The Missouri Department of Transportation has contracted resurfacing work for the Belt Highway and a portion of Frederick Avenue that starts next week.
Deker Inc. of St Joseph will resurface the Belt Highway from Ashland Avenue south to Pear Street and also a section of Frederick between the Belt Highway and Interstate 29.
The contractor plans to begin pavement repairs next week along the route. Repairs will take place in various locations prior to the resurfacing.
The Belt Highway will remain open throughout the project but daily lane closures and some overnight closures will be necessary while these repairs are made. Workers will do some of the work at night to “minimize traffic disruption,” Holly Murphy of MoDOT said.
MoDOT officials will announce more specific dates as the project progresses. It’s expected to be completed in July.
The Kansas City Royals Wednesday morning announced the hall-of-fame pitcher and Royals broadcaster Paul Splittorff has died.
A visitation is set for Monday from 5 to 8 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church at 301 South Woods Chapel Road in Blue Springs. A funeral mass will take place Tuesday at 11 a.m. at Saint Robert Bellarmine Catholic Church in Blue Springs.
In lieu of flowers, people are asked to make donations to Saint Mary’s Medical Center Foundation in Blue Springs, or in Splittorff’s name to a charity of choice. To honor Splittorff’s memory, the Royals will wear a memorial patch that says “Splitt” on it for the rest of the season.
The team issued this statement: “The Kansas City Royals are deeply saddened to announce the passing of Royals’ Hall of Fame pitcher and broadcaster Paul Splittorff due to complications from melanoma. The all-time winningest pitcher in franchise history passed away this morning at the family home in Blue Springs, Mo.”
The “Kansas City Star” calls Splittorff “forever Royal.”
He was the 25th-round draft selection in 1968, the year before Kansas City took the field in its first season. Up until recently he occupied the broadcast booth offering color commentary for the team broadcasts.
He notched 166 wins, the best in team history.
Splittorff joined the Royals organization in 1968 and compiled a 166-143 record with a 3.81 ERA in 429 games during his 15-year career
He owns the team record for 392 starts and 2,554.2 innings pitched. Splittorff became Kansas City’s first 20-game winner in 1973 and was inducted into the Royals Hall of Fame in 1987.
A week ago, Splittorff’s family confirmed that he has been admitted to an area hospital and has received treatment for both melanoma and oral cancer.
In addition to his Royals broadcasts, Splittorff provided analysis Big 12 basketball.
Splittorff is survived by his wife, Lynn, daughter, Jennifer, and son, Jamie.
Among the many news and citizen videos surfacing from Tuesday night’s storms in Oklahoma is this one, depicting a semi being obliterated by a tornado. The driver was in the cab when it happened. The original footage is posted first, followed by a TV broadcast that makes it more visible.
Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr announced Tuesday evening the death toll from Sunday’s tornado has increased to 124, making it the deadliest single twister in nearly six decades. Rohr says 750 people were injured Sunday. Nine more people have been recovered from the debris and an intensive search and rescue effort was expected to continue into the night. More than 1,500 people are still missing.
Severe weather bore down on Joplin again Tuesday evening, including a tornado warning for northern Joplin, after a storm system produced at least a dozen tornadoes in Oklahoma, Kansas and Arkansas, killing at least nine people. We have no new damage reports from Joplin, but will post them as they’re released.
At least two people were killed in Arkansas early Wednesday when a tornado estimated to be up to a mile wide touched down just after midnight local time in Franklin County. On Tuesday, tornadoes killed at least five people near Oklahoma City and at least two people near St. John, Kansas. Dozens of suspected twisters left dozens of injuries in their wake in Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Texas.
In Kansas. A tree, propelled by high winds, tore through their van on US-281 highway near St John in Stafford County.
Widespread damage is reported across Kansas, including downed trees and power lines. An apartment complex near Great Bend burst into flames after being hit by lightning.
Tornadoes caused extensive damage and deaths in separate incidents north and southwest of Oklahoma City. Two people were killed near El Reno, Oklahoma. The state’s Medical Examiner’s Officer reports two more fatalities in the OKC suburbs.
The Weather Channel reported the presence on radar of “debris balls,” masses of debris large enough to be seen via radar. Witnesses reported shingles and tree leaves falling from the sky in Stillwater, Oklahoma, detritus from earlier storms from the southwest.
Personnel at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma evacuated when Norman came under a tornado warning.
Aerial views in Oklahoma show a sea of property damage and vehicles strewn all over the place, having been blown off highways or ripped from their parking spots. The tornadoes have also taken down power lines. A number of other people are reported injured from the storm systems.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled June 16th for 20-year-old Kyle Funk, the St Joseph man charged with second-degree murder for the fatal shooting of his cousin May 21st.
Funk was arraigned Tuesday.
