High winds, rain cause damage in New Madrid

NEW MADRID - Swirling winds and heavy rain caused damage throughout New Madrid Saturday evening.

"This was one of the worse storms I've seen since I've been here," said Agnes Harrington, who was dispatching for the New Madrid County Sheriff's Department Saturday evening as the storm blew through." It didn't last long but while it was here it was pretty bad."

The storm toppled trees and brought down limbs throughout town.

At the intersection of Mill and Powell streets, a tree fell on top of a pickup as it was traveling down the street. The driver received only minor injuries, according to New Madrid Police Chief Joey Higgerson.

The high winds also caused damage to a trailer in the 200 block of Tennessee street. The winds reportedly blew the back off of the trailer, however the occupant of the trailer was uninjured.

Tree limbs in power lines resulted in electrical outages throughout the community and there was at least one report of a line downed by the winds.

There was a report of a tornado sighting, however it was not believed to have touched down.

"We came out pretty lucky compared to what we could have gotten," said Higgerson.

In Lilbourn, one reports said winds got up to 75 MPH, and dumped about 1 ½ of rain in a 30 minute period. One large limb fell onto a truck parked at a local automotive service place and another large limb fell onto a driveway on north Second street.