My hometown... 
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- Residents were cleaning up downed power lines, uprooted trees and blown out windows Monday after storms spawning strong winds tore through central Illinois.
Twenty-four people were treated for minor injuries at area hospitals, and police were searching homes and businesses early Monday to make sure no one was trapped under debris, authorities said.
Springfield Mayor Tim Davlin said the damage was a lot worse in Monday's daylight than he previously thought.
"It's just amazing how devastating it is," Davlin said. "It looks like the pictures we saw a couple months ago after (Hurricane) Katrina."
The storms took the roof off one Springfield Wal-Mart, toppled traffic signals and forced the temporary closing of most major roads into the city.
Two hotels near the Wal-Mart looked like they were under construction after the storm ripped off their roofs and blew out their windows. Utility poles along roadways were snapped like toothpicks, and about 20 trees were uprooted and splintered at a golf course on the city's East Side.
Freda Boyer, a regional manager of Purcell Tire, a Goodyear tire dealer, said she spent the night at her store in case looters tried to break in through the dealership's blown-out windows.
"We'll just clean up, get some estimates, get remodeled and get back in business," Boyer said Monday.
The storm also damaged some state buildings including a five-story Illinois Emergency Management Agency building, which had its roof torn off and top floor flooded, said IEMA spokeswoman Patti Thompson.
About 15,000 customers in the Springfield area remained without power Monday, down from about 65,000 at the height of the storms, Thompson said.
The damage is "pretty widespread, we're not looking at one or two neighborhoods here," she said.
Davlin said his brother's restaurant and bar in the nearby town of Jerome was heavily damaged.
"I had to call him and tell him that his roof was four buildings away," said the mayor, whose brother was out of town during the storm.
All of the public schools and most of the private schools in Springfield canceled classes for Monday.
The storms late Sunday and early Monday made a two-hour journey of destruction through central Illinois, toppling trees, knocking down power lines and blowing roofs off homes.
Meteorologist James Auten of the National Weather Service in Lincoln said Monday that tornado touchdowns had not been confirmed, but that the recorded winds were still capable of doing extensive damage. The weather service sent investigators to Springfield and surrounding areas Monday to examine the damage.
Weather service forecaster Ed Shimon said the storms touched down near the Greene County community Barrow Sunday night and made its way through Scott, Morgan, Logan, Sangamon and DeWitt counties.
"It's a mess over there," said Scott County sheriff's department dispatcher Rosann Lindsey. "A lot of buildings are down."
The storm damage was not confined to central Illinois.
Authorities say high winds ripped roofs off several apartment buildings in the Chicago suburb of Bridgeview, temporarily blocking one expressway. Flooding was reported on the ramps of several other Chicago-area expressways.
National Weather Service meteorologist Tim Halbach said wind gusts of 70 miles per hour were recorded in the southern Chicago suburb of Tinley Park.
The storms also caused flooding in the Quad Cities and knocked out electrical power to many customers in that area.
Police in Rock Island and Moline said they were swamped with calls about flooded intersections and downed power lines late Sunday.
In Randolph County southeast of St. Louis, residents got high winds and a little hail from the outburst early Monday but avoided the severe damage that storms wrought there over the weekend, Sheriff Fred Frederking said.
Frederking said cleanup continued Monday from a reported tornado Saturday night that slammed parts of rural Steeleville, destroying a John Deere dealership, a few mobile homes and several barns.
Several other homes were destroyed, but there were no fatalities, the sheriff said.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- Residents were cleaning up downed power lines, uprooted trees and blown out windows Monday after storms spawning strong winds tore through central Illinois.
Twenty-four people were treated for minor injuries at area hospitals, and police were searching homes and businesses early Monday to make sure no one was trapped under debris, authorities said.
Springfield Mayor Tim Davlin said the damage was a lot worse in Monday's daylight than he previously thought.
"It's just amazing how devastating it is," Davlin said. "It looks like the pictures we saw a couple months ago after (Hurricane) Katrina."
The storms took the roof off one Springfield Wal-Mart, toppled traffic signals and forced the temporary closing of most major roads into the city.
Two hotels near the Wal-Mart looked like they were under construction after the storm ripped off their roofs and blew out their windows. Utility poles along roadways were snapped like toothpicks, and about 20 trees were uprooted and splintered at a golf course on the city's East Side.
Freda Boyer, a regional manager of Purcell Tire, a Goodyear tire dealer, said she spent the night at her store in case looters tried to break in through the dealership's blown-out windows.
"We'll just clean up, get some estimates, get remodeled and get back in business," Boyer said Monday.
The storm also damaged some state buildings including a five-story Illinois Emergency Management Agency building, which had its roof torn off and top floor flooded, said IEMA spokeswoman Patti Thompson.
About 15,000 customers in the Springfield area remained without power Monday, down from about 65,000 at the height of the storms, Thompson said.
The damage is "pretty widespread, we're not looking at one or two neighborhoods here," she said.
Davlin said his brother's restaurant and bar in the nearby town of Jerome was heavily damaged.
"I had to call him and tell him that his roof was four buildings away," said the mayor, whose brother was out of town during the storm.
All of the public schools and most of the private schools in Springfield canceled classes for Monday.
The storms late Sunday and early Monday made a two-hour journey of destruction through central Illinois, toppling trees, knocking down power lines and blowing roofs off homes.
Meteorologist James Auten of the National Weather Service in Lincoln said Monday that tornado touchdowns had not been confirmed, but that the recorded winds were still capable of doing extensive damage. The weather service sent investigators to Springfield and surrounding areas Monday to examine the damage.
Weather service forecaster Ed Shimon said the storms touched down near the Greene County community Barrow Sunday night and made its way through Scott, Morgan, Logan, Sangamon and DeWitt counties.
"It's a mess over there," said Scott County sheriff's department dispatcher Rosann Lindsey. "A lot of buildings are down."
The storm damage was not confined to central Illinois.
Authorities say high winds ripped roofs off several apartment buildings in the Chicago suburb of Bridgeview, temporarily blocking one expressway. Flooding was reported on the ramps of several other Chicago-area expressways.
National Weather Service meteorologist Tim Halbach said wind gusts of 70 miles per hour were recorded in the southern Chicago suburb of Tinley Park.
The storms also caused flooding in the Quad Cities and knocked out electrical power to many customers in that area.
Police in Rock Island and Moline said they were swamped with calls about flooded intersections and downed power lines late Sunday.
In Randolph County southeast of St. Louis, residents got high winds and a little hail from the outburst early Monday but avoided the severe damage that storms wrought there over the weekend, Sheriff Fred Frederking said.
Frederking said cleanup continued Monday from a reported tornado Saturday night that slammed parts of rural Steeleville, destroying a John Deere dealership, a few mobile homes and several barns.
Several other homes were destroyed, but there were no fatalities, the sheriff said.
anastia:
Glad to see you back! 