As predicted, severe weather barreled through the St. Louis region Friday night, producing at least one tornado, bringing heavy winds, large hail and torrential rainfall and leaving many area residents without power.

The leading wall of this massive storm cell began to cross the river into Monroe County just before 10 p.m., overturning a semi tractor-trailer at the Jefferson Barracks Bridge deck on I-255 in St. Louis County. Within minutes, the county began to be pummeled, causing damage and knocking out power to thousands of residents.

On Tuesday, National Weather Service officials confirmed an EF-1 tornado began just east of the Mississippi River and continued northeast through Monroe County, ending nearly five miles into St. Clair County. 

Monroe County EMA Director Kevin Scheibe toured the county with NWS officials, noting the major damage areas along the path of the tornado were in Old Valmeyer, the Sterritt’s Run Subdivision near North Moore Street and HH Road in Waterloo and the northeast corner of the Lou Dell Subdivision along Route 3 near Warren Drive.

The tornado began in the area near B Road just west of Old Valmeyer at 9:52 p.m., continuing northeast through the north end of Waterloo and along a path in rural Waterloo between Coxeyville Road and Country Club Lane before crossing into St. Clair County and ending at 10:10 p.m.

This tornado traveled 14.7 miles and was 275 yards wide with a maximum wind speed of 100 miles per hour, according to NWS statistics released Tuesday.

Scheibe said the twister also touched down on Deer Hill Road north of Foster Pond and on Bohleysville and Keim roads in western St. Clair County. However, no homes or buildings are in those areas, eliminating any structural damage at those points.

The tornado ended after continuing 4.8 miles into St. Clair County near Lower Saxtown Road, just east of Floraville Road near Oak Ridge Farm Equestrian in rural Millstadt. No damage was reported to buildings or stables at the Oak Ridge facility.

While the tornado was confirmed Tuesday, Scheibe said there is still the possibility of a tornado being confirmed in Columbia. As of press time, NWS officials said Columbia was hit with straight-line winds in the 70-80 miles per hour range, but Scheibe said the NWS will investigate a possible tornado at Sackman Air Field near Bluff Road in Columbia. A determination is expected sometime Wednesday.   

Also on Tuesday, the National Weather Service noted an EF-2 tornado which began near Pacific, Mo., continued northeast through Arnold and may have passed over the Mississippi River into the extreme northern tip of Monroe County.

Power outages

The Monroe County Electric Co-Operative reported early Saturday morning that Friday night’s storm knocked out numerous transmission poles, affecting multiple feeds to MCEC’s substations.

“These broken poles and downed lines have taken out our Waterloo, North Waterloo, Fountain, Poe, Columbia and Fults substations,” MCEC stated in a Facebook post.

Shortly after 9 p.m. Saturday, MCEC reported power had been restored to its substations, meaning the majority of outages had been restored, although Scheibe said earlier in the day that it could be as much as 24 hours before the county is entirely restored.

“We are still working to repair a few broken poles in certain areas,” MCEC stated. “Those affected locations remain without power but we have crews there working to get power restored as quickly as possible.”

Power and internet were restored to most Columbia residences by early Saturday afternoon, although cellular service remained spotty into the evening.

In Waterloo, the generators at the power plant were brought online, keeping businesses open and lights on for residents.

“The recent storms and the resulting power outages posed significant challenges for our community, but I am proud to report that our Public Works team rose to the occasion, demonstrating remarkable dedication and professionalism. This report highlights the efforts of our team members and partners, who worked tirelessly to restore services, ensure safety, and mitigate further disruptions,” said Waterloo Director of Public Works J.R. Landeck.

“The combined efforts of the Public Works team, with the support and coordination with our partners: the City of Waterloo Police Department, Waterloo Fire District, Monroe County Electric Co-Op, Monroe County Sherriff’s Department, Monroe County Emergency Management, Certop Inc., VIPower, the Village of Valmeyer and the Illinois Municipal Electric Agency ensured that we were able to respond efficiently and effectively to these unprecedented conditions,” Landeck continued.

He added that Waterloo “lost all three of Ameren’s transmission feeds, essentially isolating us,” further thanking the city’s line crew and power plant crew for their “pivotal” role in getting power restored.

“Through their swift and decisive actions, we were able to begin generating our own power within an hour of the outage and run our power plant for an impressive 22 hours. This ensured that vital services and systems remained operational and safe during the outage, minimizing the impact on residents and businesses,” Landeck added.

Valmeyer village residents were without power overnight until about 11 a.m., when electricity began coming back online.

In the far southern portions of the county, some residents in the Fults area lost power Friday afternoon due to downed, burning power lines. Service is gradually being restored through Saturday evening and into the night.

Several places in Old Valmeyer and along Bluff Road to the south are still without power, but Scheibe said windy conditions Tuesday were helping to dry out fields to make repairs possible. He also reported seeing about 30 public works and utility vehicles in the Bottoms area.

“They’re out there,” Scheibe said, explaining that repairs will be made, but the amount of damage caused by these storms has slowed down progress in some areas.

The Rock City Complex in Old Valmeyer, which houses over $8 million in refrigerated food product, was still without power, Scheibe reported to commissioners during Monday’s meeting of the Monroe County Board. 

