A fast and powerful storm with wind gusts above 60 mph swept through the Tri-County area Monday afternoon, downing trees and knocking out power.
“The line of storms actually originated back in Nebraska and South Dakota early this morning. It tracked all the way across Iowa and gone across most of Central Illinois, and now it’s moving into south central parts of Illinois,” said Chris Geelhart of the National Weather Service in Lincoln. “All along that track there was widespread wind damage that occurred.”
Spotter reports on the NWS website showed a gust of 59 mph at Peoria International Airport at 2:43 p.m. Additional entries indicated downed trees and power poles all across the region, with some blocking streets and striking houses.
“It’s basically been the wind that’s been the problem,” said Geelhart. “There were some situations where trees may have been uprooted just because of the ground having been saturated from recent heavy rains. But we haven’t had any real reports of flooding because these storms been moving very quickly.”
The outage map on the Ameren Illinois website showed more than 13,000 customers without service as of 5 p.m. The NWS canceled the severe thunderstorm warning for the area at 4:37 p.m.
“The worst of the storm was actually more in northern Illinois,” said Geelhart. “They had quite a few reports up there of 70 to 90 mph-type winds.”
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