Strong winds, possible tornadoes rip S. Illinois

CARBONDALE -- Thunderstorms packing 100-mph winds and spawning funnel clouds ransacked Southern Illinois Friday, snapping trees, peeling siding off homes and leaving thousands without power, emergency officials said.

A truck driver who had to be extricated from an overturned semitrailer was in serious condition after a "major trauma," said Rosslynd Rice, a spokeswoman for Southern Illinois Healthcare.

About six other patients with minor injuries were being treated at the Memorial Hospital of Carbondale, she said.

"It tore the hell out of things," said Calvin Brown at the Cherry Street Pub in Herrin, a town of about 11,000 residents east of Carbondale. "It was wicked. I haven't seen that in a long time."

Winds blew out car windows, Brown said. It tore roofing from buildings and separated the fiberglass from the pub's sign.

Power outages forced the cancellation of commencement ceremonies Friday at Southern Illinois University's Carbondale campus, said university spokesman Rod Sievers.

"It's just a mess on campus," he said. Power is out, hundreds of trees are down and many dorm windows are broken, he said, but there were no injuries. "We were very lucky," Sievers said.

If power returns, commencement ceremonies scheduled for Saturday will go on as planned.

It was finals week at the school, and many students had left campus because they were finished with tests. Campus will look different when they return, Sievers said.

"We lost huge trees that had been there a hundred years or more," he said.

Carbondale Township Fire Capt. Mark Black said he was not sure if a tornado touched down in his area, but said "the winds were just amazing. They were howling and the siding on the trailers was flying through the air and there was a pretty hard rain."

Law enforcement agencies reported tornado touchdowns in the Jackson County community of Raddle and just south of Pinckneyville in Perry County, National Weather Service meteorologist Amy Seeley said.

Derek Misener of Jackson County's emergency management agency said he suspects his area may have had multiple tornadoes, with "substantial countywide damage and injuries."

Seeley said a strong line of thunderstorms, packing fierce winds, hail and reported tornadoes, began moving through the region Friday morning. Wind gusts in the Carbondale area reached 100 mph around 1:30 p.m., and sustained winds were as high as 90 mph.

Carbondale resident Eric Fidler said he rode out the storm in a basement tornado room with his wife, 22-month-old daughter and their dog.

When they emerged, dozens of large, old trees had been snapped throughout his neighborhood -- including an old oak blocking his front door -- but there was little damage to homes. Even the cushions on his patio furniture were undisturbed.

"I was talking to a neighbor and saying, 'This is just incredible. Everywhere I look, there are enormous trees down, but it missed everybody's house,'" said Fidler, who walked a mile to the hardware store, where he bought the second-to-last chain saw.

Damage was reported in Williamson County and Jackson County, with more reports expected to come in later Friday, said Illinois Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Patti Thompson. Janet George, who answered the phone at the Illinois State Police District 13 office in DuQuoin, said there were reports of storm damage in the seven counties that office handles.

The storm knocked out phone service to much of Williamson County, making it difficult to determine whether there were any injuries, said Charmaine Chenoweth of the county's emergency management agency in Marion.

"There are downed trees, downed power lines, roofs blown off homes and outbuildings," Chenoweth said.

About 52,000 Ameren customers were without power around 3:30 p.m., according to the utility company's Web site.

David Gugerty, 28, a graduate student at Southern Illinois University, said a tree crushed his car and a branch tore through the roof of his trailer, coming to rest atop his refrigerator.

"I'm sitting in the trailer park trying to decide which way to run," Gugerty said.

As the storm approached shortly after 1 p.m., the sky grew dark and the sound of wind swirling filled the air. Trees crashed to the ground outside.

"Every window on the west side of the trailer is covered with wet leaves," Gugerty said.