East Central Illinois spared major damage from Friday night storms

There was a lot of sound and fury with storms that blew through East Central Illinois late Friday night but apparently little property damage.

High winds and heavy rain that rocked the Springfield area around 8:30 p.m. appeared to have weakened as storms worked their way north and east.

Emergency Management Agency directors in Iroquois, Ford, Piatt, Champaign, Douglas and Vermilion counties report no significant damage other than branches down. There was a church fire in Danville early Saturday that may have been caused by a lightning strike.

Champaign County sheriff's police reported a car hydroplaned off a county road north of Champaign at 10:45 p.m. and ended up in a ditch but the driver was not injured.

"We skated," said Douglas County EMA Director Joe Victor, who said he's not gotten any calls about flooding in the usually vulnerable areas of his county like Villa Grove.

Vermilion County EMA Director Ted Fisher reported a couple of downed trees by Hoopeston and said a firefighter in Rankin reported 1-inch hail between 11 p.m. and midnight.

Some of the low-lying roads in Iroquois County, near Milford and Watseka, had water across them. But no serious flooding was reported.

Sugar Creek at Milford and the Iroquois River in both Illinois and Indiana are being monitored. Advisories are likely thru the latter part of the week.

94.1 FM, WGFA