LE ROY, Ill. (WMBD) — An early Monday morning tornado has temporarily closed a central Illinois country club in McLean County.
The Le Roy Country Club has been closed for several days following an EF0 tornado that ripped through town Monday morning around 12:30. Wednesday, club members were on site, clearing debris and trying to reopen the club as soon as possible.
While only on the ground for around six minutes, the tornado uprooted about a dozen large trees along the course and caused major limb damage to around a dozen more.
“We’re cutting trees, we have lift trucks that are up in trees taking those branches down. We have members with chainsaws that are cutting, farmers are bringing heavy equipment in to help haul,” said country club grounds chairman Scott West.
The tornado reached winds as high as 85 miles per hour. Grounds chairman Scott West said he’s seen the course underwater, but not this much tree damage to where the course is unplayable.
“In the 40 years that I’ve been a member here at the club, this is probably the most significant tree damage the club has experienced,” West said.
City of Le Roy crews also continued their cleanup of tree debris throughout the city Wednesday.
“The last two days we’ve concentrated on the big trees that have been uprooted and fallen in our right-aways, now we’re more concentrating on the brush. Homeowners have collected theirs and put it by the road, now we’re just picking up the piles,” said street superintendent Danny Lush.
Lush said once crews collect the limbs and branches, they take them to a burn pile located behind the street department shed.
“We’re trying to control it, it’s kind of windy today, so we’re putting little bits of it in at a time. Some residents bring their own brush back here, which helps us out,” Lush said.
West said they hope to reopen the country club no later than this weekend. No structural damage was reported at the country club as a result of the tornado.
Lush said he hopes to have 80% of the cleanup if not more done by the end of this week.
