Rex Rattler heard a noise on Garfield Street during the severe thunderstorm Sunday night and decided to investigate.
"I thought it was a trash can blowing around. I looked out the window and saw something white in the center of the street during the heavy rain," said Rattler, who lives across the street from the Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church where he is a member.
"I looked up at the church, and the steeple was gone," Rattler said.
Poplar Bluff Street Department workers quickly moved the steeple off the street with the help of Colvin McDonald and Dale Ritchy.
Russell Kennedy, chairman of the deacons at the church, said the fiberglass steeple was 4 feet by 4 feet at its base and was possibly 15 feet tall.
"It had been on the church for 15-20 years. There was a cross at the top of the point," Kennedy said.
Both Kennedy and Rattler were surprised the steeple missed the power lines.
"There was no damage to the building. It did not leak," Kennedy said.
But as a precaution, a high lift was used to place a covering over the area where the steeple had been.
"We had just completed remodeling the church," said Kennedy, who is very thankful it did not leak.