Glass shards flew everywhere as Eric Gockel waited out one of the worst hail storms to hit Missouri . One of the softball-size hunks of ice that hit the Springfield area on Tuesday measured 4.75 inches (12 centimeters). The hail killed an emu at the zoo, injured some drivers, knocked out power to thousands and damaged hundreds of vehicles and even some aircraft. “I feel blessed that I came out unscathed,” Gockel, whose windshield was battered as he waited in his car along the side of a highway for the storm to pass, said Wednesday. Severe spring weather is plaguing the South and Midwest , and emergency management officials said the hail storm was Springfield's worst in history, although it falls short of a state record. Mark Burchfield, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Springfield, said that distinction goes to the 6-inch (15.2-centimeter) hail recorded in 2004 near the town of Maryville. “It's very rare,” he said of the Springfield storm.…