Twin Cities take a hit from storms

The door is blown off of a Bloomington barber shop Thursday, Facebook photo/submitted.

Plenty of damage was observed throughout Bloomington-Normal and McLean County following severe storms which rolled through the area Thursday afternoon.

McLean and Tazewell counties appeared to be the hardest hit with about 31,000 outages reported mid-afternoon.

Roof damage occurred at OSF St. Joseph Medical Center and the Rivian Plant while the Illinois State University campus in Normal suffered flooding and downed power lines. Stores like Kohls were without power and a semi was blown onto its side along Veterans Parkway near Applebee's. A commercial door was blown off of a barbershop near Towanda Avenue in Bloomington with power poles snapped along south Towanda Barnes Road.

Normal firefighters issued an alert for numerous trees and power lines down with flooded underpasses causing cars to become stranded.

Even some smaller local schools in the rural areas were impacted such as the Ridgeview School District in Colfax which lost power and communication. They held students until the end of the day before dismissing at the normal time. They did shelter in the basement temporarily due to high wind potential. The Olympia School District issued a communication to parents about trees and power lines down throughout the district.

Snapped power poles shown near Towanda Barnes Road in Bloomington Thursday, Facebook photo/submitted.