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ALTON REGION - The Alton area was hit hard by strong straight-line winds just after 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday
Mark Britt, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in St. Louis, said there were reports of winds close to 60 mph in Granite City and the winds in Alton likely also were in that area, with one reading showing 54 mph gusts.
In Macoupin County, there was a tornado report northeast of Hettick and close to Virden.
“The Hettick one was a very weak tornado,” Britt said. “It didn’t hit anything and there are no estimates at this time of the wind speed or the one near Virden.”
Hettick is a very small community and had a population of 182 in the 2000 census and is an area that encompasses 230 acres. Virden had a population of 3,425 in the 2010 census and has a population of 3,354 in the 2018 estimate.
An Alton home at North Henry and Elm Street that was captured on a Riverbender.com Facebook video by Chris Rhodes had its roof blown off. Parts of the roof were found several feet away from the house. There was considerable tree damage on State Street in Alton and several limbs down near College Avenue in Alton. Alton had reports of trees down along Highway 67 and several neighborhood roads suffered power line and tree damage.
At Fourth and Bowman and Kent and Willoway, trees were down and there was flooding in East Alton on 5th and Washington.
Granite City encountered considerable flooding on the roads from the downpour of rain and there was a traffic accident Granite City Police worked. Wood River also had some tree damage and temporarily high waters in the roads. Bethalto had some tree damage within the village.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
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