Month: May 2025

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Eighty members of Missouri Task Force 1 are heading to St. Louis to help with storm damage recovery.

Boone County Fire Protection District Assistant Chief Gale Blomenkamp confirmed through text message that Task Force 1 will soon head out to St. Louis, which saw significant damage from storms.

St. Louis officials had confirmed during a press conference that at least five people were dead and more than 5,000 homes were damaged after severe storms hit the area on Friday.

Task Force 1 is based at the Boone County Fire Protection District Headquarters. The task force had been deployed within the state twice last month after flooding and tornadoes damaged a southeastern Missouri town and Pilot Grove in Cooper County.

Task Fore 1 later stated in a press release that members who are already based in the St. Louis region are on scene “conducting advanced area reconnaissance in the hardest-hit neighborhoods.”

The remainder of the 80-person team, including a four-member the Disaster Situation Awareness and Reconnaissance team will leave Boone County by 10 p.m. and are expected to arrive by midnight.

“This deployment prioritizes search and rescue operations in North Saint Louis City, where the tornado caused the most severe damage. The advanced element will respond directly to the impacted zones, while the main body of the team will report to a designated City of Saint Louis Fire Department staging location,” the release says.

Included in this deployment are six live-find K-9 units, four human remains detection K-9s, task force leadership and structural engineers and more than 100,000 pounds of equipment.

Ameren’s outage map shows a significant number of people without power in the St. Louis areas, with St. Louis County seeing 45,342 customers without power; St. Louis City having 40,103 and Jefferson County totaling 11,568.

Check back for updates.

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Marie Moyer

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The North Callaway Fire Protection District is down 13 people after the department’s board of directors voted to fire the current fire chief and another volunteer.

“[The Board] was regrettably forced to vote to terminate the current fire chief and another volunteer after several months of attempts to address unacceptable behaviors,” the Board’s lawyer, Frank Flaspohler, said in a written statement.

Former department lieutenant Lucas Stassel joined in resigning from the FPD, who left Friday after a public meeting was canceled for lack of sufficient notice.

Stassel, who has worked with the department for over 10 years, said the initial firing happened Tuesday. He said the board wanted to allow members of the department to talk during a board meeting on Thursday, which was cancelled since meetings must be reported within 24 hours of notice.

“I’m furious beyond words. They lied to us,. They said that they were going to give us an opportunity to come in at a board meeting and talk. They did not give everybody that option,” Stassel said. “I am so sorry to the community.”

Stassel adds that the firings came with no warning, leaving personnel in the dark on what’s next and the updated chain of command. Additionally, two months ago, the chief was given a positive review from the board with no actions needed.

“What was explained to me was that they had an option: either they retired now or they’d be fired. No other indications on what happened, why it happened, nobody will tell us anything,” Stassel said.

Flaspohler wrote that the department followed policies and procedures. He also says fire protection coverage will continue through additional volunteers and mutual aid from neighboring departments.

The board is also beginning recruitment efforts for the fire department and invites anyone over the age of 18 to apply.

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CNN Newsource

By Mary Gilbert, Emma Tucker, Taylor Ward, Zoe Sottile, CNN

(CNN) — A storm that produced a tornado in the St. Louis area Friday afternoon has left at least four people dead and at least ten injured, according to local authorities.

St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer confirmed the four deaths at a Friday news conference. Ten patients are being treated at St. Louis’ Children’s Hospital, with one in “critical condition,” hospital spokesperson Laura High told CNN.

The deaths follow an incredibly dangerous day of severe thunderstorms, including the potential for long-lasting, powerful tornadoes and hurricane-strength wind gusts in the eastern half of the United States.

The threat of tornadoes and damaging winds escalated Friday after the same system produced destructive storms and tornadoes in the Midwest and Great Lakes Thursday.

It’s all part of a multi-day threat of widespread severe weather that will stretch into early next week.

Here’s the latest:

Storms are underway: Severe thunderstorms are moving through parts of Missouri and Illinois with more storms expected to develop in the region through the afternoon and evening. An “extremely dangerous tornado” tracked through part of St. Louis Friday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service. The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department said it was “aware of damage throughout the City.” More than 100,000 customers are without power in Missouri, mostly in the eastern part of the state, according to PowerOutage.us.

