Power remains out for many, storm cleanup continues

Jun. 30—It was still cleanup time Friday, and will be for some time in some areas, for many residents and businesses after Thursday's storm caused downed trees and other debris to scatter.

Ameren advised there were almost 33,000 customers out of 38,000 in Vermilion County without power after the storms.

Friday morning that number was down to 22,155.

"Ameren has called in extra crews and stationed a materials truck in Danville to work on restoring power. Thus far they do not have an estimate on total restoration, however areas are slowly but surly getting power back," according to Russell Rudd, director with Vermilion County Emergency Management.

Thursday's storm is what the National Weather Service is calling a Derecho event

Several rounds of severe storms moved through central and southeast Illinois on Thursday, June 29. The first round occurred before sunrise and continued into the mid-morning hours, with supercell thunderstorms that produced very large hail and heavy rainfall from Peoria into parts of eastern Illinois, including 3.25" hail in Tuscola.

By later that morning, a large bow echo/derecho that initiated from overnight storms over the central Plains entered west-central Illinois, spreading east-southeast through the entire forecast area by the late afternoon hours. Widespread, significant straight-line wind damage was reported areawide as well as a few tornadoes.

This resulted in a substantial amount of tree damage, crop damage and extensive power outages. The derecho continued to track southeast of here into southern Indiana and points beyond, producing more wind damage. The third and final round was more localized and occurred south of I-70 during the early evening hours when a few supercell thunderstorms produced large hail up to 2" in parts of Clay and Richland counties, according to the National Weather Service.

What is a derecho? A derecho is a widespread, long-lived wind storm that is associated with a band of rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms variously known as bow echoes, squall lines, or quasi-linear convective systems. By definition, if the wind damage swath extends more than 240 miles (about 400 kilometers) and includes wind gusts of at least 58 mph (50 kt) or greater along most of its length, then the event is classified a derecho.

Rudd said Vermilion County experienced the high winds of 70+ mph throughout the entire county.

"The most significant damage is from trees and power lines down. All the county, city and village public works departments worked into late last night just clearing debris from roadways so emergency services personnel could get through. This morning they are starting the clean up of that debris," according to Rudd.

Rudd said they didn't receive any reports of fatalities or injuries connected to the storm.

There was a lot of tree damage at the Camp Drake Boy Scout Camp in Oakwood. Fortunately all the campers and staff made it into a shelter building. A tree fell on the roof of the shelter and they were trapped inside until the fire department responded, but no one was injured, according to Rudd.

Due to Thursday's severe weather and power outages in communities across ImpactLife's service region, ImpactLife lost approximately 70 blood donations from Thursday's expected collections.

This was partly due to closing the Donor Center in Danville (power outage) and blood drive cancellations and missed appointments.

Electrical service was restored at all locations, including the Liberty Lane center in Danville, and the blood center looks for strong performance at collection events to help make up for losses in advance of Fourth of July.

"The days leading up to Fourth of July are critical because we know the rate of blood donation will decrease due to the holiday," said Amanda Hess, vice president, donor relations and marketing. "But the hospitals and communities we serve will continue to use blood components at the same rate for patient care that cannot be delayed."

ImpactLife is currently at a 2.5 day supply for type O negative and O positive red blood cells. Donations from all blood types as well as platelet donations are needed to ensure the stability of our region's blood supply. Donors may schedule appointments by calling (800) 747-5401, online at www.bloodcenter.org, or via the ImpactLife mobile app (www.bloodcenter.org/app).

To thank those who give blood over the holiday weekend, ImpactLife will provide a voucher to redeem for the donor's choice of an electronic gift card or bonus points to use in the blood center's Donor Rewards store. The value of the electronic gift card has been increased to $25 for whole blood donations made at ImpactLife donor center locations through July 4.

ImpactLife is a not-for-profit community organization providing blood services to more than 120 hospitals in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin, as well as resource sharing partners across the country. Services extend from southcentral Wisconsin to St. Louis, Missouri and from Danville, Ill. to Chariton, Iowa.