Storms bring down trees and power poles causing outages

Crews from Columbia-based Boone Electric Cooperative worked throughout the night, trying to restore power to a few thousand mid-Missouri residents.

Thursday night’s severe thunderstorms prompted tornado warnings in Boone, Callaway and Audrain counties, along with numerous severe thunderstorm warnings across the entire 939 the Eagle listening area. About 2,500 Boone Electric customers were without power, with many of them in the Hallsville, Centralia and Harrisburg areas.

Wind gusts of up to 70 miles an hour are reported in places, and intense lightning impacted I-70 travelers across mid-Missouri.

Hallsville got the worst of the damage, with trees and utility poles down.

Tornado warnings were issued for Boone and Callaway counties.