Storm leaves damage in La Salle, Bureau, Putnam counties

Scattered tree limbs, utility wires and some poles were downed across La Salle, Bureau and Putnam counties Monday night after storms with wind gusts as high as 60 to 70 mph passed through the region.

A large tree snapped and fell in the direction of a house in the 700 block of Guthrie Street in Ottawa. The power pole also snapped, according to reports. A utility pole at Pat’s Pore Liquor on the 100 block of South Bloomington Street in Streator had collapsed into a parking lot.

Following an afternoon that had high temperatures reach the 90s and a heat index above 100, storms rolled through the region from about 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. A tornado warning was issued for Bureau and Putnam counties after the National Weather Service said the storm had embedded rotation.

Did a tornado touch down in either Putnam or Bureau county? The National Weather Service isn’t sure yet.

Brian Pierce, a meteorologist for the NWS Quad Cities office, said Tuesday the only confirmed tornadoes in his region were in Davenport -- investigations are underway in Mercer and Henry counties, too -- and that the siren was activated in Putnam and Bureau counties because the radar detected some rotation.

“Whether or not anything touched the ground we cannot confirm at this time,” Pierce said. “We will probably be working on this another day or so because this was a pretty big event.”

The storm was just less than 24 hours after a Sunday night into Monday morning storm led to damage in some Illinois Valley communities, including communities in Marshall, Putnam and northern Livingston counties.

About 4,000 ComEd customers were without power as of 4 a.m. Tuesday in La Salle, Putnam and Marshall counties, and about 400 Ameren Illinois customers were without power in La Salle, Bureau and Putnam counties as of 4 a.m. Tuesday.

The ComEd outage map can be found at https://outagemap.comed.com/; and Ameren outage map at https://outagemap.ameren.com/

The region is expected to get some relief from the heat with highs backing down into the 80s the rest of the week.