National Weather Service confirms a third tornado struck the metro-east last week
The National Weather Service has confirmed a third tornado struck the metro-east during last week’s severe storms.
This one was in Lebanon Township in St. Clair County, near the border of Madison County. It caused little damage, according to an agency Twitter post.
The tornado was described as a “brief EF-0” tornado east of Summerfield Street and St. Jacob Road. “The tornado tracked NNE over a residential property, doing damage to trees on the property,” the weather service stated. “The tornado then continued NNE through a row of trees before lifting.”
The tornado, up to 50 yards wide, touched down about 5:45 p.m. and traveled about three-tenths of a mile. Maximum sustained winds were estimated at 85 mph.
The National Weather Service in St. Louis said it confirmed two other tornadoes formed in the metro-east during the storms Thursday.
An EF1 tornado that traveled from Clinton County into south Bond County, slightly damaged a home and garage but caused heavier damage to a machine shed, grain bin and other structures on a farm, said Jayson Gosselin, a meterologist for the National Weather Service in St. Louis.
With winds up to 110 mph, the tornado touched down at 5:57 p.m. on Jamestown Road north of Breese and continued northeast roughly 17 miles before lifting near the southern outskirts of Greenville at 6:16 p.m., according to the National Weather Service. No one was injured.
The third metro-east tornado touched down just south of Interstate 64 east of Okawville at 5:53 p.m., damaging some farm outbuildings and wheat fields, according to the weather service. It crossed Canary Road and I-64, traveling 1.7 miles before lifting near Route 177A at 5:54 p.m., just one minute after it touched down. Estimated peak winds hit 85 mph.
The weather service announced Saturday that it had confirmed a total of eight tornadoes passed through the St. Louis and metro-east regions in a less than two-hour period on Thursday.
Storms hit southwestern Illinois around noon Thursday and again in the evening. Strong winds and heavy rain downed power lines and trees limbs and damaged buildings. No injuries were reported.
Damages were reported throughout the area, including the Faith Baptist Church on East Main Street in Belleville, where winds blew the roof off of one of its buildings.
Elsewhere in southern Illinois, a 26-mile long tornado with winds up to 115 mph was reported in Wabash County, where it caused some damage but no injuries, The Associated Press reported. It touched down in Keensburg.
Reporters Kelsey Landis and Mike Koziatek, photojournalist Derik Holtmann and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story was originally published May 22, 2022 at 1:57 PM.