Tornado outbreak injures at least 20 in IL

A series of tornadoes formed in Central and Western Illinois Saturday evening as a storm system was greeted by unseasonably warm temperatures.

To put Saturday night's storms into perspective, just 14 tornadoes total have been reported in the central part of IL between 1950 and 2017, according to Miller.

At least 30 injuries have been reported, but no fatalities. Damage surveys for the two tornadoes are ongoing but officials said dozens of homes were damaged.

Taylorville Fire Department Chief Mike Crews said at a press conference no one was killed, and he couldn't comment on the number of injured.

Gov. Bruce Rauner activated the State Emergency Operations Center in response to the storms. Several people who were trapped in their homes were eventually rescued, he said.

A full assessment will be completed sometime Monday or Tuesday after the teams have finished tracking the start and end points of the storms, Chris Miller, the warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Lincoln, told Fortune.

IL typically sees 47 tornadoes a year but that doesn't include December, which doesn't have a monthly average, CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar said.

"Almost everything set up for the flawless conditions" for the outbreak, Chinchar said, as a strong cold front pushed through. She said a tornado mainly went through the countryside, but "I know of one house that had major damage".

The National Weather Service sent crews Sunday to survey the hardest-hit areas in IL, which included Taylorville, 25 miles (40 kilometers) southeast of Springfield, Springfield's State Journal-Register reported. There was some damage to a pier, power poles were knocked down and at least one truck flipped over.