Severe weather outbreak expected: Nearly 9 million people from Missouri to Kentucky are under a level 4-of-5 risk of severe thunderstorms Friday with extensive wind damage, large hail and tornadoes possible. “Several strong tornadoes are expected and a long-track, high-end tornado will be possible,” the Storm Prediction Center warned.

Extensive wind damage possible: Friday’s storms will form in an “exceptionally volatile environment,” the National Weather Service in Paducah, Kentucky, warned. These storms will have a high threshold for damage and could produce widespread damaging wind gusts stronger than 75 mph starting in the early evening.

Tornadoes and wind cause widespread damage: Thursday’s powerful storms left nearly 400,000 homes and businesses in the dark across multiple Midwest states Friday morning as communities deal with the aftermath. Wisconsin’s Dodge County was hit particularly hard. Significant damage was reported in the county and at least one person was taken to the hospital with injuries.

Powerful storms are roaring to life

The atmosphere is supercharging a new round of severe thunderstorms after stormy weather that stretched from Arkansas to Kentucky Friday morning cleared out of the area.

Those morning storms shifted east into parts of the Appalachians in the early afternoon, leaving the door open for explosive thunderstorm development across the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys.

“A regional outbreak of severe thunderstorms is likely this afternoon into tonight,” the SPC warned Friday, adding some people in the path of storms will see “intense supercells.”

More than 70 million people in the eastern half of the US are under at least a level 2-of-5 threat of severe thunderstorms on Friday, but the greatest risk of long-lasting, EF3-plus tornadoes and widespread damaging winds is centered on parts of the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys.

“All severe weather hazards are on the table, including damaging winds, large hail, tornadoes, and torrential rainfall,” the National Weather Service in Louisville, Kentucky, warned. “A few strong tornadoes and instances of very large hail are possible.”

Severe thunderstorms in Missouri and Arkansas in the afternoon were already posing a tornado and hail risk, with additional storms expected to develop from Texas to Illinois. Storms will expand rapidly in scope as they push east. Initial storms are those most likely to become supercells capable of producing tornadoes, damaging wind gusts and large hail.

That threat will continue into the evening before some storms start to form unbroken lines. The wind threat will increase once storms form lines, with gusts stronger than 75 mph and damage possible over hundreds of miles.

Dangerous storms could continue after dark, particularly in parts of Kentucky and areas east. It’s a threat to be especially mindful of as nighttime tornadoes are nearly twice as likely to be deadly as those occurring during the day, a 2022 study found.

Severe weather leaves damage across Midwest

At least 11 tornadoes were reported in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan as thunderstorms roared through the Midwest Thursday.

Significant damage was reported in Dodge County, Wisconsin, as a cluster of storms around the county prompted shelter-in-place alerts and displaced residents, according to Sheriff Dale Schmidt.

One person was taken to the hospital with injuries in Juneau, the sheriff said Thursday, adding there “may have been another minor injury or two that occurred.”

Many streets and highways in the county are closed due to downed power lines and trees, Schmidt said. Multiple homes in Juneau were damaged and at least one house suffered a roof collapse. Everyone inside was able to get out safely, he added.

Powerful winds also roared through multiple states. A weather reporting station on Lake Michigan near Chicago’s Navy Pier recorded a hurricane-strength wind gust of 79 mph in the evening.

Storms also slammed into Michigan, taking down trees and power lines while damaging homes and businesses.

Multiple areas suffered “structural damage” in western Michigan’s Allegan County, according to the sheriff’s office. Martin Township was among the places impacted: Storms caused “vast amount of damage,” with many downed trees and power lines, though no injuries had been reported as of Friday, according to Martin Township Fire and Rescue. Firefighters responded to 34 calls overnight, the agency said.

More than 300,000 homes and businesses across four Midwest states were still without power Friday afternoon, including more than 200,000 in Michigan, according to PowerOutage.us. Michigan utility company Consumers Energy said assessments on power restoration are still waiting to be made, according to CNN affiliate WNEM.

Damaging storm risks persist for days

Severe thunderstorms are possible in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast on Saturday as the same storm driving Thursday and Friday’s threats pushes east. Damaging wind gusts and hail are the greatest threats for now, but a tornado can’t be ruled out.

