Tornado rips through Southern Illinois county leaving two dead

A tornado that ripped through Southern Illinois on Sunday afternoon killed two people and injured dozens of others, authorities said. Several of the victims were flown to St. Louis hospitals.

The tornado was part of a violent storm that hit Wayne and Jefferson counties about 4 p.m., said Chief Deputy J. B. Fletcher of the Wayne County Sheriff's Department.

The body of Michael D. Watkinson, 47, was found inside his mobile home in a rural area near Wayne City, about 16 miles east of Mount Vernon, said Wayne County Coroner Jimmy Taylor. He said Watkinson apparently died from multiple injuries, adding that an autopsy was scheduled for Monday.

"You could see the destruction and the path that was made," Taylor said of the tornado.

"It picked the mobile home up, moved it some 30 feet and leveled it."

A person who was inside the mobile home with Watkinson died after being flown by helicopter to Good Samaritan Hospital in Mount Vernon, authorities said. The victim's name was not released.

A tornado also was reported in the rural towns of Fairfield and Sims, Fletcher said. He said about 30 people were treated for minor injuries at Fairfield Memorial Hospital, adding that high winds uprooted trees, demolished houses and trailer homes and caused other property damage.

"I saw the funnel cloud," Fletcher said. "There's been significant damage, both in Fairfield and Sims. One street in Fairfield has pretty much been decimated."

Good Samaritan spokeswoman Kathy Atchison said four of the 12 patients treated at the hospital were transferred to St. Louis hospitals with serious injuries.

Authorities were inspecting damage and checking for victims, Fletcher said, adding that the two communities are about eight miles apart.

"It sounded like a train coming in here," said Sonny Day, 70, of Fairfield. He said he was sitting inside his home with his daughter when the tornado hit.

"I've never seen anything like it," he said.

The National Weather Service could not immediately confirm whether the weather damage was caused by a tornado, meteorologist Christine Zagorski said. She said investigators planned to make a determination on Monday.

There were also reports of golf ball-sized hail in Perry and Franklin counties, Zagorski said, adding that dime- and quarter-sized fell in Jackson County.

"It was a pretty volatile situation," she said.

Unseasonably warm temperatures as high as 82 and an unstable air mass over the area caused the storm, Zagorski said, adding that a cold front was expected to produce a 20-degree drop in temperatures overnight.