Does this sound familiar to you?
"There's trees everywhere in the park. There's trees all over the playground. There's stop signs blown over. It's really bad."
Carrie, a WGIL listener from Bushnell -- not Thursday at 4am -- rather, Friday after 4pm. A round of severe thunderstorms came through Knox and Warren Counties then, that at one point, caused a tornado warning for parts of Warren County. There were numerous reports of funnel cloud sightings, but nothing confirmed as having touched down or having caused any damage.
But there were lots of downed trees and power lines once again -- many in areas that were just starting to get the lights back on again following the Thursday storms.
Carlene Johnson of Knoxville was on the road near Fairview when the storms hit, and tells WGIL it really was ominous-looking for a time. "It's a flat-line wind. It's really strong," Johnson said during WGIL's live coverage Friday. "You can't see to drive. The rain is horrific, and the lightning is real severe. It's really bolting down. It's just very treacherous on the roads."
Johnson says she and other cars where she was traveling all were pulled off to the side of the road. She says she was en route to Springfield to see her son, and was hoping to miss all the storms, and eventually wondered if she should just turn around and go another time.
Some areas that got lucky in terms of damage after the first round of storms, weren't lucky the second time around. Gary lives in Avon and tells WGIL he had a tough time getting home from work Friday.
"The wind was blowing so hard, it was shaking your vehicle," Gary said. "I went by a shed, and the roof blew off of it, went right over me. I started ducking. Me and another car pulled over, then a tree fell across the road right in front of us."
Nancy lives near Abingdon and tells WGIL she saw damage at her house and at the neighbors'. "There is a small machine shed up the road past right next to my neighbor's house, and it's gone," Nancy said. "We got a little bit of damage out at the house. I am going to get a new roof because half my shingles are gone. My flag pole is again off and bent and broke. So I know I'll have to take care of that."
Many residents we talked with were driving home from work when the new round of storms hit, some having a hard time getting past flooded waters, others hydro-planing, and others taking it cautiously.
Kathy, though, was driving down Interstate 74 near Andover in Henry County when she talked with WGIL, and says there's a certain group of drivers that might have been oblivious to the weather.
"I want to get a message out to the truck drivers," Kathy said. "When the cars slow down below 55 (miles per hour), it doesn't give them license to pass us. That creates additional wind. The wind was 50 miles per hour and with the rain, it was a miserable thing. Your windshield wipers can't handle it or anything."
There are no immediate reports of injuries. Ameren's storm total early Friday evening hit 36,000, but had 10,000 restored in just a couple of hours. As of Saturday morning, Ameren had 9,200 customers statewide without power. Galesburg had 509 customers without electrical service, Abingdon 24, Knoxville 32.
To get more storm information from Ameren, CLICK HERE.
(A rainbow appeared over Galesburg Friday evening following the afternoon storms, as seen from the WGIL Studios. WGIL News Story and Photos by Will Stevenson.)
FRIDAY STORM DAMAGE FROM ABINGDON
(Photos courtesy C. Michael Austin.) |
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