A strong line of thunderstorms with heavy rain and a confirmed tornado swept through Monroe County on Sunday night.

Monroe County Emergency Management Agency Director Kevin Scheibe told the Republic-Times early Monday afternoon that the National Weather Service has confirmed that an EF-1 tornado touched down in the county, starting in the area of Fischer Road near Maeystown and continuing north and slightly east to Rock Road, KK Road, LRC Road, JJ Road, Route 3 near Vandebrook Drive, then near Waterloo High School, before causing downed power poles on Route 156 at Goeddeltown Road and then lifting.

Wind speeds during this tornado have been estimated at 100 miles per hour.

This is the second tornado this year in Monroe County, the other one taking place March 14.

“That’s not a good pattern to be in,” Scheibe said.

Thankfully, no injuries were reported.

“That’s the most important,” Scheibe said. “People heard the (tornado) sirens and took action. The awareness is key.”

At about 8:15 p.m., the Hecker Fire Department responded to a report of power lines down over the roadway on Route 156 near Cemetery Road.

Shortly after this call, the Waterloo Fire Department responded to Route 156 at Susewind Lane between Waterloo and Hecker for broken power poles over the roadway.

Due to the damage in this area, the Monroe County EMA closed Route 156 at Goeddeltown Road east of Waterloo. Per MCEC, Route 156 was shut down between Waterloo and Hecker until about 6:30 a.m. Monday.

The WFD also responded Sunday.night to downed wires on Route 3 near Vandebrook Drive. Monroe County Electric Cooperative said a tree took down a transmission pole and the lines south of the Vandebrook intersection.

“We have a lot of outages coming in from the storm that just hit, the MCEC posted on Facebook posted shortly after the storm. “We have reports of downed lines. Assume they are still hot and stay away.”

Waterloo police also blocked the roadway on Park Street in town for a downed branch around this time.

Yet another call for the WFD was for metal from a small shed blown into power lines resulting in sparking in the 5600 block of LRC Road.

The Monroe County EMA initially focused efforts on the Waterloo/Hecker area to assist first responders and assess Sunday’s storm damage.

An EMA official also reported broken poles and wires down over the roadway on Fischer Road north of Maeystown, resulting in the Maeystown Fire Department being paged for assistance.

A Valmeyer Fire Department official also notified EMA that per Union Pacific, the railroad crossings in Monroe County were not being activated due to lack of power.

At 6:10 a.m. Monday, MCEC reported that crews had replaced all broken poles and completed line repairs on Route 3 and Route 156, with power restored for these two outages.

MCEC was still working on power outages due to broken poles and other disruptions on Ahne Road, Rock Road, Gilmore Lake Road and Schwab Road.

“Our crews are continuing to make progress, and we appreciate everyone’s patience as restoration efforts continue,” MCEC posted on its Facebook page.

As of 10 a.m. Monday, MCEC reported the broken poles off Fischer Road had been replaced and the line is back on.