Weather

Here we go again: McLean County and the rest of Illinois will be at an enhanced risk of severe storms Monday. Very large hail, damaging wind gusts up to 70 mph, and tornadoes are all possible, according to the National Weather Service.

The Town of Normal has collected more storm debris in less than a week than all the waste it hauled away in March.

The National Weather Service says two of the reported tornadoes that tore through Bloomington last Friday night were actually one continuous twister. That tornado was rated an EF1 with wind speeds of up to 110 mph.

Deputy City Manager Sue McLaughlin said public works crews hope to reach all of the affected homes and businesses — for the first pass-through — by the end of this week.

Residents experiencing outages, property damage, flooding, tree damage, or service disruptions are encouraged to self-report to assist countywide response efforts.

Officials representing McLean County, Bloomington and Normal said “the system worked” by implementing an all-hands effort during Friday’s powerful thunderstorms.

Bloomington-Normal residents were assessing the damage and starting to clean up Saturday from a powerful storm that walloped McLean County the night before, leading to damage at the Rivian auto plant and knocking out power for thousands. There appeared to be no serious injuries.

The City of Bloomington had strongly recommended residents and citizens take measures to cut back on water use, but recent rain brought lake levels up more than 3 feet.

Quarter-sized? Golfball-sized? Softball? Bigger? Severe March storms dumped record-breaking hail on Kankakee. And now it's official.

Bloomington-Normal and Greater Peoria again avoided the worst of a spring storm system that moved through the area Sunday. A winter weather advisory remains in effect until 1 p.m. Monday.