Straight line winds cause damage in Springfield, 30,000 CWLP customers without power

Damaging straight line winds plunged about half the city of Springfield into darkness Thursday afternoon, felling tree limbs and power lines in the process.

According to City Water, Light and Power officials, outages and damage stemming from the brief but intense storm have been reported throughout the city.

CWLP spokeswoman Amber Sabin said that hundreds of separate outages have been reported throughout its coverage area, leaving more than 33,000 customers without power, with hundreds of power lines being reported down. At its peak, 40,000 customers were without lights.

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Ameren Illinois has reported that over 13,000 customers are currently without power in Sangamon County due to hundreds of outages. Statewide, more than 158,000 customers are currently without power, making up 13.1% of their customers.

About 6,000 customers were without power in Morgan County, west of Springfield.

The volunteer Laborers' Disaster Response Team was deployed by Springfield Police Department to affected areas in Springfield.

Mike Albano, a Meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Lincoln, said it couldn't confirm tornadoes hit either Springfield or Lincoln.

"We're still in the throes of the operation," Albano said, reached shortly after 1 p.m. "We'll start to piece that together over the next couple of hours."

NWS issued a tornado warning for Sangamon County around 12:15 p.m. and expired at 12:30 p.m.

A number of city officials, including Mayor Misty Buscher and Fire Chief Ed Canny, had been part of the Nehemiah Housing addition groundbreaking in the 1900 block of East Kansas Street just before the storm hit.

At 12:17 p.m., NWS received a report of a severe thunderstorm with winds gusting over 60 mph at Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport.

There was a report of a possible tornado being received at 12:18 p.m. one mile northwest of Chatham. The report indicated that trees had been uprooted or snapped and that a tornado was a potential cause.

A storm moved through Bulpitt, 12 miles west of Taylorville, at 50 mph. The warning was later extended to include all of southern Christian County until 1 p.m.

Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell said that there were reports of damage out in the western part of the county near Pleasant Plains and near Mansion and Wesley Chapel roads in Chatham. He said that they had received at least one report of a tree falling through a house on North Milton Avenue and that the Dirksen Parkway viaduct near Peoria Road had flooded and was closed for the time being.

Campbell said that his department had not received any reports of injuries.

There was also widespread wind damage felling large trees and power lines in Menard County, said Ben Hollis, the Menard County chief deputy sheriff.

A tree fell on a car traveling in Petersburg, Hollis said, and power remained out in a significant portion of the county. There were no injuries reported because of the storm, he added.

"All things considered, it could have been much worse," Hollis said.

Officials were prioritizing repairs to get power restored to the largest numbers of CWLP customers as quickly as they can, Sabin said. Workers will start with the transmission and move down to the feeders to get those restored.

"We're stressing patience and safety. We want people to stay indoors and stay off the roads if they can and let us get damage assessment taken care of so we can get the largest safety issues addressed," Sabin said.

Sabin said people do not need to call in to report power outages due to high call volume.

It is recommended that people not attempt to clear trees or other debris from power lines and to treat any line encountered as live, she added. In cases where traffic lights are out, Sabin said that people should treat it as a four-way stop in each direction.

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There were reports of damage to several roofs in the Chatham area, along with tree limbs and branches strewn across the village's roads.

Play was halted at the Memorial Health Championship presented by LRS at Panther Creek Country Club at 11:47 a.m. Thursday before resuming at 4:30 p.m.

All Springfield Park District golf courses will be closed until noon Friday.

"We are also asking that if you have the ability to volunteer a couple hours, we will utilize you to help move small branches and debris from the fairways into piles in the rough so that our maintenance crew can pick them up," said Lance Flury, a PGA professional at Lincoln Greens.

"If you are available, simply show up at the pro shop at any of our courses at 8 a.m. (Friday), and we'll give you instructions on how you can assist."

Sangamon Mass Transit District suspended service at 2 p.m. because of damage strewn on city streets. SMTD was employing smaller vehicles to get passengers on buses to their final destinations. Access Paratransit was also canceling outgoing trips after Thursday's storms.

The Springfield Muni production of "Rock of Ages" was canceled, according to a Facebook message.

Thursday's Levitt AMP Springfield Music Series concert featuring BETTY and UNCHAiNED had already been postponed Wednesday and rescheduled for Aug. 2.

There is a chance of showers or thunderstorms through Sunday, NWS reported.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Straight line winds cause damage in Springfield IL