After spending a day in the field, meteorologists for the National Weather Service have determined that at least 16 tornadoes struck Illinois and northwest Indiana on Sunday, as Gov. Pat Quinn declared six more counties as state disaster areas, including Will.
The weather service determined that three EF-2 tornadoes, packing winds of 111 to 135 mph, hit Coal City, Manhattan and Frankfort. The hardest hit was the area around Coal City, where top winds were estimated at 122 mph and the path stretched for about 13 miles.
Four weaker EF-0 and EF-1 tornadoes, with winds as high as 110 mph, struck areas from southeast Iroquois County to near Rensselaer, Indiana
One the strongest tornadoes to hit Illinois slammed into the town of Washington near Peoria, where one person was killed, 120 others injured and as many as 500 homes damaged. The tornado was rated an EF-4, one shy of the strongest on the charts, with winds of 190 mph and a path of destruction that stretched for more than 46 miles through Tazewell and Woodford counties, according to the weather service.
Two other tornadoes were reported in central Illinois:
• Gifford, a town of 950 east of Rantoul, was hit by an EF-3 tornado with winds of 140 mph and a path of 24 miles. Six injuries were reported.
• Pekin, a city of 34,000 near Peoria, was struck by an EF-2 tornado that packed 120 mph winds for 2½ miles through Peoria and Tazewell counties.
In southern Illinois, another EF-4 tornado hit the small town of New Minden about 50 miles southwest of St. Louis, according to the weather service. Two people were killed when their farm was destroyed, and two other people were injured. Winds as high as 166 mph were clocked as the tornado tore a path 10.6 miles long.
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