A line of severe thunderstorms moved through northern Winnebago County, IL, Friday, July 3, causing thousands to lose power and significant tree damage. Tree and power line damage was also reported in Beloit and Clinton in Rock County in Wisconsin from the same thunderstorms.

Pictured above is a tree that was taken down by the July 3 storms along Middle Road in South Beloit, IL. Below, also in South Beloit, a Rock Energy crew replaces a utility pole that was damaged during the storm.

The storm brought heavy rain with some hail and high winds with gusts as high as 60 mph. Some trees were reported down in South Beloit, Rockton and Roscoe, along with some property damage.

There were numerous Rock Energy outages caused by the storms, which crews responded to as soon as they began to occur. According to one Rock Energy member, the hard work and dedication of the Rock Energy crews was much appreciated during the difficult situation.

“Rock Energy Cooperative does an excellent job keeping service on. Thank you to all of the people working well into the night to restore our services, especially on a holiday weekend! We really appreciate your service!”

Heavy damage also occurred along Nazarene Drive, a frontage road running parallel to Highway 2 near Rockton. About five utility poles were blown over by high winds during the storm. Trees and power lines were down along Rt. 75 west of Rockton and across downtown Rockton.

According to radar estimates, 60-70 mph winds were being produced by the thunderstorms, which went through the Rockton/Roscoe area at around 11:45 a.m. A tornado warning was issued by the National Weather Service for southeastern Rock County, Wis. after the storms went through Rockton. (Source: WREX News)

Pictured above shows storm damage on Winfield Drive and Nazarene Drive in South Beloit.