to take debris.

“I think it was probably straight-line winds. It was isolated but it certainly had an impact,” Hansen said.

Valarie Petralie Wurtz who lives near the Wilshire Apartment said there was no warning.

“The people walking around in the apartments were in shock and just standing around not knowing what to do,” Wurtz said by e-mail. “I believe they were in shock because we didn’t have any warning.”

However, she said shortly afterward people were trying to help each other.

“It was wonderful how Liberty got here fast and worked in harmony together and fixed up things fast,” she said. “People were asking each other if they were OK, and the firemen were making sure everyone was safe.”

Deputy Fire Chief Mike Snider said the sirens are activated if the National Weather Service issues a tornado warning for Clay County or a trained spotter reports a tornado on the ground. He said the sirens are for outdoor warning purposes.

“This came on us so quickly. The only report we received was of a severe thunderstorm,” Snider said.

Snider said no injuries were reported.

Liberty Editor Angie Anaya Borgedalen can be reached at 781-4941 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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