Area storm brought high winds, damage
May 21—It was just another typical Thursday night for a rural Altamont couple — until the storms came.
Bonnie and Dennis Overton live between Effingham and Altamont, close to Dexter Road.
Bonnie Overton said between 6:30 and 7 p.m. they were watching one of their favorite TV shows when the storm started coming though.
"We were watching 'Wheel of Fortune,' or we were trying to anyway," Overton said. "Then the weather came on."
Overton said she look out front and saw the wind blowing around one of the pine trees in the front yard.
"I said, 'That is exactly what I hate, is that wind," she said.
She walked into the kitchen and peered out the back window. She could see the tree that once stood in the back yard had fallen.
"That is the roots," she said of when she saw at it. "We didn't hear anything."
The Overtons' old Sycamore tree had a close call.
"If it would have fallen three feet to the west it would have destroyed the garage," Dennis Overton said. "If it would have fallen 15 feet the other way it would have fell into the house."
A limb pierced the top of his garage. He said everything in the garage was okay except for a couple of things that fell off a wall.
The Overtons have lived on the property since 1975.
"We've never had anything like that happen," Bonnie Overton said.
Bonnie Overton said the only other thing she could see out the back window was heavy rain.
"When the rain stopped we realized something else," Bonnie Overton said. "Our hay barn was gone."
Dennis Overton looked over the damage Friday afternoon. He said the roof of their hay shed flew 65 feet to the middle of a field next to what used to be the shed. The north wall of the shed was lying just short of the field, while the rest of the shed flew into the field.
Bales of hay were left exposed where the shed used to stand. Another barn about 150 feet away was untouched.
Gusty winds and heavy thunderstorms resulted in only a couple of reports to the National Weather Service in Lincoln.
Alex Erwin, a meteorologist, said there were only a couple of reports of damage in Effingham County.
"We had no confirmed tornadoes in Effingham County," Erwin said.
He said there were was one report of wind damage six miles east-north-east of Altamont with power outages reported and at least one power line down.
Erwin said the was a report of 60 mph wind gust just to the south of Effingham. He said the person who reported the high wind reported a few tree limbs were down.
Strong to severe thunderstorms are expected to continue Saturday afternoon and evening with one-inch hail, damaging winds around 60 mph and lighting hazards, according to the National Weather Service.
Charles Mills can be reached at charles.mills@effinghamdailynews.com or by phone at 618-510-9226 or 217-347-7151 ext. 300126.
