For photos, look here.

I have a computer store behind K&G department store. I was going home, and was waiting at the stop light in front of K&G. It was clear above, dark toward STL. Usually I get home a few minutes before the rain starts. There weren't any sirens, and the radio had just reported the STL city warning and was on regular programming.

I was driving an '04 Honda Pilot. It started to rain, and I looked up to see the giant electric/telephone pole fall, sending wires flying around and the biggest sparks I've ever seen all over my car. I saw a roof from the building across the street flying straight up in the air. It was like the ground was exploding. I've been told by the police that I was seeing the apartment building behind Randall's Wines being destroyed. All I could think of was I couldn't get out (because of being electrocuted) and that I needed to make sure I kept my foot on the brakes. I covered my head when I felt the wind hitting me.

The cars in front of me moved, and I left and went back to my store for cover. All of my passenger windows were gone and one of the driver's side windows. My Pilot was filled with 1" layer of glass, plywood, and branches. There were 6-8" chunks of plywood and roof shingles all over the floor. Something blue hit the front of my Pilot and battered down the side, even cutting an 8" slice, like a can opener, in my rear quarter panel. Something green hit my back bumper. There was red painted glass and solid white glass in my Pilot too... not sure yet where it could have come from.

My store is OK, but several of my neighbor's aren't. We are directly behind K&G. A for lease sign must have been like a frisbee in our parking lot, ricocheting off of our facade. At least 20 full height windows were busted, many of which were completely blown open. Two sections of our building's overhang were destroyed and the wiring hung out the holes. At least one air conditioner unit was pulled from the roof, leaving a sky light in my storage area. We are grateful that our building owners had construction crews which cleaned up the lot mess and fixed up most of our windows before FVH police would even let us back in today.

OFFICIAL NATIONAL WEATHER REPORT

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
1126 PM CDT MON APR 3 2006


...PRELIMINARY DAMAGE SURVEY FOR APRIL 2 2006 FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS TORNADO (ST. CLAIR COUNTY ILLINOIS)...

PERSONNEL FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN ST. LOUIS CONDUCTED A PRELIMINARY SURVEY OF THE DAMAGE THAT OCCURRED OVER NORTHERN ST. CLAIR COUNTY DURING THE DAY ON MONDAY. THE DAMAGE WAS PRODUCED BY A TORNADO AND STRAIGHT LINE WINDS.

AROUND 515 PM CDT THE TORNADO FIRST TOUCHED DOWN 200 YARDS SOUTH OF THE INTERSECTION OF UNION HILL ROAD AND LONG ACRE DRIVE IN SOUTHWEST FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS ILLINOIS. SEVERAL LARGE TREES AND LARGE LIMBS WERE DOWNED BY THE TORNADO. THE DAMAGE WIDTH AT THIS LOCATION WAS 60 YARDS WIDE WHILE DAMAGE INTENSITY WAS RATED F(0).

THE TORNADO TRAVELED NORTHEAST THROUGH A SMALL SUBDIVISION SOUTHWEST OF LINCOLN TRAIL (U.S.50) AND CATHY LANE. THERE WAS MINOR ROOF DAMAGE TO SEVERAL HOMES..A TWO CAR GARAGE WAS DAMAGED AND SEVERAL LARGE TREES WERE EITHER UPROOTED OR SNAPPED HALF WAY UP. ON THE EAST SIDE OF CATHY LANE THE ROOF OF AN APARTMENT WAS DAMAGED WHILE A SECOND ESTABLISHMENT SUSTAINED SIDE AND ROOF DAMAGE. DAMAGE WAS RATED F(1) INTENSITY WHILE DAMAGE WIDTH RANGED FROM 60 TO 80 YARDS.

