Likely tornado damages homes in Trenton, downs power lines in Clinton County
A likely tornado hit Trenton Monday evening, leaving at least two homes damaged and lingering power outages.
The National Weather Service St. Louis confirmed a debris field on radar, which indicates the likelihood of a tornado.
Clinton County Acting Chief Deputy Dennis Perez said as of 8:30 p.m. no injuries were reported, but trees fell on two houses and power lines were down near Trenton. The damage followed the same path as a storm that hit last year, he said.
Communications the Clinton County Sheriff’s Department were knocked out by the storm and 911 calls had to be channeled to “a backup location,” according to a statement from Sheriff Dan Travous.
A house south of Trenton on Illinois 160 was “completely destroyed,” according to a BND photographer at the scene. Highway 160 is closed in a rural area just south of Trenton from roughly Mill Road to Highline Road.
The scene remains dark, as 755 households are without power in Clinton County southeast of Carlyle according to the Ameren Outage Map. More than 17,000 Ameren customers were without power throughout the metro-east.
Travous issued a statement late Monday to announce that the 911 dispatch system returned to function, though telephone connects were still down.
“Earlier this evening, areas in Clinton County were struck by severe weather,” the statement said. “We are currently assessing areas we believed to have significant damage, Trenton, Germantown, Beckemeyer, Bartelso, Carlyle and Centralia. Currently, we do not have knowledge of any major injuries or fatalities.
“We will work through the night to assess damage and send emergency support to those in need. During the storm, we lost all communication in our dispatch center and had to transfer all 911 calls to a backup location.”
Likely tornadoes also touched down in Madison County near St. Jacob and Collinsville.
Trees and power lines were reported down in Belleville and throughout St. Clair County.
St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency also surveyed damage in Lebanon, where the storm sheered off part of a steel building.
This story was originally published April 27, 2026 at 9:09 PM.
