City Utilities Manger Joel Alexander crews are working as fast as they can to restore power to customers affected by storms.
He says, at 3:45 P.M, there were still approximately 6,600 customers without power due to damage caused by the storms that occurred overnight.
Alexander says they will continue to work and will be receiving aid from crews from Columbia, Hanibal, and Kirkwood, as well as from as far away as Colorado, Arkansas, and Iowa.
A manhunt in Greene County has ended with an arrest.
Multiple agencies searched for James Cruse, who was considered armed and dangerous and accused of breaking into a home and stealing a vehicle.
Authorities set up a perimeter and captured Cruse after two off duty deputies spotted a stolen vehicle in an area near lake Springfield West of Highway 65.
In many parts of the Ozarks, you don’t have to go very far on this Monday morning to find tree limbs down across yards and roadways.
Severe thunderstorms producing widespread wind gusts of 60 to 70 mile per hour, with a few reports of 70 to 80 miles per hour, slammed southwest Missouri late Sunday night and early Monday morning.
More than 5,000 customers of Springfield City Utilities were still without power at 7:00 a.m., with nearly 50,000 outages in Missouri and another 12,000 in Arkansas.
There were no indications of rotation with the line of storms and no tornadoes were reported.
Here are some of the damage reports received by the National Weather Service in Springfield:
With school less than a month away, Springfield Public Schools wants to provide some much-needed resources for students.
The district is hosting a “Back to School Bash” event on Saturday, July 29, at the Springfield Expo Center from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The event will feature backpacks, school supplies, hygiene products and even food donations.
Each family that attends the event will leave with a bag of groceries.
School officials also say there will be an opportunity to apply for free or reduced lunch.
A fun-and-games fair will also be at the bash, as well as a job fair for those interested in a job with the district.
Investigators in Shannon County are warning the public after a prison detainee escaped.
Kenny Carpenter was in custody at the Shannon County Sheriff’s Office when he escaped Thursday afternoon.
Jailers believe he snuck through a hole in the fence in order to get out.
Deputies have been conducting a search for Carpenter, but are short-staffed.
He has ties to the Columbia area, but has no other known connections in the state.
Carpenter is a Hispanic male standing 5’5″, in his 40s with several tattoos.
He is facing drug possession charges in Tennessee.
Courtesy of Emilee Kuschel of OzarksFirst.com-
A suspect has been arrested and charged with 2nd-degree kidnapping and 1st-degree endangering the welfare of a child in Monett, according to a press release from the Monett Police Department.
34-year-old Aaron Michael Fryer D. Fryer of Pierce City was arrested Thursday, July 27, around 6 a.m. after the Monett Police Department responded to a business on E. Cleveland Avenue.
The 18-year-old victim from Pierce City told police that a man in a car with a small child had tried to kidnap her while she was at the workplace and she had fled to a safe location.
The small child was located safe at home with a parent.
Courtesy of Bethany French of OzarksFirst.com
The 87th annual Ozark Empire Fair kicked off Thursday, and Summer’s Biggest Party is off to a busy start.
There has been a large turnout for the first night of the fair, and fairgoers said this is one of their favorite summer traditions.
“The fun and activities, and it’s a tradition,” said Tandra Reed who was at the fair with her family. “We come every year and we bring the grandkids and we come every year to the fair.”
There are many scheduled events for the rest of the fair. The gates open at 11 am every day, and the last night of the fair is August 5th.
Governor Mike Parson was in Springfield Thursday to address the Chamber of Commerce.
He spoke about the state’s economic successes, upcoming infrastructure projects to improve roads and his commitment to improving internet access in rural areas.
Afterwards, he went to Fire Station 13 to sign Senate Bill 24 which extends mental health resources for first responders.
A man has been arrested and charged with trying to kidnap a teenager.
The Monett Police Department says 34-year-old Aaron Michael Fryer of Pierce City was arrested early Thursday morning at a business.
An 18-year-old woman told Monett Police that a man with a small child in the car tried to kidnap her at her place of employment.
Fryer is charged with 2nd-degree kidnapping and 1st degree endangering the welfare of a child.
The child was located safe at home with a parent.
Two firefighters from Osage Beach are drawing well-deserved praise for stopped an out of control boat, and how they stopped it.
Officials say Chris Holden and Judd Douglas arrived at Lake of the Ozarks to a boat that was circling, with the passenger holding on to the side Tuesday morning.
In order to get to the boat, the two men commandeered a personal watercraft to get close to the boat.
Once near the boat, witnesses say Holden jumped from the PWC onto the boat, stopped the boat and got the passengers to safety.
No injuries were reported.
The investigation is now being run by the Missouri State Highway Patrol to determine what may have caused the boat to malfunction.