[APRIL 19, 2006]
Before another round of wee-hour morning storms
struck Lincoln and south of Lincoln this morning, Logan County had
already chalked up six tornadoes, three supercell storms with
excessive straight-line winds and a blizzard for the year 2006.
Weather spotters and emergency responders were on full alert and
were once again put to the test during this morning's storm, which
struck shortly after midnight. Storm spotters sighted a funnel cloud
south of Lincoln and tracked it for several minutes before being
forced to take cover.
Storm supercells that may yet be determined
as tornadoes touched down, causing scattered damage in three areas:
southwest of Lincoln near the Cilco gas plant, to the south by the
prison, and it is believed that a funnel cloud traveled down
Woodlawn Road, Logan County Emergency Management Agency director Dan
Fulscher said.
Lincoln sirens were sounded, and then the Atlanta and Beason
sirens were sounded as a precaution because the storm cells were
tracking toward those areas, but the cells dissipated before
reaching there, Fulscher said.
The first damage was reported at 12:14 a.m., when a semi-truck
rolled over at mile marker 123 on Interstate 55. A few short minutes
later another report of an overturned semi came in, this one at I-55
mile marker 126, Broadwell. At one site there were actually two
semis rolled over, blocking northbound I-55 traffic. From the three
wrecks, two truckers were injured and taken to the hospital by Logan
County Paramedics.
A car near Lincoln was also reported off the road during the
event.
A couple of homes in the 1300th block of 700th Avenue, southwest
of Lincoln, were heavily damaged. To the east of that area, along
the rail line next to Lincoln Parkway, utility poles supporting
high-tension power lines were downed. There was roof damage to two
of the dorms at the Lincoln Correctional Center. Numerous trees were
affected, and heavy scattered rain caused some temporary spot
flooding, as occurred at Palmer and Oglesby streets in Lincoln.
Power was knocked out to nearly all of Lincoln and several nearby
communities. According to Fulscher the power is back on everywhere.
Once again, as in other recent storms, power lines and the
structures that support them along Business 55 took another hard
hit. It looked like a herd of trucks out on Lincoln's north side
doing repairs last weekend.
Lincoln police and the Logan County Sheriff's Department
patrolled streets, looking for damage and protecting businesses
during the night while the power was out.
The weather watch system connected to the National Weather
Service in Lincoln and the computer system were both taken out
during the storm. The 911 center continued operations using the
backup center.
The Logan County Emergency Management Agency has requested that
anyone experiencing hardship related to any of these storms call to
see if they may qualify for assistance of some sort. Fulscher said
that he would welcome questions from people with needs that resulted
from the storms. Just call the office at (217) 732-9491.
Also, as seen in the last storm, which struck about 12:30 a.m. on
April 14, a couple of farms were struck and animals escaped onto
local roadways. Cows were reported out on Primm Road at 9:18 a.m.
today.
