Pop-up storms send tree through roof of Missouri home, causing problems for pair of neighbors
By Andy Alcock
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BELTON, Missouri (KMBC) — A couple of pop-up storms Sunday night badly damaged a Belton, Missouri, home.
Derek and Melissa Kawakami were at home around 7:30 p.m. Sunday when the first storm knocked part of a tree limb onto the power service line to their home.
It caused the lights to flicker and the air conditioning to go out. After that storm passed, Derek said a second one resulted in a lightning strike on a massive tree in his backyard.
“Boom! Man, that tree here dropped on top of the house, shook everything,” he said.
The tree knocked a hole in the roof and caused rainwater to pour into the house. The rotted-out tree also posed a problem for Don and Bea Campbell, who live next door.
Firefighters told the Campbells to move to the front of their house.
“They did not want us to be in the back bedrooms because we had that other tree limb, and he figured it was going to come down,” Bea said.
In addition to the tree service, an Evergy crew came out Monday to fix the partially damaged power service line. While it was out, it meant both the Kawakamis and the Campbells were without air conditioning.
“Yeah, we slept down in the basement, and it was semi-tolerable,” Derek said.
He also said with the tree removal, roof and water damage, Derek expects the clean-up and repairs are going to run into the tens of thousands of dollars.
The Kawakamis do have insurance, but Derek said he’s not sure how he’s going to come up with the deductible.
The Belton neighborhood has a lot of large, mature trees. However, the Kawakamis had the only nearby property damage
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