Owensville public works employees continued removing downed tree limbs Tuesday following a fierce thunderstorm overnight Monday which felled trees, broke windows out of two businesses, and damaged several residences.

Up to four inches of rain fell in the immediate Owensville area in a spectacular lightning and thunder storm which began around 2:30 a.m. and brought heavy wind and hail around 4 a.m. July 17. Owensville’s volunteer firemen were called out shortly after 4 a.m. for reports of a residential structure fire in the 400 block of East Franklin.

Owensville Fire Chief Jeff Arnold said the tenant awoke to an apparent smell of smoke in his residence at around 4:04 a.m., shut off the main breaker, and reported he smelled “burning wire.” Firemen discovered insulation on a 220 volt line leading to the home’s furnace and running through floor joists had burned off.

Arnold said the man’s neighbor’s house across the street had a limb come down on their power line. It arced and appears to have caused the line to arc across the street into the reporting party’s residence. The line had caught fire between the two homes and appears to have caused a surge into the reporting party’s residence.

Ameren Missouri linemen from the Gerald maintenance garage were preparing to depart for a work detail in the St. Louis area at 4 a.m. when calls for outages began at “4:01,” according to crew members who instead responded to Owensville.

One of their first responses was to the fire on East Franklin where they pulled electric meters to both residences affected by the incident. They would remain in the Owensville area throughout the day.

Repairs to several sections of damaged electric poles and lines were completed by around 7:30 p.m. with assistance from a four-truck crew from the Lake of the Ozarks area. They, too, had been scheduled to go to the St. Louis region to assist with extensive repairs of damage caused by storms July 3 and this past weekend.

City workers were on the streets by about 5 a.m. removing a massive oak which was blown down and blocking Springfield at Harrison.

Ameren linemen made substantial repairs to a section of electric lines on Springfield Road north of Marvin and in an alley east of Cuba between East Washington and Highway 28.

The alley work included removing numerous large limbs which had shut off electric service to approximately 22 residences along East Washington east of Cuba and businesses east of First Street. Power would be restored by around 1:30 p.m.

Ameren’s lake crew replaced two damaged utility poles and restrung the lines from poles broken off near the intersection of Peters and Springfield where Cuba splits off to the north. Extensive limb clearing was also observed from South Fourth Street in the alley between West Franklin and West Jackson.

An old garage in the neighborhood east of McDonald’s was collapsed by a fallen limb and a resident in the 500 block of East Washington had a large limb down over a utility trailer and pickup truck parked in the driveway. The top portion of the limb was also laying across a corner of the residence.

Vince Jett had the front windshield cracked and the rear passenger window broken out when the tree in front of his home on West Jefferson was toppled by wind.

Moritz Roofing employees were securing a tarp onto the corner of a house at the corner of Springfield and Apple early Monday afternoon. A large maple tree had fallen across the front right corner of the residence.

At the city cemetery, numerous Bradford pear limbs and entire trees were splintered and felled across headstones. Caleb Kramme, 13, said his family “needed wood and I wanted to help out” during a break in removing cut up limbs from around one grave. He had previously helped saw up and remove limbs from one of the larger pines along West Franklin, near Highway 28.

Several trees including a large oak and a catalpa had large limbs blown down near South Third Street in Buschmann Park. Several mature oaks were also blown down in Luster Park.

Leaf debris was generally strewn eastward on a line from South Fourth Street south of Highway 28 from West Jefferson to West Jackson. Downed limbs were evident throughout this section of town. Damage to trees and several structures was also evident from Luster Park and East Washington and north to Apple and back east toward Highway 28. Several trees in Memorial Park were downed along Red Oak Road and the city campground and on the golf course.

Arnold said evidence from across town indicates an apparent “straight-line wind” episode rolled across the city around 4 a.m. as the front delivered up to 4 inches of rain overnight. Another two-tenths of rain fell Monday afternoon and up to an inch fell on Tuesday as another storm rolled through late morning.

Additional thunderstorms were predicted across the region late Tuesday and overnight into Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.

There was, however, no severe thunderstorm warning issues for the overnight hours Monday into Tuesday for Gasconade County. Clyde Zelch, the county’s emergency management director, confirmed that in the telephone call Monday.

“I just spoke to the NWS and they told me they didn’t issue a warning this morning for this storm,” he wrote in a text to The Republican. “They missed it.”

And, he added, Gasconade County simply forwards these recommendations and warnings through the county EMD warning system which residents can sign up to receive.

City employees were continuing their efforts to remove tree limbs left in alleyways and along street curbs and sidewalks. The city’s compost site on Marvin is an option for disposal of limbs and tree debris.