As predicted, severe weather barreled through the St. Louis region Friday night, bringing heavy winds, large hail and torrential rainfall, and leaving many Monroe County residents without power.

Winds picked up throughout Friday afternoon, resulting in a busy time for fire departments handling a variety of calls, from brush fires to downed power lines and trees blown onto roadways.

The leading wall of this massive storm cell began to cross the river into Monroe County at about 10 p.m., overturning a semi tractor-trailer at the Jefferson Barracks Bridge deck on I-255 in St. Louis County. Within minutes, the county began to be pummeled with heavy rainfall, damaging hail and high winds, causing damage and knocking out power to thousands of county residents.

Power outages

The Monroe County Electric Co-Operative reported early Saturday morning that Friday night’s storm knocked out numerous transmission poles, affecting multiple feeds to MCEC’s substations.

“These broken poles and downed lines have taken out our Waterloo, North Waterloo, Fountain, Poe, Columbia and Fults substations,” MCEC stated in a Facebook post.

Shortly after 9 p.m. Saturday, MCEC reported power had been restored to its substations, meaning the majority of outages had been restored, although Monroe County EMA Director Kevin Scheibe said earlier in the day that it could be as much as 24 hours before the county is entirely restored.

“We are still working to repair a few broken poles in certain areas,” MCEC stated. “Those affected locations remain without power but we have crews there working to get power restored as quickly as possible.”

Power and internet were restored to most Columbia residences by early Saturday afternoon, although cellular service remained spotty into the evening.

In Waterloo, the generators at the power plant were brought online, keeping businesses open and lights on for residents.

Valmeyer village residents were without power overnight until about 11 a.m., when electricity began coming back online.

In the far southern portions of the county, some residents in the Fults area lost power Friday afternoon due to downed, burning power lines. Service is gradually being restored through Saturday evening and into the night.

Damage reported across county

In Columbia, a number of homes in the Columbia Lakes subdivision, on the northern edge of Columbia, sustained major hail damage, with broken windows and heavily damaged siding. In addition, Bluff Road from Valmeyer Road to DD Road was closed for a time due to debris at Sackman Field airport but has since reopened.

In Waterloo, several large utility poles were downed by high winds along Route 3 between HH and GG roads, resulting in a full closure of Route 3 in that area and a detour onto GG or HH roads west to North Moore Street.

About a dozen utility trucks worked throughout the day to clear the downed poles and transfer the wires, Scheibe said.

According to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department, MCEC began reopening all lanes of Route 3 traffic at about 8:45 p.m.

Scheibe said much of the damage in Waterloo was most likely due to straightline winds, which he said were measured reaching 82 miles per hour.

Additional damage in Waterloo included a boat dock from a property on North Moore Street in Waterloo blown over and mangled.

TheCity of Waterloo said it will begin assisting with limb pickup starting Monday.

“Please place any tree limbs at the curb or the edge of the pavement for collection,” the city stated in a Facebook post. “To ensure a smooth process, keep piles easily accessible and close to the curb or edge of the roadway, and avoid blocking sidewalks, driveways, or roadways.”

Pickup will continue through March 26. Call 618-939-8600 for more information.

In old Valmeyer, the home dugout of Borsch Park, home to the Valmeyer Lakers, was completely destroyed by the storm. There was other damage around the park grounds, including downed limbs.

Elsewhere in Valmeyer, a few homes on West Hunters Ridge sustained damage from high winds, and several homes on the west side of the village had broken windows and damage to roofs, Scheibe said.

The Valmeyer High School softball field also sustained major damage, with the bleachers blown into the backstop.

“Home opener will be a little delayed,” the VHS softball team posted on Facebook.

Scheibe said radar indicated a small tornado in Valmeyer late Friday, but that is yet to be confirmed by the National Weather Service.

The Village of Valmeyer posted on Facebook that there are two dumpsters available for residents to discard construction/house debris.

“For trees and limbs, please place in a neat pile on the sidewalk near the street and the village employees will pick up over the next couple of weeks,” the village said.

Fortunately, through it all, no injuries have been reported in Monroe County.

“All of that can be replaced,” Scheibe said of the damage reports. “People can’t. We were blessed that noboby got hurt. The majority of this community listened to the warnings and prepared, and for that I’m thankful.”

The Monroe County EMA said it has started procedures for a disaster declaration for all of the county due to this severe weather event.

Any resident who sustained damage due to the storm or its resulting power outages should email ema@monroecountyil.gov with details.