Intense winds — measured in the 70-90 mile per hour range — were responsible for considerable damage in the Montgomery County area Friday morning.

North of Cherryvale, the property of Randy and Louise Boss sustained significant damage after winds damaged several sheds and garages.  A huge tree was totally uprooted, falling on a carport that inflicted heavy damaged to a personal vehicle.  The Boss couple was huddled in a storm shelter outside their main residence when the tree fell on the carport.  The tree limbs also blocked their exit from the storm shelter, and a family member was quickly called to remove the tree limbs.

Ironically, the huge tree was located in the backyard, where Randy Boss poured a concrete slab for a new backporch on Thursday.

“That tree was going to be used as the shade for our backporch,” he said. “We lost the tree . . . and part of the porch, too.”

A portion of the newly-poured concrete slab also sustained damage due to the uprooted tree.

Several other adjacent homes sustained damaged, primarily roof shingles that were blown away by the storm.

A member of the Cherryvale Police Department said that a South Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad locomotive was pushed onto a derail track near the Neosho Street crossing.  The sheer force the winds caused a nearby locomotive to move down the tracks and collided with another locomotive, forcing the second diesel engine to hit the derail tracks.

“A diesel locomotive weighs about 390,000 pounds,” said Perry Lambert, assistant police chief. “So, that just shows how intense the winds were when the storm hit.”

Tree limbs were reported down throughout Cherryvale and Independence.

A semi-tractor trailer traveling on U.S. 169 highway near Cherryvale also sustained damaged.  The high-profile vehicle was thrown from the road and rested on its side until work crews were able to raise it upright and clear the highway of damage.

In Thayer, damage was more severe as several commercial properties sustained significant damage while most residential properties reported major tree damage or total tree loss.  The roof at Mama C’s Grocery Store was ripped from the building and blown into the parking lot while a building at Carl’s Sales and Service on the north end of Thayer also suffered major damage.

Elsewhere in southeast Kansas, a Wilson County person was killed in the storm. The resident lived between Fredonia and New Albany when the person succumbed to injuries.  No further details about the death were reported as of noon Friday.