EDGAR COUNTY, Ill. (WTWO/WAWV) — The National Weather Service confirmed that this past weekend, Edgar County, Illinois was hit with an EF-1 tornado.
The storm left many areas of the county without power. One resident, Nathan Foos, said his building was dark for almost two full days.
“I’d say from Saturday around 2 a.m. until 9:30 pm last night”, Foos said. “We were in the hallways with a bunch of people and had to use the stairs. It was pretty bad.”
Also, at least one GoFundMe has appeared in the area with a different resident. They are asking for help after a tree fell on a home causing severe damage.
Local leaders, such as Emergency Coordinator for Edgar County Jill Taylor, and the National Weather Service examined the area this weekend.
“We did not know until Saturday evening”, Taylor said. “The National Weather Service came, and we went around and showed them some of the damage. Once they got back and looked at the radar and all the damage they collected, they categorized it as an EF-1 tornado with 90 mile per hour winds.”
Local essential businesses lost power as well.
“Walmart is our only grocery store in town”, Taylor said. “It was without power, it finally re-opened at 6 a.m. this morning.”
Monday afternoon, power has been restored to all parts of the county, however, structural damages are continuing to cause issues.
“Lots of cleanup left to do”, Taylor said. “The Ameren crews still have the road closed out here. We are trying to get confirmation on when that will open, 150/Jasper Street. It effects our hospital entrance and some of their clinics weren’t able to open today because that road was still closed.”
Going forward, Edgar County Emergency Management is looking at more ways they can alert citizens during a disaster.
Their goal is to get more residents signed up for their Nixle Alert System. You can register for that system on their website here.