New storms could bring damaging wind gusts, hail and tornadoes to parts of the southern Plains starting Saturday afternoon.

The Plains will remain the main focus of severe weather on Sunday and Monday as well, with damaging storms possible in much of Oklahoma and Kansas. The severe thunderstorm threat will then shift back into parts of the Mississippi Valley on Tuesday.

More details about the exact risks these storms will pose and the populations under threat next week will become clear in the coming days.

The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

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Mitchell Kaminski

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

A small child was attacked by two dogs Thursday night in Jefferson City, according to police.

The Jefferson City Police Department said dispatchers received multiple 911 calls around 7:43 p.m. reporting a pit bull actively attacking a child in the 1000 block of Jackson Street. Officers said the dog was still attacking the child as emergency crews responded to the scene.

When officers arrived, they found the child and the child’s mother, but said the aggressive dogs prevented them from providing aid. The animals then ran toward a nearby park. Due to the park’s proximity to a heavily populated area, officers shot and killed one of the dogs at the scene, the department said in a news release.

The child was taken to a hospital in Columbia for treatment of injuries sustained in the attack.

Dominique Harrison said he was sitting on his porch when he heard someone yelling for help. When he walked down the street, he said the mother of the child told him her son had gotten dragged into her backyard by a pair of dogs. 

Harrison went into the backyard and saw the two dogs mauling a young boy underneath a trampoline.

“I just saw the back of his head, he had he have a lot of hair. So it was a couple of pieces of his hair was missing and it was just a lot of blood .So, I really couldn’t see the wounds,” Harrison told ABC 17 News.

Harrison said he went into “protector mode.”

“Somebody had to do something.  So I took it into my, my hands to try to do the best that I could,” he said. 

Harrison said one of the dogs began charging toward him. As he began to back away, he stepped over several tree stumps and items scattered across the yard. A woman — who was standing nearby — gave him her cane, which he used to defend himself. After hitting the dogs with a cane, he grabbed the child and ran inside the back door of the child’s home.

“They have a lot of trees.  And so he grabbed the baby and ran inside the owner’s home because their back door was open,” Harrison’s wife, Kennysah Lamara Harrison said. “As soon as he got in there, he saw another dog, so at this moment it’s like, ‘What did I just come in to?’  But the homeowner was able to grab that dog and put that dog in the basement.” 

Kennysha Lamara Harrison added that one of the dogs was shot by police in front of Lincoln University. 

“I was at home and so he actually called and just was like yelling, ‘Get down here, get down here.’ And so when I went down there, I didn’t know what was going on at first.  And so to see him no shoes on, hole in his sock, blood all over his body, I was panicking because I thought if something happens to one of my kids,” Kennysha Harrison said. “The baby was actually still here on the ground when we heard several gunshots.  So, you know, we look back just like, ‘Oh, my God, what’s going on in the neighborhood today?’  My son was actually on his way home, and we thought that one of the dogs was still on the loose. So my husband told me to go pick him up so he wasn’t walking. As we were driving back home, that’s when we saw the scene where the dog was shot.”  

A police report obtained by ABC 17 News states that the child is 4 years old. Police records indicate that one of the dogs began running down Roland Street at 7:46 p.m., and by 7:48 p.m., the other dog had returned to its home. Officers first fired shots at 7:49 p.m., but the fleeing pit bull continued to run before it was eventually killed at 7:51 p.m. near Lafayette and Dunklin Street.

“I feel like they handled the situation as needed,” Dominique Harrison said.

Dog attack police 2025-17362.pdf redacted smDownload

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Nearly 400 Boone Electric Cooperative customers are without power.

The Boone Electric outage map reported three outages impacting 387 members, mostly in areas south of Columbia, including near Three Creeks Conservation Area and two off of Route K on South Smith Hatchery Road and South High Point Lane, respectively.

The largest of the outages by far was the one near South High Point Lane, according to the map. All but one of the members is in the 65203 zip code.

Crews have been assigned to all three outages, according to the map.

ABC 17 News has reached out to Boone Electric.

No outages are reported in the City of Columbia’s outage map.

Check back for updates.

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