MACKINAW - Daylight Thursday showed little damage in the wake of the two confirmed tornadoes and numerous funnel cloud sightings reported during Wednesday night's storms. | See user-submitted photos | Soggy Clinton plans for possible evacuations
A tornado destroyed a cattle barn north of Gridley. A previous tornado touched down twice in eastern Tazewell County, but there was no property damage, officials said. | Got a great storm photo? Submit it
No injuries were reported in the storms.
While the barn near Livingston County roads 400 East and 1200 North was destroyed just after 8 p.m., no cattle were harmed, said Kathy Ellis, director of Gridley's Emergency Services and Disaster Agency. Ellis said debris was visible in nearby fields.
Some power lines in that area also were knocked down, she said, but no significant, lasting power outages reported.
"Right now we are still trying to figure out if we had one or two tornadoes, but definitely one for sure," Ellis said Thursday.
Matt Barnes, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Lincoln, said a tornado touched down briefly about 2½ miles northeast of Mackinaw about 7:20 p.m. It lifted and touched down again about 7:25 p.m. four miles northeast of the town, he said.
During the second touchdown, the tornado stayed on the ground about 18 minutes, crossing just into McLean County and then into Woodford County, Barnes said. It lifted about 1½ miles south-southeast of Congerville, he said.
The tornado moved mostly through fields and uprooted trees, and there were no reports of structural damage.
"It was out in some fields," said Bill Nowlin, coordinator for Tazewell County Emergency Services and Disaster Agency. "It came down and went back up several times."
Wednesday night's storms brought relatively little rain.
Congerville received about 0.9 of an inch of rain, Eureka received 0.6 of an inch and Clinton received about 0.1 of an inch. Dwight, Fairbury and Bloomington-Normal each received less than a tenth of an inch.
Today may be a different story because forecasts for the area call for rain and thunderstorms, some of which could be severe, mostly after 1 p.m. Saturday's forecast also calls for rain and thunderstorms, but the chance drops from 60 percent today to 40 percent Saturday.
"I've been watching the weather and don't see anything threatening right now," Ellis said Thursday. "I'm not necessarily going to say that there is going to be nothing, but we will be ready for tomorrow."
Jerry McDowell and Ryan Denham contributed to this report.
Posted in News on Thursday, June 5, 2008 12:00 am Updated: 11:25 am.
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