A powerful early-morning storm ripped through the region Tuesday, causing widespread pockets of damage and knocking out power to thousands in Southeast Missouri.

The squall was part of a massive storm system that battered the nation's midsection and featured wind gusts up to 81 mph, snapping trees and power lines, ripping off roofs and delaying flights in its path.

Winds topping 50 mph at times toppled utility lines and trees in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois, with sporadic reports of property damage.

The National Weather Service reported trees down throughout Cape Girardeau County, and Scott County dealt with downed power lines along Route Y.

Bollinger County Sheriff Leo McElrath said there were pockets of damage, including utility lines and trees down.

Elsewhere, a tornado touched down in Peotone, Ill., where three people were injured when a home's roof came off, and twisters were suspected in several other states.

About 300 flights were canceled and others delayed at O'Hare Airport.

The unusual system mesmerized meteorologists because of its size and because it had pressure similar to a Category 3 hurricane, but with much less destructive power.

Ameren Missouri worked through the day to restore power to about 5,000 customers in the Cape Girardeau area and thousands more throughout the state at the peak of the outage around 5:30 a.m. As of midafternoon, the utility had restored power to 27,000 customers statewide and all but 350 customers in Cape Girardeau.

Black River Electric Cooperative said high winds knocked out power to as many as 2,400 customers in Bollinger County.

While the storms were rough on power lines, the rain was much needed in Cape Girardeau County and elsewhere in Southeast Missouri.

The Cape Girardeau Regional Airport recorded 0.33 inches of rain as of 7 a.m. Tuesday, accounting for Cape Girardeau County's total rainfall for October. With high pressure expected to dominate in the coming days, Cape Girardeau County is on pace to record its third driest October since 1960, according to compiled data from the airport. Parts of the South and Midwest, including areas of Southeast Missouri, are suffering "extreme drought" or abnormal drought conditions, according to data released by the National Drought Mitigation Center last week.

mkittle@semissourian.com

388-3627

The Associated Press contributed to this report.