The Sunset Hills New Year’s Eve Tornado—One Year Later

Dee Baebler had planned to go to a friend’s house for New Year’s Eve, and then the tornado hit Sunset Hills.

“It’s still such a big thing in my life,” Baebler said. “Every time I see a story about it, I’m consumed with it.” 

The neighbor, who lived only nine houses up the street from where Baebler lives, was hit by the tornado and had glass sticking in the walls. She called Baebler to tell her how bad the storm actually was.

“I’d never seen shards of glass sticking out of the walls before; it was the strangest thing. That was the strength of this storm,” she said.

After the tornado hit, Baebler drove to parking lot, searching for a way to help. It wasn’t until she arrived at O’Leary’s that she realized that the storm had in fact been a very strong tornado. She parked and couldn’t get any farther because by this time the police and fire department had blocked off most of the area.

“I was overcome with dread and fear, and there is the smell of gas and a weird kind of feeling in the air,” Baebler said. “People were upset, walking around crying and talking. It was overwhelming.”

Sunset Hills Mayor Bill Nolan was on the scene, so Baebler approached him, asking for some sort of direction. They weren’t sure at that point if people were injured, or worse. Search efforts were forming and utilities were being turned off.

“I was in the middle of madness,” Baebler said. “Mayor Nolan told me to go to the community center to help and that was the defining moment for me.”

Once at the , Baebler was a conduit for finding out what people immediately needed—socks, food, medical help. People began calling offering their homes and food. Since Ward 1 is the ward Baebler represents, she said that she developed a very strong relationship with the victims and has made some great friends in the process.

“All of them were in different places (in terms of damage,” she said. “Some were hit very hard; some had roof damage; some their entire home. Everyone was very scared and frightened.”

As relief efforts progressed, more offers started pouring in. Within a few days there were more than 800 volunteers. Service International called into the community center and offered help in clean-up efforts. Since they had been to Katrina and many other world disasters, the city decided to work with them to funnel volunteers. People called in offering furniture, spare bedrooms, carpentry work, dentistry and even a backhoe.

“There were endless hours of cleaning debris. People were really working around the clock at first. There were ‘little angels’ all over the place,” Baebler said. One lady was concerned about a lost fence for her dog. A guy called in who could do carpentry work and he said he’d absolutely build a new fence.”

Another victim needed a new bridge for her teeth and a dentist called in, got her in the next day and did the repair for free.

Baebler said that she thinks that Sunset Hills has proven strong and the sense of the community is that you know you can count on the city.

“Several families were devastated and they are still feeling that pain, fear and financial problems,” Baebler said. “But in the end the warmth and kindness in the people of Sunset Hills is astounding. I couldn’t be prouder to live here and be a part of it all. I’m disappointed it’s not the No. 1 place to live in the state of Missouri. I just can’t imagine a better place to be.”