It hit so hard and fast that it ripped barbed wire fences out of the ground, leveled farm homes and barns, killed or injured livestock and left behind an ugly trail that today resembles a war zone.
Residents living along the southern edge of Labette County and across the state line in Craig County, Okla., lived through an EF4 tornado Sunday evening, and the damaged terrain is still strewn with debris.
The wedge-shaped funnel cloud formed over Chetopa around 3:30 p.m. and grew to a mile wide at times staying on the ground for some 90 miles as it blasted toward the east, killing seven people in Picher, Okla., and another 14 people in Newton County Missouri from the same storm system.
The Chetopa community missed the major part of the tornado damage but tennis ball size hail pelted the town and strong winds left no doubt that the funnel had barely missed the town that only hours earlier had held its annual Spring Fling celebration.
Chetopa City Clerk Toni Crumrine and Labette County Sheriff William Blundell both confirmed that no major damage was reported in Chetopa or in Labette County.
But south of Chetopa, just across the Kansas/Oklahoma line, was quite another story. The funnel followed an improbable southeasterly line and created havoc wherever it chose to go. Tornado sirens wailed in Chetopa and Oswego giving residents within earshot a few minutes warning of impending funnel activity.
Many rural residents sought shelter in cellars. Others tried to outrun the tornado in vehicles. But all were victims of a phenomenon quite common in this region which is known as “tornado alley.”
Don and Mary Stewart have lived at their farm for 56 years. The tornado took the roof off the house, destroyed two outbuildings and barn. Mary said they watched the storm warning on the television, looked outside and saw it coming. Mary and her husband, Don, headed to their storm cellar and were joined by their son and wife, Steve and Kathy, who lived just a half mile down the road from them. Mary said they heard it go over — a sound like a train and then it was dead quiet. They knew it had hit. “It was over in an instant,” she said. There was no rain, just lots of wind.
Mary Beth Hartley said her daughter had called and told her it was coming toward her area and she ran down to her basement. She stayed there five minutes and then went out. She had damage to a front porch and two outbuildings were completely gone.
Across highway 59 about three miles to the east, a trailer house was picked up and thrown into another house, demolishing the trailer and causing extensive damage to the second home. East of Chetopa, another house was also destroyed.
Dustin Wilson and his 6-year old son, were also helping with the cattle and they decided to head for home and take a nap. As they looked out they could see it coming and they got into their pickup truck and drove away from it.
When they came back later the tornado had completely taken their home and all that was left was the cement slab foundation. Dustin works at Boss Tank in Oswego and his wife Tammy works at the Labette Bank in Oswego.
At the home of Raymond George, just up the road from the Wilson’s, there was a tree on the corner of his roof, one shed destroyed, his motor home turned on its side.
Jim and Martha Buttram, Quapaw, Okla., lost their home and barn in the same tornado. Jim is a former third grade teacher and elementary principal at Chetopa and also former elementary principal at Caney.
The Buttrams were in Tulsa at the time of the storm. Jim’s parents, John and Mary Buttram, live across the pasture southeast of Jim. Jim’s brother, Jack, was able to get them to shelter before the storm hit. Their house suffered heavy damage with the windows blown out and portions of the roof gone. Jim’s house and barn were completely gone. One of their dogs was killed and the other was still missing as of Sunday afternoon.
Ronnie and Sharon Johnson, who live south of Keelville, had several pieces of farm equipment damaged. The equipment was at the home of Alvene Darnell, just across the Oklahoma line. Ronnie was in his truck outside Alvene’s house when the tornado hit. He jumped out of the truck, leaving it running and in neutral, and ran toward the house. The truck was pushed through a fence and Ronnie was forced against the garage door of the house by the wind. He was able to get down and cover his head while the tornado passed over. Sharon Johnson is the sister of Esther Dunn, owner of the Hornet’s Nest in Chetopa.
Toby Fry, son of Pat Fry who had a beauty shop in Chetopa several years ago, lost his home to the storm. Toby, his wife and daughter, were not at home. There is nothing left of the Fry home except rubble strewn across the nearby fields.
