Winds cause damage west of Jonesboro

JONESBORO, Ill. -- While Southeast Missouri suffered a few blustery hours Thursday, a small unincorporated area of Union County, Ill., sustained severe damage from storms.

High winds ripped down Berryville Road west of Jonesboro, Ill., cutting a mile-long path of destruction through trailers and manufactured homes, said Dana Pearson, emergency service coordinator for Union County.

Pearson said a county worker at about 11 a.m. reported a possible small funnel cloud that, while never touching the ground, could have caused the damage.

"We're fortunate with all those homes they weren't blown over because they're sitting on a hill," he said of the 50 residences left without power and 12 homes damaged by the winds.

Pearson said that in his office, only a quarter-mile away from the scene, there had been no wind at all, only a little lightning and thunder.

Union County Sheriff David Livesay said one elderly man reported being trapped in his house by fallen tree limbs but was uninjured and taken in by relatives to stay until damage to the house could be repaired, he said.

While other homes were damaged, they weren't unlivable, he said.

Beverly Poole, meteorologist heading the Paducah, Ky., National Weather Service office, said a team would be sent out today to assess the storm.

"These storms deserve everybody's attention," she said. "A day near 70 degrees followed by a day in the 30s -- it's that differential that causes storms of this extreme."

That attention includes being prepared for a disaster by knowing who the county emergency service coordinators are and how to reach them, and keeping batteries charged in NOAA, or all-weather, radios. The radios should be kept on especially at night in case of a severe weather warning.

In Southeast Missouri, she said Poplar Bluff, Mo., and Grassy, Mo., reporting pea-sized hail Thursday morning.

A lane on Route 25 at Gordonville in Cape Girardeau County was closed due to a tree knocked over by winds.

carel@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127