Storm stomps across county

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WALNUT — It might not have been a tornado, but it sure sounded and felt like one.

Terri Peterson and her family were at home when the storm hit about 10:15 p.m. Thursday south of Walnut. The brunt of the storm lasted until a little after 11 p.m.

Watching the storm from her window, Peterson saw lightning hit one of the trees in the yard, cracking off a huge branch. Hail came down in disc-shapes, rather than round balls. For nearly an hour, Peterson, her husband, Jerry, and their family could hear things blowing around outside. She had her family put some cardboard on her window to protect the glass from breaking.

On Friday morning, Peterson looked outside her window to see the damage done by the storm. Branches were down all over, including the one hit by lightning that had fallen onto the Walnut-Wyanet Blacktop in front of her house. Animal cages were tossed 200 feet down the hill, and a wrought iron lawn chair had been moved four feet from its table.

The biggest testament to the strength and fury of the storm was two sliding doors which had been yanked from an old corn bin, Peterson said. Those doors are huge and heavy, she said. One of the doors could been seen about 50 feet away from the bin. She didn’t know where the other door had landed.

“This is by far the worst storm I’ve seen in years,” Peterson said. “I’ve never been so scared in my life from a storm. It roared through here. It sounded like something was stomping the ground and just wouldn’t quit.”

On Friday, Kris Donarski, director of the Bureau County Emergency Services and Disaster Agency, said reports of damage from the Thursday night storm seemed most intense in the northwest corner of the county. The storm damage was primarily downed trees and branches, she said.

Brian Pierce, meteorologist with the Quad Cities National Weather Service, said Illinois and Iowa have been in a very active wet weather pattern since last December. That means a lot of snow last winter and now a lot of rain. Some areas are significantly ahead of precipitation amounts for this time of the year.

The forecast for Bureau County may include more thunderstorms this weekend and also for two or three days next week, the meteorologist said.

“It looks like this wet weather pattern is going to continue for the foreseeable future, at least the next couple weeks,” Pierce said. “More rain is the last thing we need.”

State Climatologist Jim Angel said Illinois has experienced it third wettest January-May since 1895.

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