Rare December tornadoes reported in central US; 1 dead

Central Illinois residents Monday continued assessing the damage after rare December tornadoes hit, including one that was a half-mile-wide.

At least 20 people were hurt. The severe weather in Illinois was part of a line of thunderstorms that raked areas of the central U.S. late Friday and into Saturday, killing one person in Missouri. The National Weather Service confirmed tornadoes in Illinois, Missouri and Oklahoma.

At least three tornadoes were confirmed in northwest and southwest Arkansas, which largely caused property and structural damage. No injuries or fatalities were reported.

Peak months for tornadoes in much of the Midwest are April and June, according to the weather service. But at least 23 tornado touchdowns on Saturday have been confirmed in Illinois, said Dan Smith, a meteorologist with the weather service's Lincoln, Illinois, office.

That was the most tornadoes in Illinois during a December storm since a Dec. 18-19, 1957, outbreak produced 21, Smith said Monday afternoon. He said that number may grow because crews continue surveying three other sites to determine if storm damage there was also caused by tornadoes.

The weather service sent crews Sunday to survey the hardest-hit areas in Illinois, which included Taylorville, 25 miles (40 kilometres) southeast of Springfield. A survey showed that storm produced estimated peaks winds of 155 mph (249 kilometres per hour).

It said information from emergency management officials indicated 34 homes were severely damaged or destroyed, 66 homes sustained major damage, and 406 homes were damaged but inhabitable in the city of 11,000.

Photographs and video from Taylorville showed several houses flattened, with residents wading into debris to salvage what they could. Some homes remained standing but with gaping holes in the roofs or with no roofs at all.

The tornado was on the ground for around 10 miles (16 kilometres) before it thundered through Taylorville, and the weather service was able to warn residents of its arrival 41 minutes before it actually struck, Chris Miller, a meteorologist at the service's Lincoln office, said in a phone interview Sunday. That advanced warning gave people critical time to take cover and may have saved lives.

A Taylorville Memorial Hospital spokesman said 21 people, from age 9 to 97, arrived for treatment Saturday. Most were released within hours. Miller said three people remained hospitalized as of Sunday afternoon.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner declared Christian County, where Taylorville is located, a state disaster are, makes available various state resources that can help it recover.

The weather service said Sunday that a strong tornado that developed from severe thunderstorms Friday night touched down in Van Buren, Arkansas. It was rated an EF2.

About 10 minutes later, a second weaker tornado was confirmed less than 10 miles (16 kilometres) away near the town of Rudy, Arkansas.

Damage surveys for the two tornadoes are ongoing but officials said dozens of homes were damaged.

Early Saturday morning a third tornado with estimated peak winds of 107 mph traveled about 8.5 miles (13.5 kilometers) through Spring Hill in southwest Arkansas.

Its path was intermittent and mostly caused damage to trees and to some structures.