ON THE NORTH SIDE OF U.S. 50 SEVERAL LARGE POWER POLES WERE SNAPPED AND LYING NORTH. OTHER ESTABLISHMENTS ALONG THE NORTH SIDE OF U.S. 50 SUSTAINED VARIOUS DEGREES OF DAMAGE. LIGHT POLES AND TREE DAMAGE REVEALED A CONVERGENT DAMAGE PATTERN INDICATIVE OF A TORNADO. THE TORNADO THEN HIT THE SOUTH SIDE OF K & G CLOTHING STORE. THE FRONT CENTER ROOF COLLAPSED WHILE DEBRIS FROM THIS AREA WAS PUSHED ALONG THE EAST SIDE OF THE LARGE STORE. THERE WAS ONE FATALITY AND SEVERAL INJURIES AT THIS STORE. THE DAMAGE WIDTH RANGED BETWEEN 80 TO 100 YARDS WHILE DAMAGE INTENSITY WAS RATED LOWER END OF F(2).

THE TORNADO CONTINUED NORTHEAST ACROSS ST CLAIR SQUARE MALL.. INTERSTATE 64 AND THEN HIT A CHURCH ON OLD COLLINSVILLE ROAD. THE TORNADO DAMAGED THE STEEPLE AND ROOF OF THE CHURCH. THE TORNADO THEN DAMAGED THREE HOMES AND ONE FARMSTEAD JUST WEST OF THE INTERSECTION OF MILBURN SCHOOL ROAD AND PAUSCH ROAD 2 MILES NORTHEAST OF FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS ILLINOIS. SEVERAL LARGE TREES WERE ALSO DAMAGED OVER THIS AREA. THE DAMAGE WIDTH WAS APPROXIMATELY 60 YARDS WHILE DAMAGE INTENSITY WAS RATED F(1).

THE TORNADO THEN CROSSED THE INTERSECTION OF KYLE AND SIMMONS ROAD AND CAUSED ONLY MINOR ROOF DAMAGE TO SIX HOMES WITHIN A SUBDIVISION NORTH OF KYLE ROAD.

THE TORNADO CONTINUED TO TRAVEL NORTHEAST AND CAUSED DAMAGE TO SEVERAL HOMES IN THE CROWN POINT SUBDIVISION JUST SOUTH OF O`FALLON-TROY ROAD. THE ROOF OF ONE HOME WAS COMPLETELY UPLIFTED AND TOSSED OVER 100 YARDS TO THE NORTHEAST. THE DAMAGE WIDTH WAS 100 YARDS WIDE WHILE DAMAGE INTENSITY WAS RATED F(2).

THE TORNADO THEN CROSSED O`FALLON-TROY ROAD AND TOTALLY DESTROYED A MACHINE SHED ON ANOTHER FARMSTEAD. DEBRIS FROM THE MACHINE SHED WAS TOSSED OVER 1/3 MILE TO THE NORTHEAST. TWO OTHER HOMES 1/4 MILE NORTH OF THE INTERSECTION OF WEIL AND O`FALLON ROAD SUSTAINED VARING DEGREES OF DAMAGE. THE ROOF OF ONE HOME WAS UPLIFTED AND DISPLACED TO THE NORTHEAST. SEVERAL TREES IN THIS AREA WERE ALSO DAMAGED. THE WIDTH OF THE TORNADIC DAMAGE WAS 100 YARDS WHILE DAMAGE INTENSITY WAS RATED F(1).

INSULATION DEBRIS FROM BOTH HOMES WAS TOSSED OVER 300 YARDS ACROSS AN OPEN FIELD AND LINE OF LARGE TREES.

THE TOTAL TORNADIC DAMAGE TRACK OF THE FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS TORNADO WAS APPROXIMATELY 7 MILES. THIS TORNADO WAS ALSO REFERRED TO AS A NON-SUPERCELL TORNADO.

GIVEN THAT THE LINE OF THUNDERSTORM WHICH PRODUCED THIS TORNADO WAS MOVING 60 MPH...THE TORNADO WAS ONLY ON THE GROUND FOR SHORT TIME OF APPROXIMATELY 8 MINUTES.

FUJITA SCALE

F0 40-72 MPH
F1 73-112 MPH
F2 113-157 MPH
F3 158-206 MPH
F4 207-260 MPH
F5 261-318 MPH