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Branson damaged by storm
Severe storms swept the midwest overnight Tuesday, causing some deaths and damaging the tourist town of Branson.
BRANSON — Officials in the tourist city of Branson focused on getting businesses reopened Wednesday morning, hours after an apparent tornado damaged numerous businesses in its entertainment district along Missouri 76 and heavily damaged the city’s convention center.
Roofs were ripped off, windows broken and insulation debris littered Missouri 76, the bustling thoroughfare through the city best known for its country music theaters. With power poles snapped along the highway, a crane was installed near the Holiday Inn Express to hold up power lines so that emergency vehicles could pass underneath.
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Taney County Sheriff Jimmie Russell flew over the area Wednesday and said the tornado that hit about 1 a.m. Wednesday began in Stone County and cut a narrow, 7-mile-long path into Taney County, where Branson is located.
Fire and police crews fanned out across the city early Wednesday checking damage, and the Missouri Health Department conducted inspections in an attempt to clear businesses to open as soon as possible, officials said at a morning news briefing.
The Missouri Highway Patrol confirmed deaths of one person in Barry County and one in Dallas County at the briefing.
A spokesman for Skaggs Regional Medical Center said 33 people were treated for minor and moderate cuts and bruises but none had been admitted to the hospital Wednesday. One person who was injured by a collapsed roof, who was in critical condition, was taken to another hospital in Springfield, Mo., said spokesman Michelle Leoux.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. had a disaster recovery team at its store on Missouri 76 early Wednesday that was coordinating cleanup efforts to reopen the store. About 50 percent of the roof was damaged and 60 percent of the store was flooded by rains from the storm, said Store Manager Bruce Holden.
Crews said it would take 48 hours to dry out the store and Holder said he expected to reopen within about a week.
The store said all of its employees were accounted for and were expected to take shifts at other area stores until the Walmart reopens.