ST. LOUIS — One north St. Louis church is in cleanup mode. The Williams Temple Church of God was seriously damaged during Sunday afternoon's storms.
Parishioners won't be able to worship there while repairs are underway. Church leaders say they're just grateful to God that no one was hurt.
"We're just grateful to God that we're moving forward," Lawrence Wooten Jr. said. "We were sitting here in service."
Lawrence Wooten Jr.'s dad is the bishop at Williams Temple Church of God.
"A straight wind tornado came through and ripped off the front of the church," he said.
It was just after 3 Sunday afternoon when service was ending when the storm came.
"Beautiful skies, heat was blazing, there was no sign of a storm. And it was a shock to everyone," Wooten said.
That's when strong winds ripped off an entire section of the church's wall. Some other parts of the 5 On Your Side viewing area felt the same shock.
"That's kind of the way our pattern sets up this time of the year sometimes," Weather First Meteorologist Garry Frank said. "We don't have these major storm systems; we have some pop-up showers and thunderstorms like the ones we had on Sunday."
He said it's a reminder that weather conditions can change quickly.
"A lot of times we have two or three ingredients out of the four needed, and we don't have that fourth. All it takes is one small area to get that one ingredient to spark showers and thunderstorms that could be on the strong side," Frank said.
Members of the church have already started to help with repairs while they wait for crews to assess the damage.
"This is the first time this has ever happened to us on this level," Wooten said.
The church's education and administrative sections and garage were all in the part of the building that was damaged. Wooten said they need all the donations and prayers they can get, so they can continue praying for others.
"We just want to get back up and running so we can keep serving this great community and this city," Wooten said.
He said the church is closed for now, and it's unclear how long it will be closed. He said they've been serving this community for over ninety years.