Yesterday’s storms may not have spent much time in Knox County, but the damage left behind is apparent.
Clean up crews are picking up debris throughout Galesburg and residents are assessing damage after yesterday’s thunderstorms and 60 mph winds.
At the Beecher Avenue home of Mark Byerly and his wife, Lorrie, a 200-year-old oak tree came down, tearing into the family’s, home and damaging their next-door property.
Mark tells WGIL he believes the tree was one of the oldest — if not the oldest — oak tree in town.
“I was here just watching because the wind was starting to blow real bad,” Mark says. “All of a sudden, I heard a big bang. And that tree twisted and came apart in three pieces. If it hadn’t twisted, the way that tree was situated, it would have got the whole side of the house.”
As of this morning, the Byerlys said they were still without power, but had a backup generator.
Yesterday’s storms left more than 10,000 Ameren customers without power and a handful of outages continued into today.
According to a city press release, downed limbs were mainly north of Main Street. Starting next Monday, city crews will pick up tree limbs set at residents’ curbs north of Main. Pickup should be completed by Friday.
