Tornadoes, Hail, Wind Rake Midwest, Cause Widespread Damage

Severe thunderstorms that churned up tornadoes and hail in Illinois and Ohio raked the Midwest on Thursday, generating winds that injured five campers at Abe Lincoln Campground and flipped house trailers in Missouri.

The night before, tornadoes flattened farmsteads and wrecked mobile homes in Iowa and Wisconsin, and one person was killed.

A tornado hit Vandalia, Ill., on Thursday and dropped hail east of the city. Hail also pelted areas near the Missouri cities of Dittmer and Herculaneum. No injuries were reported.

Authorities said hail damaged cars in northern Webster County, Mo., and broke windows and tore siding from houses in Greenfield, Ill. Thunderstorm winds gusted to 58 m.p.h. at Jefferson City, Mo., and to 60 m.p.h. at Midway, Mo.

In Springfield, Ill., fierce winds Thursday injured five people in mobile homes at the Abe Lincoln Campground, police said. One person hospitalized with facial injuries was reported in fair condition.

“There are a lot of businesses out there that were torn up,” police Officer Robert Crouch said.

The Hampton Inn, where about 140 guests were staying, lost its mansard roof, but hotel officials said no one was injured.

“It was like all of a sudden the wind just came up and it was blowing the glass real hard and you could see parts of the mansard flying through our parking lot,” employee Sherry Flagg said.

A tornado ripped through the Fulton County village of Fayette, Ohio. No injuries were reported, but two walls of a cinder-block building attached to the Fayette Tubular Products Inc.’s main production facility were knocked down, authorities said.

Observers reported seeing cars moved and turned sideways and car windows smashed. The tops of several trees were twisted off, and limbs were torn off several trees, Weather Service officials said.

Violent thunderstorm winds overturned a mobile home with five people inside near Mexico, Mo., but no serious injuries were reported. Large trees fell on homes at Hallsville, Mo., and trees were uprooted at Glasgow, Mo.

A tornado also struck near Ashmore in east-central Illinois.

“We had pretty major damage but no injuries,” meteorologist Therese Nellen said. “It picked up roofs of homes, blew out windows, ripped the sidings from homes and destroyed several horse barns.”

She said two injuries were reported after strong winds struck near Girard, 25 miles south of Springfield, early Thursday. The meteorologist said the winds flipped several trailers and destroyed at least 15 homes.

The Weather Service reported that high winds blew the roofs off several buildings in suburban Westmont, Ill., and knocked out power for thousands of people throughout the Chicago area.

Winds exceeding 55 m.p.h. hit the Lower and Upper peninsulas in Michigan.