Storm causes damage in rural Scott County

An intense storm roared through Scott County shortly after 2 p.m. Monday, July 24, destroying a grain silo and a metal building near Bertrand, Missouri.

A social media post from SEMO Electric Cooperative included a photo of the silo and pieces of the building across Route O between Sikeston, Missouri, and Bertrand. The cooperative's online outage map showed a handful of power outages in Scott and Cape Girardeau counties.

An official with the National Weather Service office in Paducah, Kentucky, said an NWS crew may investigate the area to determine whether the damage involved tornadic activity but suggested the damage likely came from straightline winds.

At the time of the storm, radar indicated a strong downburst in the area. According to NWS, downburst occurs when water in a large thunderstorm begins to fall and evaporates. As it does, it cools the surrounding air, accelerating the warmer air toward the ground. Such events can create winds of 80 mph over a small area. These intense winds do not expand over a large area and usually last a matter of minutes, as opposed to a more common wall of straightline winds that can span dozens of miles.