ST. CHARLES COUNTY — St. Charles County officials received reports of hail damage from throughout the county Thursday night.
“It’s pretty widespread as far as hail damage to siding on homes and vehicles as well,” said Jani Albright, St. Charles County Emergency Management director.
She was among several EOC workers suffering hail damage to their vehicles parked outside the agency’s public safety office in O’Fallon. Albright said, “Several of our police and other fleet vehicles, as well as a lot of our personal vehicles for emergency management staff and our dispatchers, were damaged.
As of Thursday night, she did know how many vehicles had suffered damage. There were several vehicles with cracked windshields and dented roofs and hoods.
The hail near the EOC was estimated to be similar to the size of a golf ball. Other parts of the county reported hail closer to the size of a baseball.
A separate storm snapped power poles near Brighton, IL. Ameren Illinois estimated that approximately 2700 customers were without power at one point. By Thursday night, the power was back.
“Ameren was very, very quick,” said Chief Jason Bowman, Brighton Betsey Ann Fire Protection District. “By the time my fire crews were on the scene, they were on the scene within five, six minutes, and the Ameren crews were already going up and down State Highway 111.”