A judge denied the state’s motion to deny bail in the case. Bond is set at $100 thousand surety, with the conditions that Funk submit to drug and alcohol screening and not take alcohol or drugs, and that he not have contact with the victim’s immediate family.
According to court records, Funk will apply for a public defender. A status hearing is scheduled June 3rd.
According to St Joseph police, Funk and his cousin, 24-year-old Derrick Mauzey, shared an apartment at 701 N. Ninth in St Joseph. On the evening of May 21st, Mauzey was found at the apartment with a single gunshot wound. He was taken to Heartland Regional Medical center, where he later died. Funk was arrested later that night.
On Sunday, May 22, a devastating tornado hit the city of Joplin, Mo., leaving an estimated 116 people dead and several hundred others injured. This tied the June 8, 1953, tornado that hit Flint, Mich., as the deadliest single tornado to strike the U.S. since modern tornado recordkeeping began in 1950.
The deadliest tornado on record was on March 18, 1925. This “Tri-State Tornado” (MO, IL, IN) had a 291-mile path, was rated F5 based on a historic assessment, and caused 695 fatalities.
Preliminary rating: Powerful EF-4 tornado with winds from 190-198 mph. Tornado was ¾ of a mile wide. A final determination on strength will be available Tuesday, May 24, after our Springfield Weather Forecast Office completes the storm survey.
National Weather Service’s (NWS) preliminary estimate is more than 100 tornadoes have occurred during the month of May 2011.
The record number of tornadoes during the month of May was 542 tornadoes set in May 2003.
Deadliest Tornado Years in US History
(Official NOAA-NWS Record: 1950 – present; Research by Grazulis: 1875-1949)
Year
Fatalities
1925
794
1936
552
1917
551
1927
540
1896
537
1953
519
1920
499
1908
477
2011
481
(365 + 116 estimated Joplin fatalities as of
May 23)
1909
404
1932
394
1942
384
1924
376
1974
366
1933
362
The average number of tornadoes for the month of May during the past decade is 298.
May is historically the most active month for tornadoes.
2011 Year-to-Date (and record annual) Statistics
NWS’s preliminary estimate is that there have been approximately 1,000 tornadoes so far this year.
The previous yearly record number of tornadoes was set in 2004 with 1,817.
The overall yearly average number of tornadoes for the past decade is 1,274.
The preliminary estimated number of tornado fatalities so far this year is 481. NWS records indicate that there were 365 tornado fatalities before the Joplin tornado. Media reports currently indicate 89 fatalities in the Joplin event.
The US tornado death toll is the highest ever through the month of May in the NOAA-NWS official record (1950-present).
The highest recorded annual death toll from tornadoes in the NOAA-NWS official record (1950-present) was set in 1953 with 519 fatalities.
April 2011
April 2011 set a new record for the month with 875 tornadoes.
The previous record was set in April 1974 with 267 tornadoes.
The average number of tornadoes for the month of April during the past decade is 161.
The previous record number of tornadoes during any month was 542 tornadoes set in May 2003.
NWS records indicate 321 people were killed during the April 25-28 tornado outbreak.
NWS records indicate 361 people were killed during the entire month of April 2011.
Ted Allison, the President and CEO at the St Joseph Metro Chamber of Commerce, tells us his brother Andy Allison was at Grand Lake Sunday when a tornado touched down. Andy and his wife Mary Allison are building a house at the lake. They lost part of the house, two boats, and a new boat dock during the storm.
Allison tells us his brother and sister-in-law rode out the storm under the stairs in their walk-out basement, and were not hurt. The tornado touched down shortly after the twister that devastated Joplin.
Here’s some video of that twister, and another one that formed a short time later, that were posted on YouTube. The view is from the Shangri-La resort.
Cleanup and recovery efforts continue in Reading, Kansas where an EF-3 tornado caused an estimated $2.2 million damage Saturday night.
Governor Sam Brownback, Senator Jerry Moran and other officials toured the area Monday.
K-170 highway will remain closed through Reading until further notice.
Since the Reading post office was partially destroyed by the twister, residents can pick up their mail at the nearby Lebo post office.
Cities, utilities and civilian volunteers are helping the small town recover. Topeka, Tecumseh and Shawnee County are deploying heavy equipment, a road crew, and other personnel. Two Lawrence fire chiefs with extensive experience in disasters are helping out as part of the Northeast Kansas incident management team. Civilian volunteers from across the state signed up to help Monday, the first day volunteers were allowed into the town.
Kansas Insurance Commission Sandy Praeger says insurance information for recent tornado and severe weather victims is available from her department’s Consumer Assistance Hotline. That number is (800) 432-2484. Praeger says her office is in touch with insurance companies with disaster teams in the area.
The public is invited to take another look at the master plan created under the St Joseph School District’s “Planning A Course Together” master plan before it goes before the Board of Education.
A PACT meeting is scheduled Tuesday, at 6 p.m., at Benton High School.