Scheibe added that Rock City developer Joe Koppeis said the food would be lost if power was not restored by noon Monday. Power was not expected to return to the complex at 2 p.m. Monday, so Scheibe said he was going to take a generator to Rock City on Monday morning to power the freezers and prevent further loss. On Tuesday afternoon, Scheibe told the Republic-Times that power was still not back at Rock City, but the complex was “up and running” with the use of county-provided generators.

Damage reported across county

In Columbia, a number of homes in the Columbia Lakes subdivision, on the northern edge of Columbia, sustained major hail damage, with broken windows and heavily damaged siding. In addition, Bluff Road from Valmeyer Road to DD Road was closed for a time due to debris at Sackman Field airport but has since reopened. The roof of a hangar was also damaged during the storms.

In Waterloo, several large utility poles were downed by high winds along Route 3 between HH and GG roads, resulting in a full closure of Route 3 in that area and a detour onto GG or HH roads west to North Moore Street.

About a dozen utility trucks worked throughout the day to clear the downed poles and transfer the wires, Scheibe said.

According to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department, MCEC began reopening all lanes of Route 3 traffic at about 8:45 p.m.

Scheibe said much of the damage in Waterloo was most likely due to straightline winds, which he said were measured reaching 82 miles per hour.

Additional damage in Waterloo included a boat dock from a property on North Moore Street in Waterloo blown over and mangled.

The City of Waterloo said it will begin assisting with limb pickup starting Monday.

“Please place any tree limbs at the curb or the edge of the pavement for collection,” the city stated in a Facebook post. “To ensure a smooth process, keep piles easily accessible and close to the curb or edge of the roadway, and avoid blocking sidewalks, driveways, or roadways.”

Pickup will continue through March 26. Call 618-939-8600 for more information.

In old Valmeyer, the home dugout of Borsch Park, home to the Valmeyer Lakers, was completely destroyed by the storm. There was other damage around the park grounds, including downed limbs.

Elsewhere in Valmeyer, a few homes on West Hunters Ridge sustained damage from high winds, and several homes on the west side of the village had broken windows and damage to roofs, Scheibe said.

The Valmeyer High School softball field also sustained major damage, with the bleachers blown into the backstop.

“Home opener will be a little delayed,” the VHS softball team posted on Facebook.

The Village of Valmeyer posted on Facebook that there are two dumpsters available for residents to discard construction/house debris.

“For trees and limbs, please place in a neat pile on the sidewalk near the street and the village employees will pick up over the next couple of weeks,” the village said.

Fortunately, through it all, no injuries have been reported in Monroe County.

“All of that can be replaced,” Scheibe said of the damage reports. “People can’t. We were blessed that noboby got hurt. The majority of this community listened to the warnings and prepared, and for that I’m thankful.”

The Monroe County EMA said it has started procedures for a disaster declaration for all of the county due to this severe weather event.

Any resident who sustained damage due to the storm or its resulting power outages should email ema@monroecountyil.gov with details.

During Monday evening’s Columbia City Council Meeting, City Administrator Doug Brimm advised Columbia residents living in St. Clair County that he would be reaching out to that county’s EMA director regarding submitting storm information and will provide updates when he learns more.

Columbia Alderman Mary Ellen Niemietz thanked city officials for identifying and correcting a problem with the city’s emergency alert system prior to Friday’s storms.

Brimm pointed out that CPD Sergeant and Columbia EMA Director Josh Bayer was in charge of coordinating the repairs.

“You jumped on the malfunction on our emergency warning system immediately, got everything up to date, got everything repaired, and how many hours later did we need it,” Niemietz noted.

“I appreciate that so much. I’m sure the citizens of the area appreciate it,” she continued. “The warnings meant business, and everybody knew this was not going to be something to laugh at. Thank you for your prompt response. I would like to think it saves lives.”

Columbia Mayor Bob Hill also advised residents to be wary of solicitors in the area who are seeking repair work. He added that payment should not be made to any contractors during an initial visit, and that all contractors should be registered with the State of Illinois.

Businesses may be verified at illinois.gov/business.html.

County commissioners passed a disaster declaration for Monroe County on Monday morning, and Scheibe added he will present similar declaration requests for the cities of Columbia and Waterloo and the villages of Valmeyer and Hecker. 

He noted the closures of Route 3 and Bluff Road will likely require more funding for the respective road districts as GG Road in Waterloo especially was not constructed to handle the amount and type of traffic it experienced during the Route 3 closure.

Also during the meeting, Scheibe said a conflict between the Illinois Department of Transportation and Ameren led to Monroe County stepping in to officially close Route 3, further limiting resources. He said the incident will be brought up during a post-event meeting.

The City of Waterloo thanked Waterloo Police Chief Dane Luke and Waterloo officers for mediation during this disagreement between IDOT and Ameren.

The county and municipal emergency departments fielded a total of 96 calls on Friday, although Scheibe said many calls were related to the flurry of pre-storm fire calls throughout the county.  

Winds picked up throughout Friday afternoon, resulting in a busy time for fire departments handling a variety of calls, from brush fires to downed power lines and trees blown onto roadways. 

Read more about the busy afternoon for local firefighters on page 4A.

Scheibe said the weather event, as reported to state agencies, began when high winds were reported, which was 1 p.m. Friday.

Of the 96 total calls, 34 were fire calls, Scheibe said. Of the five Maeystown Fire Department calls, all were related to a fire near Sutterville Road. 

Many of the 24 EMS calls in the county were due to medical equipment losing power during the storms, with some people needing to be transported to area hospitals.