Severe storms moved across parts of central Illinois the morning of Wednesday, June 17th, mainly impacting areas north of Interstate 72.
As the day continued, leftover boundaries from those morning storms helped create the conditions for another round of strong to severe thunderstorms on Wednesday afternoon and evening, especially between the I-72 and I-70 corridors.
Those storms produced multiple reports of tornadoes, widespread damaging wind gusts reaching around 80 miles per hour, large wind-driven hail up to three inches in diameter, and localized flash flooding.
According to the National Weather Service (NWS), there are currently 7 total confirmed tornadoes associated with Wednesday's storms. The town of Pawnee saw an EF-0, while the towns of Springfield, Blue Mound, Bethany, and Grove Township all saw EF-1 tornado activity. The two towns in Illinois hit the hardest during Wednesday’s round of severe storms were Charleston and Effingham.
The Charleston and Mattoon area was affected by an EF-2 tornado, causing widespread damage around Charleston. Effingham saw an EF-3 tornado, which did substantial damage to homes, businesses, and even caused the total loss of the Mid America Corvette Museum in Effingham.
More damage reports and additional details from this line of storms are still being investigated, and the NWS will release any additional details later this week.
For further details on these and any other severe weather events, visit www.weather.gov and click on Storm Reports.
Stay up to date with local severe weather updates and more online at taylorvilledailynews.com.
