Missouri
Arkansas church building destroyed by EF3 tornado
Just a few hours after the Cave City Church of…
Midmorning tornado damages church
|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
It was a dreary Tuesday morning in Aurora, Mo., when Connie Thompson answered a call from her grandson, who had one question: “Nanny, have you seen your church building?”
The Aurora Church of Christ building, built in the 1970s, had been damaged by a midmorning EF1 tornado, as well as 90-mile per hour winds that pummeled the southwestern corner of Missouri.
Part of the main auditorium’s roof rested on the grass in the neighboring lot.
“I was just flabbergasted that it was like that, because it just never happens,” said Thompson, who has attended the Aurora church for 30 years. “I mean, when the sirens were going off in the town, I went on back and took a shower, because (tornadoes) never hit inside Aurora.”
Jeff Richardson, an elder of the Aurora church, was one of Thompson’s next calls.
But the roof wasn’t the only thing Richardson noticed when he went to survey the damage.
Storm damage to the roof of the Aurora Church of Christ building on Tuesday morning.
“We just had a new sign put up out front,” Richardson said. “And I put the second and final payment for that sign in the mailbox yesterday, and then probably less than an hour later, it’s gone. You just have to kind of laugh at such things.”
Less than an hour after the storm, church leadership had already filed a claim with the building’s insurance company, he added.
Today, Richardson joined a team of about 10 volunteers clearing downed trees around the church’s property. He said the elders expected to meet with an insurance adjuster and building contractor later in the week.
“We’ve had a lot of people reach out to us so we’re very thankful,” Richardson said. “And a lot of prayers are being offered up on our behalf and we appreciate that as well.”
The congregation of about 100 people will meet in the church’s smaller auditorium for upcoming Sunday worship.
“The biggest thing really is that not one person in Aurora that we’re aware of was injured in any way,” Thompson said. “So stuff can be repaired. Stuff can be redone.”
“The biggest thing really is that not one person in Aurora that we’re aware of was injured in any way. So stuff can be repaired. Stuff can be redone.”
AUDREY JACKSON is the Managing Editor of The Christian Chronicle. Contact [email protected].
