A group of Logan residents experienced the fury of a Midwest tornado firsthand last week — and in a very interesting place, too.
For the first time in memory, a tornado hit downtown Liberty, Mo., on the evening of Sunday, May 4, ripping off roofs, uprooting trees and creating havoc akin to the 1999 tornado in Salt Lake City — and Deryl and Margene Thorpe witnessed the whole thing from the basement of the Liberty Jail Historic Site.
The Thorpes, from Logan, are serving an LDS mission as directors of the facility, which includes a rebuilt version of the original Liberty Jail. Joseph Smith, the first president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, spent four months imprisoned there.
"When it blew by it was a force to be reckoned with," Deryl Thorpe said of the tornado. "We were very close to the epicenter."
The Thorpes were just leaving their home located behind the site with some friends including Wayne and Jean Rich (also from Logan) who were touring the area when loud tornado warning sirens went off.
"Wayne wanted to get in his car and get going to Branson (about four hours away), but I said, 'Sorry, Wayne, you're going to the jail with us,' " Thorpe said.
No word on Rich's reaction to Thorpe's impromptu arrest.
The Thorpes herded the Riches and other missionaries and guests into the basement meeting room of the historic site facility, about 30 feet from where Joseph Smith did his time, where they saw (through a pair of unbroken glass doors) and felt (all over) the tornado pass through.
"I've never seen such black clouds before," Deryl Thorpe said. "It's impossible to describe to someone else. The blackness was just unbelievable. Things in the air blew by so fast you couldn't see what they were."
For a few minutes, the blackness and winds increased as the tornado approached. Then it hit, extending its violent stay for something less than a minute, shaking the place like an earthquake. The maelstrom took off the roofs of nearby houses, wrapping one around a tree.
It also ripped off part of the roof of the Liberty Jail facility itself, and tore up five 100-year-old trees on the site.
The rain following the tornado caused water damage to office and lobby areas through the exposed roof. The tornado knocked out electrical power and telephone lines, which weren't restored until two days later.
"But we opened at 9 a.m. Monday morning," Thorpe said proudly. "We conducted tours by flashlight, and got a lot of comment from people on how much they enjoyed it because that was closer to the light (Joseph Smith and his companions) would have had."
So it all turned out well. The roof has been temporarily repaired, the power is back on, no one was hurt, and the Thorpes were able to get the Riches into the jail.
"I had been trying to get them to take a tour," Deryl Thorpe said. "So I suppose they sort of did."
E-MAIL: aedwards@desnews.com