Imagine a Fourth of July that had to be canceled. KOMU 8's Jim Riek re-traced the steps of July 4, 1995, with one of the station's former weather guys, Josh DeBerge.

"We were lucky it was heading our way and then it made a little jog to the north," DeBerge said. "So here it came and within about 50 yards, here it made the northly jog."

Josh grew-up on the outskirts of Moberly, where in 1995 a Fourth of July tornado was captured many times on home video.

"It was described as a pendulum swinging back and forth, because of the cameras it was studied a lot, it was a loner by itself - it had nothing near it to steal it's energy," DeBerge said. "It was one of those tornadoes you see it coming from the southwest, we do everything we say not to do and it was okay."

Okay, until it hit downtown Moberly.

"It touched down right here, there was a laundromat, it was destroyed...there was a tire shop there, it was wiped clean...city hall had its roof blown off," DeBerge described when remembering the tornado.

Moberly was lucky.

"Downtown was empty," DeBerge said. "If it would have happened at four pm on a weekday it would have been much worse."

Moberly got a tornado warning 20 minutes early, so there was no surprise.

Surprisingly, Josh DeBerge is no longer a weathercaster. He now works for FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"My job with FEMA is to handle all external communications whether it's the public, congressional offices or the media, I handle those inquires," DeBerge said. "FEMA gets involved when the locals and the state get overwhelmed."

FEMA job or not, Josh, who Riek calls "Mr. Moberly," knows his tornadoes. He says the tornado itself doesn't make the sound of a freight train.

"It's all that stuff blowing around at 150 miles per hour, hitting your house that creates the freight train sound," DeBerge said.

He says the biggest myth is the size of tornadoes. He says most are small and many go undetected.

"The sky doesn't always turn green, it doesn't have to hail, it can happen in all 50 states any month of the year," DeBerge said. "Missouri's biggest outbreak was in January, and they can hit mountains, cross hills, go over rivers, all the things you hear - don't count on them."