HANCOCK COUNTY, ILL. -- A quick line of severe thunderstorms uprooted trees, shattered windows, downed power lines and damaged roofs around Hancock County, Illinois Sunday afternoon.
The Hamilton area took the biggest hit.
The area surrounding the Smokin' Gun Hunting Lodge, off Connable Rd., sustained what looks to be most of the damage. KHQA's Kristen Aguirre was on site Sunday afternoon.
Roads leading to the Smokin' Gun Hunting Lodge were closed after a severe thunderstorm rolled through the Hamilton area. Clean up crews were there restoring torn down power lines while neighbors worked to piece back together the ripped apart lodge. Manager of the Smokin' Gun, Terry Phillips was in the clubhouse with his wife and grandson when the storm hit.
"It started raining so hard we couldn't see what it was doing," Phillips said. "It started blowing and we went running in the bathroom and we sat in the bathroom till it was over with."
The clubhouse has no basement so Phillips and his family hid in the safest spot they could think of. Phillips said they were in the bathroom for no more than five minutes but that was enough time for the storm to leave its mark on the Smokin' Gun farm.
"It blew a limb right through the lodge, it blew our bird pens down we're going to have to replace them, our privacy fence it blew it all down and all of our good trees," Phillips said.
The 60 mph winds were even strong enough to rip over a hundred-year-old pecan tree from the ground and toss the dog kennels from one part of the farm to another.
"We went through a tornado in 1993 and it wasn't as bad as the damage we have here," Phillips said.
Still, Phillips feels blessed. He and his wife live on the Smokin' Gun Lodge property and while their home was surrounded by storm debris the only damage the house saw was a broken window and torn roof.
"Very lucky we didn't get hurt, everything else can be replaced," Phillips said.
Reports of quarter size hail and strong 60 mph winds came out of both Hancock and Adams Counties Sunday.
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forKHQA