With 42,000 pounds of glass loaded in his semi trailer, David Russell had just crossed the Missouri River Bridge heading north Sunday night when he drove into the strong thunderstorm that raced through the area, causing heavy damage on both sides of the river. Russell said it was like being in a scene from a movie. “The wind picked up and poles started coming down,” said Russell, of Wichita Falls, Texas. “I thought it was a tornado. There was a lot of swirling.” Sixteen utility poles along Highway 47, between Washington Regional Airport and the bridge, fell onto the roadway as a fast moving storm swept through the region. One of the poles landed just a couple of feet from Russell’s 18-wheeler causing him to swerve and get stuck in mud just off the highway. Russell, who was within a half-hour of his destination, was stuck in the cab of his semi from 11 p.m. Sunday until a wrecker was able to pull him out of the mud around mid-morning Monday. The severe thunderstorm caused power outages and widespread damage throughout southern Warren County, primarily in the area of Highway 94 outside of Dutzow. Residences and businesses in and around Dutzow, Marthasville and Treloar were without power Sunday night and most of Monday. “All of a sudden, the rain and wind picked up,” said Russell, who was en route to Old Castle Glass in Wright City. “It was like, ‘Bam, all heck broke loose.’ ” After the storm moved through, Ameren Missouri crews sprang into action and had new poles erected by late Monday morning. The highway reopened around 12:45 p.m. The storm canceled classes Monday at a number of area schools that were without power. The severe weather left many residents living along Highway 94 scrambling to patch their roofs, clean their properties from debris and uprooted trees. Two wineries, Balducci Vineyards and Noboleis Vineyards and Winery, suffered considerable roof damage. The tin roof on Balducci’s 1860s brick home was completely ripped off, through owner Rick Balducci was fortunate more damage didn’t happen at his property. He said the winery’s tasting room was not damaged and the business will be open this weekend for visitors. Meanwhile, a large portion of the roof at Noboleis was ripped off and left insulation scattered across the property. Some of the worst damage experienced by homeowners was in the Franciscan Hills subdivision and on Aholt Lane. One resident in Franciscan Hills had a roof from a shed land on the adjacent home as other residents spent the morning fixing roofs. On Aholt Lane, Glen Jasper was thankful for the dozens of friends who chipped in and helped clean up his property. His garage collapsed on his pickup breaking the windshield and another window. Friends used a forklift on a tractor to remove the debris so he could assess the damage on his truck. “It didn’t take long at all,” Jasper said. “It was like a train, loud as hell. But the good thing is nobody got hurt and everything can be fixed.” While some county residents in the Dutzow area were mixed on whether the damage was caused by a tornado or straight-line winds, the National Weather Service confirmed only one tornado in the state. The National Weather Service, in a report released Monday evening, said “all of the damage patterns indicated straight line” winds that were “typical of embedded strong microbursts within a squall line. There were no indications of rotation. However the degree of damage indicated wind speeds which likely approached 100 mph in those very localized microbursts.” The lone tornado that has been confirmed so far occurred in northeast Missouri. It touched down in Shelbina at 6:45 p.m. Sunday.