RM | COMMUNITY Black River Electric meter tester/warehouseman Doug Massey searches the rubble for usable materials after a tornado struck the co-op offi ce. The co-op cavalry Friends help Black River Electric recover from tornado by Jim McCarty | jmccarty@ruralmissouri.coop I t's hard enough recovering from a tornado. It's even more diffi cult when your offi ce was in the bull's-eye and most of the equipment used for repairs is damaged. That was the situation Black River Electric Cooperative faced when an EF3 tornado touched down on Sunday, Oct. 24 at its offi ce just off Highway 67 in Fredericktown. The twister dropped an awning on 25 trucks parked in neat rows underneath, causing extensive damage to them. It blew the sides out of the co-op's garage, demolished the warehouse and shattered windows in the dispatch center. The main offi ce suffered broken windows and water damage but was spared the brunt of the storm. As if that wasn't enough, materials vital to the restoration effort were stranded under the fallen warehouse. Many of the co-op's linemen couldn't fi nd their tools. Two part-time dispatchers were the only employees on site when the storm struck. They dove into a closet and rode out the frightening onslaught with no injuries. 8 RURAL MISSOURI | DECEMBER 2021 The tornado was one of two that impacted electric coops in Southeast Missouri. The second tornado started south of Farmington and exited Missouri at St. Mary where it blew the roof off a popular antique mall and destroyed homes and businesses served by Citizens Electric. As soon as the wind died down employees got to work making repairs so that crews could restore power to more than a quarter of its 24,900 members. Computers from the damaged dispatch center were moved to the meeting room. Plywood was used to cover broken windows. Workers climbed onto the roof to replace metal panels ripped off by the powerful Fredericktown winds. Despite the damage, the co-op was open for business Monday morning. Trucks were called in from branch offi ces in Marble Hill and Ellington. A contractor brought its crew and went to work. In short order the number of outages was cut by two-thirds overnight. " It's a struggle because of the number of vehicles that were damaged, " Black River Electric CEO John Singleton related as he surveyed the damage Monday morning. " Several contractor crews on our system and a few neighboring