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CAPE FAIR, Mo. (KY3) - Stone County residents are picking up after a tornado-warned storm left a trail of damage.

“When you live in a place with lots of hills and weather like this, you hardly think about it,” said Cape Fair homeowner Hazel Buffington.

For over 50 years Buffington has lived off of Highway 76 in Stone County, but Wednesday night’s storm was something she’d never seen.

”We never had anything twice this severe and this close to our house,” she said.

The strong winds uprooted dozens of trees surrounding Buffington’s homes. She says ”the trees out here are huge tree and it just snapped them off like they were a twig.”

However, just across from Buffington’s house is her shed. On Wednesday night, the severely strong winds snapped a tree causing it to fall straight into the shed’s roof.

”To think that’s something that fierce came that close to my house which is only a few yards away. It’s pretty amazing because once that storm hits it’ll hit.”

Buffington is the only one facing the extreme damages as dozens of others were impacted also. Cape Fair homeowner, Charlie Mitzel says, ”It sounded like it was going into my attic and I was worried the roof was being ripped off.”

Nearly all of Mitzel’s front yard trees were destroyed and if one of the trees fell an inch closer, it would’ve landed directly into his room.

”I’ve been in a lot of wind. It really didn’t bother me. I was more worried about my house being chopped off.”

For now, both homeowners say they’re stuck with the mess.

“When living in the Ozarks, you get used to the weather changes and how quickly they change and how severe they are and how long they can leave an everlasting effect on your property. Have your house prepared for damages that could come with a bad storm,” says Buffington.

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