Dark, boiling clouds on a May evening don’t make much of an impression in the Midwest. They wreak havoc — but always down the road or in the next town or two counties away. Hollie Hounschell, 26, was getting ready to go to a party on May 22 as the clouds approached. With one ear on the TV as she painted her nails, she noted that big hail was falling in Webb City, some 8 miles distant.
The doorbell rang. Hounschell’s ex Joe Winters was delivering their daughter Abigail, who is 4, after a visit with her daddy. When Hollie opened the front door, she noticed lightning slash the sky far behind him.
Suddenly, the voice from the TV was shouting: “Take cover! Get to the basement!” Not everyone had a basement. Bewildered neighbors appeared at the door begging for help. In all, five people hurried down the hall and huddled in a tiny basement as wood splinters, shards of glass and needles of fiberglass insulation scoured the air. The house exploded. The neighborhood exploded.
