Storms hammer central Illinois; one tornado does damage
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">A relentless line of storms hammered the Springfield area Friday evening, spawning at least one tornado that damaged three homes, several outbuildings and a grain bin about a mile southwest of Waverly, according to the National Weather Service.
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">There were no reports of injuries.
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">One tornado warning after another was issued as the storms, generating torrential rain, large hail, strong winds and funnel clouds, progressed from west to east.
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">Warning sirens were activated about 5:45 p.m. in New Berlin and about 6 p.m. in Springfield after funnel clouds were reported in Morgan County and moving quickly to the east.
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">Hail ranging from pea- to larger than golfball-size fell in the Springfield area, and police radio traffic indicated reports of funnel clouds on the west side of the city, in the downtown area and then on the east side of town.
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">"As far as I know, there were no reports of tornadoes on the ground" in Springfield, Sangamon County Sheriff Neil Williamson said about 8:30 p.m. "This was just a good old-fashion summer storm."
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">After Springfield's tornado warning expired about 7:15 p.m., another strong storm cell prompted tornado warnings in communities south of Springfield.
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">About 7:20 p.m., weather spotters reported a tornado on the ground along Illinois 104 east of Waverly in southeastern Morgan County.
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">Bob Fitzsimmons, Emergency Services and Disaster Agency director for Morgan County, said that tornado apparently did the damage to several structures about 1 1/2 miles southwest of Waverly. One home was severely damaged, there was possible damage to two others, and a machine shed and grain bin were destroyed, he said.
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">Williamson said there also were reports of a tornado in the air near Auburn and above the Divernon fire station.
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">There were no reports of any damage in these Sangamon County communities.
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">In Christian County, there were more funnel cloud reports, a brief touchdown south of town, dime-size hail and wind gusts of up to 60 miles per hour.
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">Flash flooding occurred when nearly an inch and a half of rain fell in 45 minutes, the National Weather Service said.
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">The storm knocked out electricity to about 200 City Water, Light and Power customers in Springfield.
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">Ernie Slottag, spokesman for Mayor Tim Davlin, said the outages were in pockets throughout the city. Some of the areas included the Irisdale subdivision on the far northeast side and the Cotton Wood Cove mobile home park off Dirksen Parkway.
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">"We expect most people to be back on by 10 p.m. (Friday)," Slottag said.
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">Information on Ameren's Web site indicated that 50 to 500 customers were without power in the Springfield area as of 9 p.m.
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">The 1 1/2 to 2 inches of rain also overwhelmed some storm sewers in Springfield, causing streets to flood. Flash flooding made some rural roads impassable, authorities said.
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">Deputy Division Chief Bob Reside of the Springfield Fire Department was one of the city officials that manned Springfield's emergency operations center in the basement of Municipal Center East.
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">"So far, we've dodged the bullet. We are getting hail, a lot of lighting and a lot of rain, but damage has been minimal so far," Reside said as the severest of the storms moved south of Springfield.
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">Elsewhere in central Illinois:
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">- Officials in Lincoln reported scattered power outages, with trees and limbs down across the city. There were no reports of significant damage.
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">- In the Jacksonville area, 500 to 1,000 Ameren customers lost power during the storm, according to Ameren's Web site.
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">John Reynolds can be reached at (217) 788-1524.