A powerful thunderstorm crossed central and northeast Marion County late Friday night and another hit the southern part of the county late Saturday afternoon. The rain also brought an early end to Salem’s Bicentennial Celebration in Bryan Memorial Park on Saturday afternoon and canceled parts of the Farina 4th of July celebration before the fireworks went off as scheduled later Saturday night.
The latest round of storms brought .95 inches of rain at the Salem Water Plant for the 24-hour period ending at seven Sunday morning for a three-day rain total of 2.65 inches. A half-inch of rain was recorded during Friday night’s storm and 1.2 inches from the Thursday rains.
Downed trees and tree limbs caused the biggest problems. A tree fell onto a mobile home in the 600 block of East Third Street in Kinmundy on Friday night, but the occupants escaped safely. Another large tree limb brought down a high-voltage power line and transformer after breaking a pole in the 5000 block of Cartter Road in Cartter around 4:30 Saturday afternoon. Salem Assistant Fire Chief and Fire Marshal Bill Fulton reported the live power line fell into some other trees setting them on fire. Firemen stood by until an Ameren crew arrived and turned off the power, putting the fire out. The fire was about 75 feet away from the Gale Goff home, but Fulton says the home was never endangered.
Salem Firemen had also been called out late Friday night to the Boyles residence in the 200 block of East Williams where a power line had fallen onto the home and a transformer blew nearby. While there was smoke in the residence, firemen checked the entire home and attic and found no fire.
Salem Police reported a number of large tree limbs from the Friday night storm. They included the 300 block of South College and South Franklin, the 700 block of West Warmoth, the 600 block of Indiana, and the 800 block of Oak Park. Many of the limbs brought down power lines.
Sandoval was also hard hit by the Friday night storm with small hail throughout the town and multiple down trees and power lines.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Department reported downed trees early Saturday morning at two locations on Sassafras Road south of Salem, a power line across Selmaville Road a mile south of US 50.
As of Sunday morning 17 homes in Sandoval, six in Salem, and three in Odin were still listed without power by Ameren Illinois.
