Theater district hit in Branson

BRANSON — Michael Haygood was helping 3 Redneck Tenors hone their act late Tuesday when tornado warnings shooed the performers from Branson’s New Americana Theater just after midnight.

An hour and a half later, an EF2 tornado with winds of about 130 mph tore through the theater district of the country-music resort town, ripping the roof off the Americana “like a sardine can.”

“We had split before the storm hit,” Haygood said. “I guess we ended up making the right decision by leaving.”

The tornado was one of several in a storm front that moved through the Midwest late Tuesday and early Wednesday, killing 12 people, including three in Missouri.

There were no fatalities in Branson, but dozens of people were injured, and three parts of the city suffered significant damage: downtown, the theater district and Branson Landing, a shopping center on Lake Taneycomo.

A spokesman for Skaggs Regional Medical Center in Branson said 37 people were treated for minor and moderate cuts and bruises, but none were admitted to the hospital. One person who was in critical condition after being crushed under a collapsed roof was taken to a hospital in Springfield, Mo., said spokesman Michelle Leroux.

The tornado packed winds of 120-130 mph as it traveled along Missouri 76 through Branson’s theater district early Wednesday, said Larry Dooley, observations program leader with the National Weather Service in Springfield.

The tornado was on the ground from 1:13 a.m. to 1:32 a.m., according to the weather service.

The tornado cut a 22-milelong path from east of Kimberling City, Mo., to about 2 miles west of Kissee Mills, Mo., Dooley said. At its widest point, the tornado cut a quarter-mile swath, just before it hit the Branson Hilton hotel. The tornado was rated as EF1 when it touched down near Kimberling City and didn’t become any stronger than an EF2 before it dissipated in the forest east of Kissee Mills, he said.

Bill Derbins, general manager of Hiltons of Branson, said the Hilton Tower had 47 of 294 rooms occupied when the storm struck. The hotel moved guests to hallways in the lower floors, but two people were injured, Derbins said. One was treated and released from the hospital, but he didn’t know the status of the other person Wednesday.

With windows blown out of the tower, it will take about 90 days to repair, Derbins said.

Some witnesses described the tornado as hopping along what is known as “Country 76” or “The Branson Strip.”

“The tornado went straight,” Dooley said. The road “is like a snake. The tornado itself didn’t jump around. It went basically in a straight line.”

Near Branson, damage in Cassville, Mo., and Buffalo, Mo., was still being surveyed Wednesday afternoon, said Jay Colucci a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Springfield. Tornados reportedly touched down in both of those cities, killing one person in each town, both in mobile homes, according to the Missouri Highway Patrol and other officials.

Another person was killed when a mobile home near Leora in southeast Missouri was hit by the storm about 4:30 a.m., said Dale Moreland, director of emergency management for Stoddard County.

In Branson, recovery and rebuilding efforts were under way Wednesday, according to a news release from the city’s Chamber of Commerce.

The tornado caused “significant damage” to six of the city’s more than 100 attractions, six of the city’s 50 theaters and about a dozen of its 200 hotels, according to the release. Damage was still being assessed late Wednesday.

Janice Davis remembered waking up to the sound of sirens but only “bits and pieces” of what came next.

Davis was asleep in her second-floor room in the Ria Motor Inn, where she’s lived for the past four months, when she was pinned to her bed by a piece of plasterboard that fell from the ceiling, she said.

“I was trapped in there. I couldn’t do anything,” Davis said, sitting Wednesday afternoon in the Branson RecPlex, which was transformed into an emergency shelter by the American Red Cross.

Davis said cinder blocks from the walls fell all around her, leaving only enough space for her body. She said she tried to get to her cell phone on the nightstand, but couldn’t reach it.

The roof was gone, Davis said, as were two of the walls. She said she screamed for help as rain poured down.

“God, it was cold,” she said. “I’ll never forget how cold it was.”

Davis said rescuers told her she was lucky to be alive because of the amount of debris that covered her room. She said she was carried out over downed power lines.

Davis said she hurt her left shoulder and arm, and was still in shock Wednesday.

She planned to stay in the shelter until the Ria Motel owners put the tenants in another motel. Davis said she was grateful for the new hotel room but had one request: “I went to this new motel and said, ‘Don’t put me on the second floor, please.’”

Leo and Julie Rickertt of Boone, Iowa, were staying in the Blue Bayou Motor Inn, near the Ria Motor Inn, when the tornado hit.

Leo Rickertt said they had just gone to bed. When the storm hit, his wife tried to open the door but couldn’t move it because the wind forced it shut.

Rickertt said they saw a bright flash underneath the door, probably a falling power pole. Then they heard the roar.

“At that moment it was like a freight train. It had to be a tornado” said Rickertt, who works for the Union Pacific Railroad.

He used his phone to take a picture of the motel that showed the top floor of the building clipped off by the tornado.

Rickertt expressed thanks to the Branson Tower, which was putting them up, and for the Night Light — Beacon of Branson, which fed the visitors staying at the hotel.

The couple gave the man in the next room some clothing, because he had nothing.

“Thank God we’ve got credit cards and cash,” Rickertt said.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon addressed reporters Wednesday afternoon in front of the Branson Mall Music Theater.

Nixon declared a state of emergency and said the effort to rebuild the damaged areas of the city was already under way.

The state will do what it can to help rebuild the “tourism Mecca of our country,” he said, before referring to the historic May 22 tornado that hit nearby Joplin.

“Joplin set a real example to everybody. We’re here to rebuild,” Nixon said. “We’re prepared to help Branson stand up for the tourist season.”

The tornado that hit Joplin in May was rated as EF5, which has winds stronger than 200 mph.

Branson has long been a tourist destination for visitors attracted to the beauty of the surrounding Ozarks. But the city became well-known in the 1990s for its theaters, which drew country-music stars, including Merle Haggard and Crystal Gayle, as well as other musical celebrities such as Chubby Checker and Andy Williams.

Branson is about 110 miles southeast of Joplin, which was devastated when last May’s monstrous twister killed 161 people. Memories of that disaster prompted Branson residents and guests to quickly take cover after the sirens sounded early Wednesday.

“I think so many people from Branson went over to help in Joplin and having seen that, it was fresh on our minds,” said Mayor Raeanne Presley, whose family operates the Presleys’ Country Jubilee show on the main strip.

Information for this article was contributed by The Associated Press.