Weather

The National Weather Service is preparing for the possibility of two rounds of severe storms on Wednesday, less than one week after nine confirmed tornadoes tore through the region.

The National Weather Service has preliminary confirmation of nine tornadoes in Central Illinois on Wednesday and Thursday of last week.

Chainsaws and wood chippers could be heard around Bloomington-Normal on Friday as residents, public works crews, and tree services picked up the pieces left behind by strong storms Thursday night.

McLean County is facing an enhanced risk of severe weather (Level 3/4 of 5) for a storm expected to hit between 5 p.m. to midnight Thursday.

The federal Small Business Administration said McLean County failed to qualify 25 homes for low-interest loans for home repair, finding not enough hit the agency's threshold for assistance.

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.