The National Weather Service says at least 23 tornadoes touched down Saturday in Illinois, making the outbreak the state's largest on record for December.
Meteorologist Dan Smith with the weather service's Lincoln office says crews had confirmed 23 tornado touchdowns across central Illinois by Monday afternoon.
But Smith says that number may grow because crews continue surveying three other sites to determine if storm damage there was caused by tornadoes. Illinois' previous December tornado record was 21 storms during an outbreak on Dec. 18-19, 1957. Smith says that while numerous injuries were reported in Saturday's storms no fatalities were reported in Illinois due to the severe weather outbreak.
Taylorville, located southeast of Springfield in Christian County, was the community hardest hit by Saturday's tornadoes. Gov. Bruce Rauner declared Christian County a state disaster area on Tuesday. That declaration makes available a wide variety of state resources that can help affected communities respond and recover from the storms.
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