Yet another line of severe thunderstorms moved across South Central Illinois Saturday night. Both Clinton and Washington County were under a tornado warning due to rotation seen in the storm by the National Weather Service and later a report of a tornado on the ground north of Nashville. The storm lost some of its intensity as it moved into Marion and Jefferson Counties, but still packed extremely strong winds that created problems.
There were two reports from the public of a tornado on the ground east of the Kinmundy area. The first call indicated a tornado was crossing the Kinmundy Road and was headed towards Forbes State Park. The second was a report of a tornado on the ground on Williams Road in the same area.
Marion County Sheriff Kevin Cripps says he and deputies surveyed the area and could only find a few down street signs on Williams Road, but notes there are a lot of fields in the area so damage may not be visible until morning. Cripps says there was a problem at Forbes where the shower building that is normally the tornado shelter was still padlocked shut for the winter. He plans to address that issue with the Forbes State Park Staff on Monday.
In Centralia, city firemen were called to five brush and leaf fires that blew out of control when the strong winds moved in with the storm. Firemen say one home in the 100 block of Pullen where the owner’s name was not immediately available and another on the 1000 block of Bond Street owned by Arthur Tellison had some siding melted when the flames burned up against the homes. Centralia Fire also reported one downed power line. All available Centralia City Firemen were called in to handle the brush and leaf fires.
Salem Police say part of a tree fell into a power line in the 100 block of East Main on the courthouse square bringing down a power pole and power line with it, blocking a portion of the west lane of East Main. Salem Firemen were initially called out, but the Salem Emergency Management Agency was monitoring the situation until Ameren cleared the live power line.
The Salem Water Plant recorded eight-tenths of an inch of rain from the storm and the Centralia Water Plant six-tenths of an inch of rain.
The Alma Weather Station reported a top wind gust at 46 miles per hour at 8:19 Saturday night.
A power pole and street light is broke off by a large tree limb in front of the courthouse in the 100 block of East Main in Salem Saturday night.
This story was updated throughout at 10 Sunday morning.
