Christian County Slammed by Two Twisters in Five Weeks

BY DANIEL GRANT FarmWeek

It’s been proven lightning can indeed strike the same place twice, and that’s obviously the case when it comes to tornadoes as well. Just ask some of the weather-weary rural residents of Christian County, who were pummeled by a tornado Aug. 6 rated as an EF-2 with windspeeds near 125 mph, according to the National Weather Service (NWS) Lincoln office.

The long-track tornado, which was on the ground nearly an hour, cut a path between Springfield and Taylorville. Ironically, it followed nearly the same path as an EF-1 tornado, which was embedded in the widespread derecho event, June 29.

“It’s pretty crazy they went back to back like that,” Alec Myers, manager of the Christian County Farm Bureau in Taylorville, told FarmWeek. “There were a lot of people in the path who still had stuff getting repaired from the first one. Then, here it comes again Sunday (Aug. 6) and we’re back to square one. I’ve never seen anything like that."

The Myers family operates a farm with 50 head of beef cattle north of Taylorville, off Route 29 near Sharpsburg, that sustained damage to outbuildings, fence and trees from both twisters. Other neighboring farms suffered more extensive damage to homes and outbuildings.

“Where a lot of that happened is where our family farm is at,” Myers said. “We were right in the middle of it. “It’s odd. We were just picking up the pieces from the first one,” he continued. “But I can certainly say our family got lucky more than once. It could’ve been worse.”

The recent series of stormy weather continues a very active severe weather season in Illinois, on the heels of widespread drought in June. The state had already experienced 125 tornadoes this year, the third-most on record, prior to the recent outbreak that hit Christian County among other locations.

“It’s been hot and dry around here, so we were thankful for the rain,” Myers said. “But, at what cost?”

Resilient residents affected by both tornadoes in Christian County were already back out cleaning up debris from the second one last week.