Confirmed Tornado Damages Homes, Power Lines in the Altamont, St. Elmo Areas

Published on November 17 2013 1:59 pm
Last Updated on November 18 2013 6:27 am
Written by Wayne Moran

If you have storm damage photos you'd like to share, please email them to wayne@thexradio.com

The Effingham County Sheriff's Department has confirmed that a tornado touched down in the Altamont area, as it moved from Fayette to Effingham County Sunday afternoon.

The Sheriff's department released the path of the tornado, saying it crossed route 128 near 1100th Ave, damaging a house on 128 just south of 1100th Ave. The tornado continued on and struck a house at 1300th Ave and 200th St. There are no reports of serious injury in our area.

Several listeners on our Facebook page tell us they spotted a tornado near Altamont. Several homes and other structures are reported to be damaged, including this home near St. Elmo that listener Ted Rhodes sent us a picture of.

Another report from northeast of St. Elmo indicates that a mobile home was severely damaged or destroyed, as well as another home in an area north of Route 128. Many residents in and around the St. Elmo and Altamont area are without power. There are also multiple reports of damaged homes and power lines from Altamont to Shumway.

This photo comes from Fayette County. There was a mobile home behind this deck, before it was destroyed by a tornado.

Widespread power outages remain an issue in many parts of centrail Illinois. Ameren Illinois has an outage map for customers, located here. Norris Electric's outage map is located here.