At least 1,100 lose power, Collinsville cemetery damaged as storms continue in metro-east

Hundreds of customers were without power Tuesday morning due to severe storms overnight and a Collinsville cemetery was severely damaged.

Six or seven trees were knocked down at St. John's Cemetery in Collinsville, crushing memorial benches and gravestones, cemetery superintendent Bill Yanousek said.

"It looks like a bomb went off," he said. "It was kind of shocking. People are worried their stones damaged."

Yanousek said he did not know yet how many memorials were damaged.

The storm uprooted a Bradford Pear tree and a Crab Apple tree, he said. An Ash tree was split in half.

Other areas in Collinsville also had severe storm damage, especially in the southwest area, Assistant City Manager Derek Jackson said. The Jaycee Sports Complex had multiple trees down and a power outage and many trees and limbs were knocked down on St. Louis Road.

Jackson said Fire, Police, Public Works and Ameren officials were working on storm damage and restoring power in the area.

"We're in reaction mode and making sure everything is fixed," Jackson said.

A lightening strike from Tuesday morning’s storm struck a traffic control device at Green Mount just south of the Interstate 64 overpass. O'Fallon Police were asking motorists to avoid the area.

“The entire intersection is out,” said Capt. James Cavins of the O’Fallon Police Department, of the intersection at Green Mount Road and Central Park Drive. Shiloh Police are on scene and O’Fallon is assisting, Cavins said.

According to Ameren's power outage map, about 1,100 people in St. Clair and Madison Counties still did not have power as of Tuesday morning. Most of the outages were near Caseyville, Centreville and Collinsville.

About 120 people also did not have power near Aviston.

At about 8 p.m. Monday night, a severe thunderstorm warning was issued for the area.

Severe storms continued into Tuesday morning with large hail reported in some areas and damaging winds up to 60 mph, according to the St. Louis National Weather Service.

More storms are expected to develop Tuesday afternoon into Tuesday evening, NWS reported. These storms also have the potential to become severe with high winds and large hail up to size of quarters.

This story was originally published June 26, 2018 at 7:43 AM with the headline "At least 1,100 lose power, Collinsville cemetery damaged as storms continue in metro-east."