St. Clair County
Remnants Of The Past

Osceola Library File, Durl Barnett Collection
SCC Newspaper, dated 25 June 1981

Storm Rips Area
A tornado ripped through Osceola, Friday night, June 23, destroying two houses and the highway barn.
The twister damaged several other homes in the vicinity of the cemetery. It then traveled across the cemetery, uprooting trees and blowing over tombstones. Power and telephone lines went down according to the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office.
Gene Dale, of the Sac Osage Rural Electric Co-op, reported 15 poles twisted off at Osceola, more than 13 south of Stockton, and a building went through a line at the junction of Highways EE and AA west of El Dorado.
Dale also reported approximately 1,000 people were affected by the power outages and a crew of 12 – 16 Sac-Osage employees worked all night Friday and most worked straight through to 4 p.m. Monday.
The Vernon County Sheriff’s Office reported some trees down around Sheldon and some Mo Pub high line poles down.
A machine shed belonging to Stanton Gammon, Walker, was reported damaged. At least two barns in the Stockton area
lost roofs.
The rain from the storm swelled streams causing flooding in low lying areas.
The Osage river at Schell City crested at 734.38 feet above sea level, Sunday, June 21. The river reaches flood stage at 723.25 feet above sea level.
The city of El Dorado received a little damage. Two sinkholes developed in streets. One on the Gay Street south of the swimming pool and another in the 1000 block of South Jackson. In both instances, the holes developed over rock culverts.
There was minor flooding in some businesses.
The conservation tower near the former highway barn, at the junction of Hwy 82 and Hwy 13 southeast of Osceola, was bent beneath the force of Mother Nature’s hand.
Many of the trees in the Osceola cemetery were uprooted as the twisters passed. Several stones were overturned and many hours will be required to clean up after a few moments of destruction.
The State Highway Barn at Junction of 13 and 82 was leveled to the ground during the 10 p.m. tornado. Luckily no one was killed or seriously injured during the storm.
Tornado Damage. The Ron Korsi home at Osceola was destroyed by the tornado Friday night. A person at the scene said Mr. Korsi and his wife had just left the bedroom to look after their three children when the twister ripped apart the room. They reportedly escaped with minor injuries. One other Osceola home was destroyed along with several trees. A graveyard suffered considerable damage.