EF1 tornado in Lawrence County, Missouri

A National Weather Service storm survey confirmed an EF-1 tornado. This was the first of two tornadoes that touched down in the Miller area. The most concentrated damage was to a metal building on Highway 39 that had a large portion of the roof torn off. The occupant of the building saw the tornado approaching. Damage to trees southwest of that location marked the beginning of the track. Intermittent damage then extended along a path through southeast Miller, along Highway DD near the intersection of Main Street. The tornado continued northeast into inaccessible areas though damage to trees and an outbuilding was again noted along Farm Road 1140. Maximum wind speeds were estimated at 95 mph.

Very moist and unstable conditions developed over the Missouri Ozarks ahead of an intense low pressure system over the southern Plains. Widespread severe storms developed over Oklahoma and eastern Kansas during the early morning hours and tracked eastward into the Springfield county warning area during the afternoon and evening. Very heavy rainfall, hail to tennis ball size, damaging winds in excess of 70 mph and 27 tornadoes occurred with this system as storms tracked repeatedly over the region. Four injuries were reported as a result of severe storms. One injury was near Mountain Grove and three were in southeastern Greene County were an EF-2 Tornado tracked. The resulting rainfall led to widespread flash flooding, which continued into the morning of May 1st, on head water streams and low water crossings. One live was lost when a camper along Hunter Creek in Douglas County drowned as the campground flooded.