Multiple rounds of storms passed through Monroe County early Thursday evening, packing punches in the forms of rotational clouds, bouts of hail, strong winds and a heaping helping of rain.

The first batch of nasty weather saw reports of at least one rotational cloud signature north of Maeystown prior to 5 p.m., which was being tracked on radar east toward Red Bud. While it was reported on TV news in St. Louis that a tornado had touched down, Monroe County Emergency Management Agency officials weren’t immediately able to detect any damage on the ground.

On Friday morning, Monroe County Public Safety Director Kevin Scheibe said there’s no evidence so far of a tornado in that area.

“We’ve found no physical proof there was any sort of touchdown here,” Scheibe said.

There was a multitude of hail reports throughout Monroe County, from baseball-sized hail to the south to moth ball-sized hail to the north. Scheibe said there were several reports of vehicles damaged by hail in the county.

Shortly before 6:30 p.m., a heavy thunderstorm walloped Columbia and delivered extremely heavy rain and high winds. As a result, Columbia Fire Department personnel handled multiple flood and damage reports into the evening.

One such call was of broken power poles with lines over the roadway in the area of Bluff and DD roads. That portion of roadway was closed for a few hours.

Trees were also reported to be downed across Ghent Road in Columbia.

One of the more serious flooding issues was at The Falls Conference & Reception Center, 300 Admiral Weinel Boulevard, Columbia. A clogged storm drain resulted in extremely high water outside of the building, with some water seeping in through the doors.

In addition to these calls, a blown transformer resulted in a ball of flames near the ambulance bay in front of the Columbia fire station, further taxing local volunteer firefighters.

The Monroe County EMA is asking anyone with damage as a result of Thursday’s storms to email them at ema@monroecountyil.gov with details.