Quick thinking may have made the difference between safety and potentially serious injury for the six people who huddled for protection in the back room of the Break Time convenience store at 326 Ellis Blvd. in Jefferson City on the evening of May 22.
At approximately 11:43 p.m., a category EF-3 tornado–the third-strongest twister classification with wind speeds between 136 and 165 miles per hour–tore past the store.
When danger of the approaching storm became clear, the two employees on duty, Shift Leader Pierre Casey and Overnight Cashier David Cheatham, took action. They asked the four customers who were present to take cover with them in the back of the store, the area they deemed safest from flying debris.
The tornado passed over the store in a matter of seconds, however, Casey and Cheatham urged the customers to remain in the back room for a few extras minutes until they were sure the threat had passed.
The group was shocked to see the state of the surrounding area when they emerged from the store.
“The scariest part of the whole thing was not even the storm itself; it was coming out and seeing all the damage it had done around us,” said Cheatham, who had just clocked in as the storm hit.
The convenience store’s fuel canopy and price sign were destroyed, the neighboring Sonic restaurant took heavy damage, and another nearby building lost its entire front wall. State officials would later confirm the violent tornado damaged or destroyed more than 200 buildings across Missouri’s capital city.
When Casey and Cheatham discovered a portion of the store’s canopy had collapsed onto the fuel pumps and a car that had been parked underneath, they turned off the fuel supply and the store’s electrical circuit breakers as a precautionary measure.
“We were lucky when it came to damage, that’s for sure,” said Casey. “Most importantly, we were glad that we could keep our customers and ourselves safe.”
Curtis Chaney, senior vice president of retail, commended Casey and Cheatham for handling the circumstances as well as they did.
“Pierre and David took excellent care of our customers and prioritized safety in the wake of the storm,” Chaney said. “They are a great example of how to deal with a difficult situation.”
Break Time maintenance personnel were soon on site to assess the damage and to begin work on restoring the store to an operational state. The store was able to resume business two days later on May 24. Chaney said that in addition to replacing the fuel canopy and price sign, some cosmetic repairs to the building are ongoing.
“Thanks to the efforts of store employees, maintenance staff and external vendors we were able to reopen the store in a short amount of time and we are once again prepared to serve and support our customers and clean-up crews as the city’s recovery effort continues,” Chaney said.