Greene County, Springfield, Chatham Areas Smacked With Strong Winds

CARROLLTON - Greene County was hit by strong thunderstorm winds and the Fitzgibbons' house in the 1300 block of Sixth Street in Carrollton encountered serious damage.

High winds ripped the home owned by William and Debbie Fitzgibbons just after noon on Thursday.

The Fitzgibbons' home had a pole power knocked down, and the high winds tore guttering, shingles and part of the roof where the electricity box was located.

“My husband, Daniel, was on the phone with William and was telling them they better take cover because of a storm and about that time he said, ‘Oh it is here,’” William’s sister, Lisa Wieneke of Jerseyville, said. “The storm hit them hard."

Ameren Illinois was at the Fitzbiggons location around 5:45 p.m. Thursday, along with an electric company from Jerseyville," Lisa said.

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“They hope to have it restored sometime tonight,” she added.

Ryan Knutsvig, a Lincoln National Weather Service meteorologist, said winds hit areas a few miles outside Springfield hard.

“There were a lot of tree limbs downed,” he said. “Chatham and around Berlin had some of the heaviest damaged through this afternoon.”

Ryan did want to say these were tornado winds but said it appeared 60-70 mph winds hit some of that area and pockets could have been up to 80 mph.

“We will be there on the ground on Friday and determine how high the winds did get and if it was tornado activity.”

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