Fayette County Sheriff Ronnie Stevens says he can follow a two-mile path of damage from a tornado that touched down south of the St. Peter blacktop beginning about two miles west of US 51 between Shobonier and St. Peter.
Stevens says that so far, they have found damage to five homes, including one that was destroyed when the back porch apparently flew off the residence and landed on the house causing the roof to collapse. He reports fortunately no one was home at the time the tornado hit.
Another home sustained damage to a garage wall and some windows knocked out, while the other three had lesser damage.
The sheriff also reports several outbuildings were destroyed and damage could be seen in the treetops when the funnel cloud was not on the ground.
Marion County Sheriff Kevin Cripps was also watching the storm and saw the funnel clouds and tornadoes, but reported all the damage occurred across the Fayette County line.
A tornado warning had been issued for the compact severe storm that came off the north end of Carlyle Lake and traveled across the Vernon and Patoka area before crossing into Fayette County where the damage occurred. The same storm also resulted in tornado warnings being issued for Effingham County as it headed further northeast.
The National Weather Service is expected to follow the path of the storm Thursday afternoon and rate the speed of the tornado.
The same storm system resulted in additional tornado warnings in portions of Washington, Clinton and Bond Counties but there have been no reports of serious damage.
