The National Weather Service has confirmed four tornadoes were part of the severe storms that crossed South Central Illinois early Sunday evening. Fortunately, there were no injuries.
Two of the tornadoes were in the Forbes State Park area near Omega in northeast Marion County. The weather service says the first tornado was a brief, weak tornado that touched down just west of Forbes Lake, uprooting and snapping off several trees.
The second touched down a minute later at 7:29 Sunday evening and tracked from south of Forbes Lake primarily uprooting and snapping trees along its path. The tornado was rated an EF1 with a wind speed of 104 miles per hour as it crossed Marion County. After traveling 4.7 miles in Marion County, it crossed into Clay County and traveled another 8.4 miles eventually increasing in strength to a EF-2 tornado with an estimated rotation at 130 miles per hour. The tornado had a maximum width of 500 yards. The worst damage was at a farm on the north end of Penguin Drive, demolishing several farm buildings.
In Clinton County, the first tornado touched down at 6:34 pm southwest of New Baden and lifted southeast of Damiansville 10.5 miles away. The EF-1 tornado had a wind speed of 90 miles per hour and a maximum width of 500 yards. It snapped some large tree branches, removed a large portion of a commercial garage roof, and caused minor roof damage.
A tornado later struck on the north side of Carlyle, eventually crossing Carlyle Lake, and lifting back into the air near Coles Creek Recreation area on the east side of the lake. The tornado took off the roof at Beelman Truck Company and the next-door Carlyle Truck Repair on the north side of Carlyle. At least one home had part of its roof removed and campers at both Haslett State Park and the Coles Creek Recreation area on Carlyle Lake were damaged. The tornado was an EF1 with a speed of 97 miles per hour and was 11.3 miles long with a maximum width of 325 yards.
See National Weather Service Damage Survey Results for additional details.
