ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

Three canoeists touring Old Man River on Wednesday saw storm clouds to the west and headed for shelter at a marina in Portage des Sioux.

But there was little haven to be found from the fierce storms that battered the St. Louis area Wednesday, as one of the canoeists found out.

Ferocious winds lifted a 250-foot-long covered dock out of the river and flung it into a parking lot, pinning one of the canoeists -- Josh Gerrard, 21, of Miami -- under its crushing weight. One of Gerrard's travel companions and two workers at Palisades Yacht Club lifted the dock enough for him to wiggle out. He escaped with cuts and bruises.

"I'm in the middle of tying up my boat and I noticed some funnel clouds, so I started running back in," Gerrard said. "That's when it fell on me. I couldn't move."

Gerrard, who is canoeing the length of the Mississippi River, met the two other canoeists during his trek, and the three have been traveling together since. They plan to resume their adventure today.

Tornadoes were reported near Union in Franklin County and Lithium in Perry County in southeast Missouri. No one was injured, though roofs were reportedly blown off buildings, and power lines and trees were down. In Union, an electrical transformer caught fire, apparently because of a lightning strike.

The storms knocked out power to about 32,000 AmerenUE customers in Missouri and Illinois and 2,500 Illinois Power customers.

Power was restored to most Ameren customers by Wednesday evening, said spokeswoman Susan Gallagher.

One-inch hail was reported in Creve Coeur and Chesterfield, and wind gusts of 70 mph were reported in western Madison County.

The storm created a few scary moments at Plaza Motors in Creve Coeur.

"At one point the hail started hitting the windows, so we went back into the offices in case the windows started to shatter," said Bob Alesi, a Mercedes-Benz sales manager. "We've looked at the inventory, and as far as we can tell, there was no damage."

Crews responded to about 50 calls of flooded streets in St. Louis and St. Louis County, said Terry Briggs of the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District.

"This time of year with a lot of leaves on the ground, the storm sewers get backed up," Briggs said.

Portage des Sioux, halfway on the Mississippi between St. Charles and West Alton, was particularly hard hit.

At least 25 homes were damaged, and a pavilion in Combs Park was destroyed. The pavilion had been an Eagle Scout project and had just been dedicated.

Wind toppled the front wall of an abandoned building in East St. Louis, crushing a car and narrowly missing a woman and her niece, 3, who were about to get inside the car.

"I just saw the whole wall coming," said Katonya Lacy, 27. Her white 1995 Mercury Tracer was almost buried by falling concrete blocks.

Truck driver Fred Larry, 42, of East St. Louis, saw the wall topple as he was passing. He jumped from his truck cab and ran to help. "I grabbed the baby," he said. "At first I thought they had gotten into the car."



Reporter Jeremy Kohler:

E-mail: jkohler@post-dispatch.com

Phone: 314-340-8337




Published in Metro on Thursday, October 25, 2001.

This story was published in St. Charles County Post on Friday, October 26, 2001.

Major storm leaves damaged property

By Susan Weich
Of The St. Charles County Post

A day after a major storm ripped through Portage des Sioux, the damage had residents shaking their heads.

"When you look at what happened out here, it's hard to believe someone didn't get killed," said Jerry Dougherty, director of the city's Emergency Management Damage Assessment Team. "We got lucky."

Although the National Weather Service did not call the storm a tornado, at least one person reported seeing a funnel cloud right before it hit. Branches and limbs were flung over most of the town. And St. Charles County's oldest pecan tree - dubbed the Liberty Tree by local residents - was shorn in half. The top half landed on the home of Harry Lewis, who had been sharing his property on Fourth Street with the 250-year-old landmark.

The tree was described as being so large that four men standing with arms outstretched wouldn't be able to encircle it.

Lewis' uncle, Don Lewis, who lives next door, said his nephew had little warning before the tree came crashing through his home office. He said his nephew had escaped injury and that about 20 neighbors had pitched in to help him cut the tree off his roof Wednesday night.

