UPDATE: Damage in Stewardson After Sunday Night's Storm

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UPDATE: The National Weather Service told us via Twitter Monday afternoon that their official determination is downburst winds saying, "after coordinating with the EM and viewing damage pics this was downburst winds estimated up to 75 MPH."

There's storm damage over much of the town, but most of the damage is along and just north of East South 4th Street, located east off Route 32 (right before Moomaw's grain elevator).

Uprooted trees are a common sight all over town, not surprising one resident, who pointed out that, "with all the rain God's dumped on us, trees are just loose in the ground." During our trip through town, we saw about eight fully uprooted trees, with many others damaged. Tree limbs are strewn (literally) all over town.

The first residence we stopped at was Tom Cox's on East South 4th Street, who showed us the large tree that fell against the back of his house. He said he was at his back door watching the storm and his wife was in bed when the tree came down, right against their bedroom wall.

Cox also showed us his garden, one of several oddities that had many thinking it was a tornado that came through town. The corn in Cox's garden is laid over to the northwest, while the storm (according to NWS radar) was tracking southeast.

Another instance of possible rotation was the trampoline Cox has over one of his trees, from a neighbor's house to the east.

Down the street and to the East of Cox's home were several uprooted trees, downed power lines and debris from structures, including this building that had the east side of its roof torn off.

Just north of this building, a mobile home was significantly damaged. No injuries were reported from the storm, but as another resident told us, "my heart was just pounding. They always say there's that roaring sound, like a train, and that's what I heard, real low, and it got really loud about 2 seconds before it hit."

Power was out to Stewardson and much of the surrounding area from the storm that hit after 11pm Sunday. About a dozen Ameren trucks were in town working to restore service. Some parts of town had their lights back on at about 3am Monday morning. When we visited town Monday morning, much of the Ameren crew was focused on areas near East South 4th Street.

The National Weather Service told us Monday morning they are still working on an official determination on whether it was a tornado or possibly straight-line winds.

Stewardson's 4th of July celebration had wrapped up Sunday evening as well, and the village was able to get their fireworks off just before the first round of thunderstorms moved in. Local photographer Ed Baumgarten captured this incredible photo of the fireworks with the backdrop of the thunderstorm.