Farm bears brunt of tornado damage

NEW HAMBURG, Mo. -- Whenever Donna Bucher looks back on the night of Oct. 26, 2004, what will likely pop into her mind first is the smell.

"There were all these pine trees, and the scent was so strong," says Bucher, glancing around at what's left of her New Hamburg yard.

Decades-old trees that stood around the house four days ago have been replaced with craters.

"It smelled awesome," she says, sighing. "I always have to find something good in everything."

The property, which has belonged to the Bucher family for generations, bears the most scars from Tuesday's brief tornado of any place in the small Scott County town.

No injuries were reported from the storm, which the National Weather Service has classified as a strong F-1 tornado on the Fujita scale.

Both Donna and husband Joe Bucher were inside their house when the tornado struck. Afterward, they waded through debris to survey the damage. A garage and workshop was demolished. A shed disappeared, though the firewood stored inside it was not disturbed.

Probably most upsetting was the destruction of a barn where Joe Bucher's grandparents held dances decades ago. The family had stored antiques inside the barn.

Much of the debris in the yard has already been cleaned up with the help of family and neighbors, but work is just beginning sorting through the collapsed barn.

A recently constructed goldfish pond with a water fountain has also been damaged. Donna Bucher peers down into the once clear water and spots a piece of debris.

"I heard a piece of the church steeple is missing," she says. "That's probably it."

The tornado damaged a few homes and businesses in New Hamburg, though nothing as obvious as the Bucher's property. According to David Blanchard with the National Weather Service in Paducah, Ky., the tornado was combined with a thunderstorm and carried up to 110 mph winds.

The damage from the tornado was about one-eighth of a mile long and 150 yards wide, Blanchard said.

cclark@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128