Sunfield takes direct hit from EF-1 tornado

The tornado that touched down in the small community of Sunfield last Thursday afternoon has been preliminarily classed as an EF-1 by the National Weather Service station in Paducah.

The tornado had a peak wind of 100 mph and is estimated to have been 125 yards wide at its biggest part, the NWS report said.

One person was injured and no one was killed in the event which last about 2 minutes. The tornado developed right at Sunfield at 3:44 p.m., trackers believe, and traveled 3.3 miles before dissipating northeast of Sunfield.

"You can see the debris field, about a mile and a half from where the tornado came through," said Perry County Sheriff Steve Bareis, who lives about a half-mile from the destruction. "There's aluminum siding all over the place."

Bareis estimates 10 to 12 homes were damaged, including one he thinks is unsalvageable. He saw windows blown out, roofs partly pulled off homes and trees uprooted.

"One of my deputies lost a shed and a large tree," he added.

He said that according to Chuck Genesio, Perry County's emergency services coordinator, the rain was coming down so hard people literally couldn't see the tornado.

The NWS preliminary report said at least a dozen homes damaged, including four with major structural damage, and including numerous blown out windows and roof damage. One home had part of its roof decking removed, and another had its attached garage blown apart from the house, the report said.

"At least five camper trailers were blown over, with one lofted over 200 yards across a field," the report said. "Several outbuildings and garages were partly or completely leveled. Dozens of trees were snapped or uprooted, and several power lines were either blown down or brought down by fallen trees."

Sunfield was once the site of the most destructive tornado on the Enhanced Fujita scale, an F5.

At 4:35 p.m. on Dec. 18, 1957, an F5 tornado touched down at U.S. Route 51 and Illinois Route 154, virtually wiping the community out, although there was fortunately only one death and six injuries.