Roof blown off of Belleville church building. Power outages reported across metro-east
Thousands were without power Thursday evening after a thunderstorm passed through the metro-east, downing trees and power lines and blowing the roof off of a Belleville church building.
No injuries were reported.
Strong winds tore the roof off of a building owned by Faith Baptist Church on East Main Street in Belleville. The building houses church offices and Sunday school classrooms.
Debris from the destroyed roof was strewn about behind the building, in the alley, in nearby lots and on parts East A Street.
Power lines also were knocked down, and a nearby building that houses the church’s Law & Grace Ministries on East A Street was also heavily damaged. Law & Grace provides a number of services to people in the community, including a food pantry.
Senior Pastor Rick Koonce and Pastor Emeritus Scott Baker, along with several other church members, stood in a lot between East Main Street and East A Street and surveyed the damage.
Koonce and his family were eating dinner when he received a call from another church member. Koonce said the caller told him: ``I just wanted you to know the roof of our church is in the back parking lot. I just wanted you to make sure you were aware of that.”
The high winds struck the church property around 6:30 p.m. ``It lifted the roof off and threw it in the parking lot. Air conditioning units, everything,” Baker said.
Church members were checking Thursday night to see if any of Faith Baptist’s other buildings were damaged.
No injuries were reported.
Meanwhile, Ameren Illinois reported over 8,000 customers had lost power in the wake the thunderstorm.
There were 4,020 customers who lost power in St. Clair County, 3,093 in Randolph County, 443 in Madison County, 269 in Monroe County, 131 in Bond County and 102 in Clinton County, Ameren reported Thursday night.
The St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency has received reports of trees and powerlines down in multiple areas including Belleville, Freeburg, Mascoutah, Lebanon, Caseyville, Shiloh, St. Libory and Swansea.
A tornado warning had been issued for northwestern St. Clair County, but that warning expired at 5:45 p.m. Thursday.
A tornado watch remained in effect for 9 southern Illinois counties until 11 p.m. The counties are: The nine counties under a tornado watch are St. Clair, Madison, Monroe, Randolph, Bond, Clinton, Fayette, Marion and Washington.
This story was originally published May 19, 2022 at 6:41 PM.
