Hundreds without power after thunderstorm damage

TAZEWELL COUNTY (25News Now) - There are hundreds of people still without power Monday afternoon, from Sunday night storms.

The damage from thunderstorms was seen across central Illinois.

In Washington, some people were unable to go to work after waking up to downed power lines after a tree fell onto them.

“I have not seen it as windy as it was last night, in years. We’ve lost trees before, but I’ve never experienced anything like this,” said Washington resident Mike Brooks.

Brooks says he heard a loud boom Sunday night, then the power went out. Thunderstorms spread throughout the area with about 60 mph winds.

“It was really bad,” said Brooks.

Ameren Illinois says its working to restore power as quickly and safely as possible. Throughout the state, Ameren says it had more than 17,000 outages overnight.

“Pretty much everybody here has generators going right now. Since the tornado here in Washington we’ve learned generators are really nice to have,” said Brooks.

Storm damages spread across Tazewell County, including trees down in Pekin.

“It was rough out here,” said Pekin resident James Stephens.

Stephens woke up to a tree more than 20 ft long covering his street.

“It scared the beejesus out of my dogs,” Stephens continued, “It sounded like hail hitting my porch. It just sounded like someone threw a big bucket of ice right outside my window, but it wasn’t it was the tree.”

While no injuries have been reported in the area from the storm, the aftermath is still visible and far from gone.

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