Neoga home left damaged by fallen branch during storm

Jun. 29—NEOGA — Several Neoga residents living on Ash Avenue had a frightening experience at approximately 1:30 p.m. Thursday when large branches fell on their homes as a result of the storm that tore through the area.

Nobody was harmed as a result of the incident.

Ronnie Groves and Sara Groves were at Ronnie's house on Ash Avenue with Sara's two young children when a massive branch struck the roof, severely damaging the home — particularly the kitchen, which Ronnie said she recently remodeled.

"My kitchen is destroyed," Ronnie Groves said.

Sara Groves said she had just recently arrived at the home after taking her children to a park in Effingham as she celebrated her birthday, which was also Thursday, before the branch fell.

"I could hear the wind and I said, 'Get in the hallway now,'" Ronnie Groves said.

"Yeah, we just ran with the kids in the hallway," Sara Groves added.

Despite the damage to the house, Sara and Ronnie were able to breathe a sigh of relief as everyone in the house at the time of the incident, including their dogs, made it out unharmed.

"We're all good," Ronnie Groves said. "I can't live here though."

They are particularly grateful for the safety of Sara's children, who are Ronnie's grandchildren, one of whom was in their car seat on top of the kitchen island before the incident occurred.

"We had a 2 1/2-year-old and a 2-month-old in the house with us, too, so it's really scary," Ronnie Groves said.

In addition to the kitchen damage, Sara Groves said a branch also did some damage to the living room, where there are now two holes.

She said this isn't the fist time something like this has happened to the home. However, the damage was never this severe.

"This is the third time trees have fallen on our house," Ronnie Groves said. "This is by far the worst."

The Groves said first responders arrived soon after the branch fell and had their electricity turned off.

Although she will have to leave her home for the time being, Ronnie Groves said she and her family will be able to stay with relatives who already live in the area.

The Groves weren't the only ones in the area who experienced significant damage to their home Thursday.

Around the same time, another branch struck the home directly across the street from them where Peggy Davidson and her granddaughter, Emily Davidson, were watching TV and playing solitaire when the storm began to pick up. Emily alerted her grandmother, saying, "Whoa Grandma! Look!"

Emily Davidson described what she saw out of her grandmother's window as the worst of the storm came through the area Thursday.

"Over there, the sky was dark," Emily Davidson recalled. "A trash can went flying. I saw a blue bucket fly across the road."

Although the branch didn't break through the surface of the roof, it left the home's exterior severely damaged.

According to the Illinois National Weather Service, wind hit the region Thursday with speeds as high as 80 miles per hour recorded near Mattoon and 75 miles per hour recorded in Decatur.

National Weather Service Meteorologist John Bumgardner said there were a significant number of reports of severe weather and damage, including reports of hail from some parts of the state, in a relatively short time frame.

He said storms as severe as the one that hit the area Thursday are somewhat rare.

"It's pretty unusual to have wind damage this widespread and this intense," Bumgardner said. "Even without looking closer at some of the higher-end damage we've heard about, yeah, this is pretty unusual."

The heavy winds caused multiple semi rollovers on Interstate 57 southbound, according to Illinois State Police Troop 7. Traffic was being diverted at the Tuscola exit Thursday afternoon. Minor injuries were reported at the time.

The strong storms also cut power to more than 400,000 customers in Illinois and Indiana, according to the Associated Press.

Nick Taylor can be reached at nick.taylor@effinghamdailynews.com or by phone at 618-510-9226 or 217-347-7151 ext. 300132.