A Centralia man escaped injury when a large tree fell on the front of his home early Sunday night, trapping him on the porch.
Centralia City Firemen say Dan Meadows of 1237 East Broadway was sitting in his wheelchair on the porch when the tree came down during extremely strong winds as the squall line from the severe weather was passing over.
Centralia Police and Firemen helped get Meadows off the porch into another section of the home that was not damaged. Firemen note that if Meadows had been a foot closer to where the tree hit, the outcome would have been much different. The fire call came in at five on Sunday evening. At the time, a severe thunderstorm warning was out for Marion and part of Fayette County. A severe thunderstorm warning was later issued for Jefferson County.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Department reports a tree fell across the Tonti Road near the Quick Road intersection in rural Odin. The driver of a vehicle didn’t see the tree in the dark, ran into it, and became stuck on top of it. Deputies called to the scene were able to remove the tree from under the vehicle and the roadway. The car was not damaged, and there were no injuries.
Some electrical lines were also brought down by the storm, causing some isolated power outages.
Tri County Electric crew works to restore power near Boyd following Sunday afternoon severe weather. Photo from Tri-County Electric Facebook page.
The storm hit after a record high temperature was set at the Salem Water Plant on Sunday when it hit 71 degrees. That broke the old record of 67 that was set in 1984. The temperature then fell to 16 by early Monday morning, still well above the record low of minus 5.
Two tornadoes touched down in the Decatur area. One touched down briefly near Blue Mound. The other hit in the Long Creek area where at least two homes had roofs torn off and a number of others sustained damage.
Four tornado warnings went up almost all at once from the squall line as it strengthened heading towards extreme southeastern Illinois to the Indiana Line. No major damage has been reported.
