LINCOLN - Parts of Central Illinois was under a new severe thunderstorm watch Friday, with the weather service's forecast calling for damaging winds and heavy rains. | Photo gallery | Send your photos | Five-day forecast

Woodford, Livingston, LaSalle, Iroquois and Ford counties are under a severe thunderstorm watch until 3 p.m., the National Weather Service reported. Damaging winds will be the greatest threat, NWS reported, along with the potential for some large hail.

In the Twin Cities, Friday's forecast called for some rain and a high near 90 degrees.

The weather service's Lightning Safety Awareness Week begins Sunday.

Thursday's noisy storm

A quick, noisy storm swept across Central Illinois early Thursday, bringing winds approaching 80 mph, knocking out power for thousands of Ameren customers and causing headaches for motorists.

In Bloomington, a home on Pebblebrook Court at Fox Creek was hit by lightning in the storm that hit about 5 a.m., eventually sparking a fire in the attic, said Assistant Fire Chief Gary Sushka.

In LeRoy, where tree debris blocked several streets, Dave and Jill Warren lost their Lexus when an already-cracked tree outside their Mill Street home was knocked down by the strong winds.

The tree smashed the rear the car and blew out a tire and some windows, Dave Warren said. The car was totaled, he said, but LeRoy city officials told him city insurance will cover the damage because it was a city tree.

"We've got bedrooms facing that side of the house," Warren said. "It could've been much worse."

About 40,000 Ameren customers in Illinois, mostly along a band from just east of Peoria through Galesburg to the Mississippi River, were left without power in the immediate aftermath of the storm. By 7:30 a.m. Friday, that number was reduced to about 7,600, according to the Ameren Web site.

About 1,000 Lincoln customers lost power but were reconnected later Thursday.

"As a result of 80-mile-per-hour and greater winds, we have broken poles and downed electrical lines in the areas hit by … (Thursday's) storms," said Bill Prebil, Ameren Illinois Utilities vice president of Regional Operations, in a statement issued Thursday.

Corn Belt Energy Corp. reported no outages as of Thursday evening.

Rainfall totals

Thursday morning's storms brought 1.10 inches of rain at Central Illinois Regional Airport, Bloomington, said National Weather Service meteorologist Chris Geelhart.

Just west of town, a weather spotter reported 1.45 inches, Geelhart said.

South of the Twin Cities, Clinton received 1.65 inches of rain, Lincoln had just over an inch and Farmer City had nearly 2.5 inches, Geelhart said.

Communities west of Bloomington-Normal received anywhere from an inch to 1.5 inches, he said, while the Peoria area only received about 0.6 of an inch.

Ryan Denham, Mary Ann Ford, Edith Brady-Lunny, Steve Smedley, Patti Welander and Roger Miller contributed to this report.