Ozarks County Storm: Man Rides it Out in RV, Park Severely Damaged

As the severe storms blew through the Ozarks Wednesday night, one hard-hit business was Theo’s RV Park.

Over a dozen boats were damaged and at least three campers were flipped over by the wind.

One man rode out the storm there in his RV.

“I was in there holding on, I said oooh wee, it’s going to be a good one,” said Lester Grobe.

Grobe says he got lucky, as his camper stayed upright during the storm. 

“I was rocking and rolling,” said Grobe.

He sat inside his RV on the steps leading up to his bedroom for about 10 minutes while his camper shook from the wind.

“I’ve been through some storms in the RV and this was the wildest one,” Grobe said.

“Be safe,” said Grobe. “Don’t do that. Don’t do what I do. Don’t ride out the storm, cause it scared me.”

After the severe weather passed, Grobe looked out his window and saw trees knocked over, as well as a few other campers on their sides. He then called the owners of the campground.

“(The storm) pretty much took the whole barn and threw it,” said Mareshah Taber, Theo’s RV Park Owner.

The boat barn at Theo’s is destroyed and a few other buildings on site have damages.

Katie Bonham stored her boat and camper at Theo’s. She says she’s one of the luckier ones.

“The whole wall kind of landed on it,” Bonham said. “You can see where we propped it up and tried to pull it out as best as we could. Got a little bit of damage to the motor and the side of the boat, but otherwise, then it’s in good shape. We got lucky.”

The storm knocked out power to the entire campground which is also without water.

(Story by Carissa Cordell, Ozarks First)