LAKE OF THE OZARKS, Mo. — The sudden and powerful wind storm that blew through central Missouri on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, Nov. 26-27, wreaked havoc on many docks.

Sustained winds in the 20s and 30s mph were gusting as high as 60 mph in some areas, according to the National Weather Service. In those conditions, docks are vulnerable. The broad surface area of the dock roofs acts like a sail, and powerful winds can strain dock anchor cables to the point of breakage.

Local dock companies reported a high volume of broken dock cables, with customers calling for emergency re-anchoring service. Denny's Dock Service responded to 10 calls on Wednesday. Rough Water Docks said they also had about 10 calls. "Most [lakefront home owners] aren't here right now, so they're depending on neighbors to call," said Shelby Burns, of Rough Water Docks. She said this storm was particularly hard on docks. "Typically in a normal summer storm, we get 4 to 5 emergency calls through the whole day... not just before 9 a.m. like today."

PAST DOCK DAMAGE STORIES

In the weekend's catastrophic flooding and subsequent high lake levels, docks have begun to break away from the shore on the Lake of the Ozarks. The dock depicted above reportedly collided with the Highway 54 bridge on the Niangua Arm of the Lake of the Ozarks.

Video by Mark Ellifson
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