Local News

Tornadoes, Hail Cause Damage in Montgomery County

Tue, 04 Dec 2018 08:52:51 CST

Some Montgomery County residents spent the last few days cleaning up damage caused by multiple tornadoes that ripped through the county Saturday evening.

According to County Emergency Management Agency Coordinator Greg Nimmo, there were approximately five tornadoes and multiple funnel clouds located in the county during the storm cell that passed thru on Saturday. Some residents also reported receiving hail as large as three inches in diameter. Nimmo said that two homes were destroyed, four sustained major damage, eighteen were damaged but inhabitable, two commercial buildings sustained major damage, and multiple bins, outbuildings and sheds were destroyed or damaged.

The most powerful of the tornadoes that passed through Montgomery County registered as an EF-2, which contained wind speeds between 110 and 137 miles per hour. Nimmo said that only one injury was reported in the county during the storm, which occurred during a motor vehicle accident on Interstate 55 near Raymond.

Due to damage caused by the storm, the Montgomery County Government Complex and offices in Hillsboro experienced phone outages. Nimmo said that the tornado ended up damaging some switching equipment from New Wave Communications that county phones route through. The phones, however, are back up and running now.