STORM RIPS THROUGH CAPE AREA

A line of thunderstorms with winds of up to 74 mph raced through the Cape Girardeau area early Wednesday, downing power lines, uprooting trees and damaging homes.

The fast-moving storm cells moved into Cape Girardeau County before 6 a.m. and shoved across into Illinois in the space of an hour, emergency officials said.

Gov. Mel Carnahan declared a state of emergency Wednesday afternoon, paving the way for additional state resources to help local government officials with problems from flooding and severe spring weather.

The State Emergency Management Agency also has been called to action and is working closely with local emergency officials, the governor's office said. The state emergency operations center also has been activated and is operating on a 24-hour basis.

Cape Girardeau County apparently received the worst of the winds and rain. Sheriffs' departments in surrounding counties said their areas were wet, but trees remained intact except for weak limbs. The National Weather Service contacted a Bollinger County deputy Tuesday night to warn him of potential danger, but major weather problems never came.

The storm in Southeast Missouri dumped about a 0.1 inches of rain at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport within a few minutes and pea-sized to quarter-coin-size hail in some areas.

It rained off and on throughout the day. In all, .21 inches of rain fell at the airport by 6 p.m.

Brian Miller, Cape Girardeau County emergency preparedness coordinator, said the damage was caused by straight-line winds, whose speeds were clocked by Doppler radar at National Weather Service offices in St. Louis and Paducah, Ky.

It wasn't a tornado, he said.

Still, for some residents it felt like they had been through a tornado, although no serious injuries were reported.

The storm struck around 6 a.m. in Cape Girardeau.

Hardest hit was the Brookwood and Dennis Scivally Park areas just off Cape Rock Drive, where 70- to 100-foot-tall trees were toppled, their roots holding giant balls of rain-soaked soil.

High winds also toppled trees in the Belleridge Pike and Lexington Avenue areas.

It tore the front porch and part of the roof off the Robert Summers home at 1938 Longview and slammed them into a neighbor's backyard.

Union Electric reported numerous power outages, most of them caused by trees and limbs falling on utility lines.

Lightning blew a hole in a transformer. Downed tree limbs knocked out a couple circuits at the Elm Street substation in South Cape.

Parks and Recreation Director Dan Muser said 14 trees, most of them hickory, were uprooted in the heavily wooded Dennis Scivally Park.

He estimated that most of the trees were 50 to 100 years old.

"You can't replace trees like that," he said. "That park is going to be totally different than what it was."

The high winds uprooted a 50-foot pin oak in Oltha and Carney Fesler's backyard. The tree fell across the roof and a portion of it crashed through the dining room ceiling. Rain and wind-churned debris fell through the gaping holes onto the carpet.

The tree buckled, bent and broke wooden beams supporting a section of the roof. The crash broke the chandelier's light bulbs and left the fixture hanging within a couple feet of the floor. It also damaged the dining room table.

A construction crane was brought in to remove the massive tree from the roof. Carney Fesler planted the tree 35 years ago.

He said the sound of the tree crashing through part of the roof woke him up.

"I thought a car had run into the house or something because it was loud," he said as he and his wife surveyed the damage inside their home.

There was no way to escape such a storm. "You are at its mercy," he said.

In the aftermath of the storm, Dennis Scivally Park looked more like an area under siege.

Assistant Public Works Director Kevin McMeel described it as "Dennis Sarajevo."

"It came in fast and furious," he said.

City trucks and equipment converged on the park. About 20 parks and recreation employees spent the day hauling off the debris.

About 30 public works employees spent the day removing downed trees and limbs from city streets.

City cleanup efforts are expected to last through at least the rest of the week.