Don Lewis said that despite the severe damage to the roof of his nephew's home, his house was virtually untouched. "I just have one little piece of vinyl siding flapping. That's it," he said.

Another neighbor of Lewis, Priscilla Maas, said she was running to take shelter in her bathroom when she noticed the tree on top of her neighbor's house. "It freaked me out," she said. "I never even heard it go."

Maas said the rain and hail started shortly after noon. "It took everybody by surprise," she said.

After the storm moved through the center of town, it headed to the river, where Dale Skrabacz, the owner of Palisades Yacht Club, noticed dark clouds rolling in. He headed outside to get a better look at the sky and realized something bad was about to happen. The sky had a greenish hue.

"I heard this racket upstream and the next thing I knew, pieces of sheet metal were flying through the air," Skrabacz said.

One of the pieces flew over his head and landed on the parking lot, on top of a canoeist who had just docked to escape the storm. The man, Josh Gerrard, 21, of Miami, was pinned underneath.

"I thought he was dead for sure," Skrabacz said.

Skrabacz said he quickly ran inside, where he called 911, and then hid in the club's bathroom, the sturdiest room in the building. After a few minutes, he ran out to see if Gerrard was OK. He got no response.

Skrabacz went back inside until the storm passed over - he estimates five minutes - and ran back out to check on Gerrard.

"He was yelling for help the best that he could," Skrabacz said. "He was pinned face down, so it was hard to hear him."

Skrabacz said he and two other men managed to lift the 4-by-20 foot piece of metal off Gerrard and, to his surprise, Gerrard walked away.

After the wind died down, Skrabacz said, the trio tried to move some other pieces of sheet metal, but they couldn't budge them. He figures they had managed to move the piece off Gerrard purely with the help of adrenaline.

Skrabacz said he was waiting for his insurance agent to show up Thursday afternoon to assess the damage. A 14-foot set of slips was destroyed, but no boats had any major damage. "It's mostly cosmetic stuff-scratches and bent handrailings," he said.

Docks were also damaged at Venetian Harbor and Sioux harbor.

Another Portage des Sioux resident, Burma Wilkins, said she was working downtown when the storm hit. It wasn't until she was well on her way home that she realized something had gone really wrong.

"I was on Highway 94, and I saw Channel 2's truck, then 4, then 5," Wilkins said. "When I got to town, I saw some lights flickering, and I was scared."

Wilkins' home on Dumond Street sustained some roof and fence damage, and four well-established trees were knocked over. But the debris seemed to be the biggest problem.

"We've got stuff in our yard I've never seen before," she said.

Dougherty said 19 homes, four businesses and one multifamily unit had been damaged by the storm. Although he had no estimates for the damage, Dougherty said he thought the storm was worse than the flood of '93.

"A flood eases up on you," he said. "This one hit people so fast, they didn't have time to react."

Reporter Susan Weich: E-mail: sweich@post-dispatch.com Phone: 636-946-3903, ext. 227

This is the photo at Palisades Yacht Club of the boat dock that landed on Joshua!

Favorite Sites
Dreamkeepers These guys race in canoes down the Mississippi to raise money for research for Rett Syndrome. They have been very supportive!
American Diabetes Association Dedicated to diabetes awareness and raising money for a cure.
101 Days on the Mississippi Guy Haglund made this trip in 1992. He has a great site with lots of information and photos.
Great River This is great link for educators. You can find every town/city on the Mississippi and something about each!
Verlen Kruger's site! He is the idol of canoers across the world!
This is where you can find out more about Brendon's trip down the Mississippi! Brendan finished his trip on December 6th.
Diabetes awareness jewelry This is a new link. I am going to purchase several pieces of jewelry as Christmas presents this year. They will donate ten percent of sale price to the American Diabetes Association.
Rachel's site! Vist Rachel's site for more information on her, and Rett's Syndrome. There are also some photos of the Great Mississippi River Race!
Dave, Mike, and Eric finished their trip down the Mississippi River! These guys are dedicating their trip to education! Information here will help teachers of grades 2-8.