Shawn Allen -- Kansas City, Mo.

Shawn Allen's home at North Donnelly and North Skiles avenues in Kansas City, Mo., was ripped off its foundation. His only injury was a sore knee, and firefighters rescued his dog from inside the damaged home.

"My bedroom is in the back of the house there, on the back corner, and the bedroom door flew open, and I got up to shut my window that I had open thinking that was all that was wrong, and at that time the house lifted for the first time and threw me up against the wall, and I was flung across the room again and was able to get out of the room at that time and ran down the hallway and slipped on the linoleum in the kitchen and fell into the kitchen and called for the dog. I could hear her but I couldn't see her, and at that time some lightning flashed and I was able to see that the side of the house was completely gone, so I was able to get out of the house at that point and get outside and whatnot and run over the neighbor's house. After all that, the fire department was able to get the dog out. They had to jack up the front of the house and whatnot to get her out. She was trapped under the front staircase where she normally sleeps."

Dean White -- Kansas City, Mo.

Dean White woke up at about 2:30 a.m. in his home in the area of North Donnelly and North Skiles avenues in Kansas City, Mo.

"The whole house was shaking. That's what woke me up. I couldn't even get to the basement by the time it hit. I saw debris flying about a hundred, 200 feet in the air. I've got some damage at my house, but there's a lot of people that got a lot more hit than I do. From my understanding that it came from the northwest, but the debris that I have in my yard is from a home that was southeast of me. They were talking straight-line winds. I think it was probably more tornadic than that. I'm lucky compared to some other people."

Carol Rice -- Gladstone, Mo.

Carol Rice was asleep in the upper level of her Gladstone, Mo., home near Northeast 77th Street and North Euclid Avenue when the storm hit.

"I was sleeping, and I was woke up by a ceiling falling in from up on the roof, and then I tried to get out, and the second bedroom, the door had flown off into the other room, so I had a hard time getting out. Then I was banging on my walls, and the neighbors couldn't hear me. The people across the street, my neighbors, I heard them hollering, and I hollered, 'Come over here. It's Carol.'"

Debby Waterbury -- Independence, Mo.

Debby Waterbury works at an Arby's restaurant near East 23rd Street South and Missouri Highway 291. The storm decimated it.

"I pulled in the back parking lot, and I saw it was leveled, and it was like my heart just started pounding, so here I am, and I don't know what the next step is."

Dale Campbell -- Independence, Mo.

Dale Campbell's business was damaged.

"What's are you going to do? Mother Nature ... she's going to do what she's going to do, and we just have to pick up the pieces."

Les Smith

Gladstone council member Les Smith surveyed the damage after the wind destroyed a pawn shop in his city.

"It's kind of reminiscent of the tornadoes that hit in '03 except the damage then was much more extensive than it is here," Smith said. "But it is quite amazing the power of these winds that came through town. Some of the residential areas are just a mess. We have some homes that have been badly damaged, a lot of tree damage, downed power lines."

Angela Lukenbill

Angela Lukenbill, the owner of a Kansas City, Mo., day care damaged in the storm, was upset that she couldn't open Friday. About 100 children attend day care at her facility.

"It's more heartbreaking for me to the parents that have to stay home today because we can't open. Luckily we'll be able to open soon, on Monday. We've just got to pick up the pieces now."