MT. VERNON — Increased activity of severe thunderstorms and high winds this storm season are believed to be the cause of a tower collapse at the WMIX & WDML Studios Monday evening.

At about 5:33 pm the 160-foot tower suddenly collapsed in a northeasterly direction away from the studio and onto the property of a neighboring car dealership.

The collapse damaged a vehicle at the dealership in addition to property at the studio. The collapse caused a brief outage for the three radio stations, WMIX-AM, WMIX-FM, and WDML-FM.

All three stations are currently on the air but could experience brief outages as corporate engineers work to repair any damage. The stations will then erect a new 140-foot tower and expect to make numerous upgrades.