VIDEO: Funnel Cloud South of Altamont, Widespread Flash Flooding & a Montrose Gas Station Damaged in Wednesday's Storms

A severe thunderstorm caused heavy flooding throughout the area Wednesday evening, one that prompted a Tornado Warning for Effingham County that lasted for more than an hour.

The tornado warning was issued just after 7pm and was to be in effect until 7:15pm, but was later extended until 8pm as the storm took a path through the central part of the county. Pea-sized hail was reported west of Effingham in the Funkhouser community and strong winds and heavy rainfall was seen across the county. As always, our listeners were great to supply us with information; texts, tweets, phone calls, and plenty of photos and video. We have a lot of it compiled our Facebook and Twitter pages, but also here on the local news page.

Doug Winters captured video of a funnel cloud just south of Altamont.

Other listeners shared these (and more) photos with us on our Facebook and Twitter pages. This photo is of the four-way stop in Altamont...

While this one is looking out the window of the Dairy Bar in Altamont...

A listener also sent us this photo of flooding on Route 40 east of Altamont

And this photo is from June Lake Subdivision, west of Effingham...

This is a photo of a funnel cloud near Brownstown...

The heavy rainfall closed roads and streets for a time, including Route 40 between Teutopolis and Montrose around 9pm. That downpour caused the canopy covering the fuel pumps at a service station in Montrose to collapse on two vehicles parked beneath it. Effingham County Sheriff Dave Mahon said no one was in either vehicle at the time, so no injuries resulted from the incident.

A semi was blown over on westbound I-70 at the Altamont interchange just after 7pm Wednesday. The driver, Magnus Hammond of Stamford, Connecticut, told state police that he was traveling at a slow rate of speed due to the heavy rainfall when the wind began to blow. Hammond said the wind turned his truck tractor semi-trailer over onto the driver's side into the left lane of traffic. Westbound I-70 was closed temporarily and traffic was re-routed off at the Altamont exit onto US 40.

Another crash related to the weather occurred in Richland County at 8:45pm. A car driven by 24-year-old Molly Schmidt was northbound on Illinois 130 and struck standing water on the highway. Schmidt lost control of her car, which overturned on its driver's side in the northbound lane of travel. A semi driven by 61-year-old Paris Cooper was following and told police he was blinded by oncoming headlights, then struck the standing water. The spray covered his windshield, blinding his view of the overturned car, which his semi struck.

Schmidt was injured and was taken to Richland Memorial Hospital in Olney for treatment. Both drivers were cited for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident.

The last of the rain should end early Thursday, with a Joe Nichols forecast of sunny and 75 for the rest of the day on Thursday. More rain is on the way for the weekend, though.