Overview
- A large, east-moving tornado prompted a rare National Weather Service tornado emergency for Charleston, Illinois, and officials say the city sustained extensive damage and declared a local state of emergency.
- The outbreak produced multiple confirmed tornadoes including one near Harpers Ferry, Iowa, and several damaging touchdowns reported across central Illinois and into Indiana and northern Kentucky during Wednesday night.
- Thousands lost power and infrastructure was hit hard with utility poles and lines down, PowerOutage.us logging about 55,000 Illinois customers without service while crews prioritize critical repairs.
- Emergency managers in Dearborn and Franklin counties report closed roads, at least one injury that refused treatment, and crews are working with the NWS as preliminary damage surveys are planned for Florence, Aurora and eastern Franklin County.
- Forecasters say the rare June setup raised the risk of long-track, violent tornadoes and officials warn final tornado counts and EF ratings remain provisional until NWS field surveys are completed.