BRIGHTON, Ill. — A fleet of utility trucks have descended upon Brighton, Illinois, Thursday morning as the community tries to recover from a severe storm system and prepare for another.
About 10,000 people were left without power after the storm swept through Macoupin County, a Brighton Betsey Ann Fire Protection District spokesperson said. The power outage was caused by around seven power utility poles being knocked down, the extent of the storm's damage in the area.
Around 1,200 elementary and high school students went from departing busses to sheltering in place at their schools during the storm, the spokesperson said. Most businesses in the area are closed due to the power outage.
"I knew it was ugly but it was out of my control," resident Lynn Smith told 5 On Your Side. "At about 8:12 a.m., it really started getting noisy and rough, and I couldn't see anything out the bedroom window facing the west."
Smith has been a resident in Brighton since 1983 and said this storm was the worst he's seen.
"It blew my wife completely off the porch," Smith said. "(The storms) used to bother me a lot, but my shack has been there since the 1800s and it's seen a lot of these storms come through … If a storm takes my place, it'll set some kind of record."
The National Weather Service confirmed Brighton likely experienced a tornado Thursday morning.
Another storm system is expected to sweep through Macoupin County after hitting the St. Louis area late Thursday afternoon, according to 5 On Your Side meteorologists.
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