The tornado touched down after 5 p.m. CDT on Sunday, June 22, in northeastern Jefferson County, south of Mount Vernon, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. The two victims, whose names were not released, were found in separate homes destroyed by the storm. Five other residents were transported to area hospitals with injuries described as non-life-threatening.
At least three homes were destroyed by 9 p.m. CDT, and at least three roads were closed due to downed trees across the county.
The storm system that produced Sunday’s tornadoes generated at least 13 reports of tornadic activity or damage, the Weather Prediction Center said. Scott Kleebauer, a meteorologist with the Prediction Center, cautioned that the figure does not represent 13 distinct tornadoes. “That doesn’t mean that it’s 13 different tornadoes,” Kleebauer said. “Some of them are probably from the same tornado, but still, 13 is pretty significant across one small area of Illinois.”
Tornado warnings extended into southern and central Indiana as the system moved east. A separate tornado was reported in Marion County, Illinois, after 6 p.m. CDT, traveling east at about 35 mph.
The National Weather Service has not yet classified the strength of the tornadoes. In a statement, the agency reported that at least one tornado was deemed “extremely dangerous.”
The outbreak follows a pattern of severe weather across the Midwest this month. Earlier in June, a storm system produced more than 20 tornadoes across Illinois and northwestern Indiana. On June 12, a tornado killed one person in the Midwest and knocked out power for nearly 500,000 residents, MSI previously reported.