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Washington, IL is my hometown (Tornado)

KristinTech

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I think I am still in shock over the fact that my hometown was ripped in half by an EF-4 tornado last Sunday. There was one fatality in a town of almost 15,000. I am not exaggerating when I say that I know 30 people who lost their homes and everything in them... these are close childhood friends with whom I've shared holiday meals, to friends that I'd stop and chat with or 10-15 minutes in the local grocery store when I was back in town to see my parents. Another 20-30 acquaintances are homeless with nothing left. It is so unreal. I live only 45 minutes away. My dad passed away in April of a fast and furious case of pancreatic cancer. My mom is all alone now, and thankfully, her house was unhurt. But do you know what she was doing during the storm? Vacuuming the basement. She didn't even hear the sirens. She knew severe weather was forecast but she went about her day as usual. Now, my mom does not really have a need to vacuum the basement. No kids, no pets, no food in the basement. She is probably down there to vacuum the dust 4 times a year. But of course she was down there at that moment, on that day. And that is because my dad is with us, always. :) A true miracle that she didn't even hear the sirens-- my dad didn't want her to feel the panic and desperation of being alone during such a powerful storm. She only knew something was wrong when the power went out.

Other friends in town have horrible tales of being petrified, so so many close cases of "If only _____ (insert detail) wouldn't have happened, he/she wouldn't be alive right now." Too many stories to retell here! It's crazy. My husband and I worked in the fields yesterday to try to recover personal items. It was mostly just field clean-up, though. Almost nothing was recognizable. Lots of twisted little metal bits, splintered 2x4s, and plywood. This field was a mile from the edge of the neighborhood that was decimated. Where did all that stuff go? No one can wrap their heads around it. I have three kids, ages 10,8, 5. We are often in Washington... I was narrating what we were seeing as we drove in. I had talked to friends and I had seen the aerial views. But as we went around the bend of Rt. 24 and I saw the destruction in person, it literally took my breath away. Toothpicks that were 2x4s... things strewn everywhere. Those barren trees, the trees are so eerie. Working in the field yesterday was like a funeral, of sorts. There were hundreds of volunteers out there. But everyone was so quiet as they worked. I saw bits of painted drywall... what little girl had that pretty lilac room? I picked up half a bra, puzzle pieces, one green lego. More shingles and plywood and twisted metal. We were told to leave piece smaller than our hands. We left a lot.

The photo recovery sites on Facebook are AMAZING! My personal friends are getting their photos back! People my age (39) and younger have digitized memories... they are in texts, on facebook, in emails... but the older generation doesn't have that and to get these photos back is incredible. And it's not just the photo they're getting back. It's knowing of the effort of strangers in the suburbs and city of Chicago who care enough to walk their yards and neighborhoods... their forest preserves. The kindness of strangers has been incredible. :)
 

monarch64

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Oh, wow. I'm so glad your mom made it through ok. Your dad definitely must have been watching over her last week.

I live in the Midwest as well. Tornadoes touched down north and south of us. Sunday was my mom's birthday and our wedding anniversary. We were supposed to be dropping our daughter off at the babysitter so we could go out to dinner when my phone went off and said "take cover now." We spent half an hour in our downstairs powder room, gee, that was fun with a toddler. The babysitters' house lost power so we ended up not going out; however, I wouldn't have left her anywhere what with all the awful weather raging on the rest of the evening and the possibility of more tornadoes.

I hope Washington is able to recover.
 

Smith1942

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Well, that sounds dreadful. To be so near and yet so far...spooky indeed. I am so sorry about all the devastation and destruction caused to your home town and all the people you know there. And although you and your mom and her house are - thankfully - OK, perhaps you are feeling a little bad that things are so awful for others, and your own family home and your own town were unscathed? That would be understandable!

I've never seen a tornado or the damage it can cause. It looks totally horrendous in the pictures.

Maybe, if it would make you feel as if you're doing something, you could offer an acquaintance or two a place to stay, or take them some warm clothes if they've lost all their things? Not saying you SHOULD do these things, since we all have our lives to live and not enough time and our daily commitments to fulfil, but just if you have the time and the room and the spare gear, I thought it might make you feel better.

And I'm so sorry about your dad, so very sorry. What a shock. I am sure he was looking after your mum, absolutely. xxx
 

woofmama

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I live in the suburbs of Chicago. Was brought to tears seeing what happened in Washington and the surrounding area.
A local business owner took up a collection of all sorts of products to bring down there today. I sent a few hundred dollars worth of pet food, I'm in that business. I'm so sorry for everyones loss :nono:
Thank god your mom wasn't injured. Sorry about your dad. Hugs to you.
 

KristinTech

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monarch64|1385338173|3562229 said:
Oh, wow. I'm so glad your mom made it through ok. Your dad definitely must have been watching over her last week.

I live in the Midwest as well. Tornadoes touched down north and south of us. Sunday was my mom's birthday and our wedding anniversary. We were supposed to be dropping our daughter off at the babysitter so we could go out to dinner when my phone went off and said "take cover now." We spent half an hour in our downstairs powder room, gee, that was fun with a toddler. The babysitters' house lost power so we ended up not going out; however, I wouldn't have left her anywhere what with all the awful weather raging on the rest of the evening and the possibility of more tornadoes.

I hope Washington is able to recover.

Thank you, I know Washington will be okay. This will change us forever, but we will be "okay." We were in our basement, I was trying to keep my kids calm, but I kept calling and calling and texting and texting my mom-- we didn't hear from her for about a half hour. It was a scary time. My friend who lost his house said that he has always been a storm watcher-- out on the porch to watch the storms roll in. He had his family in the basement and saw a random person jogging in the neighborhood (jogging to his daughter's house to tell her about the severe weather alerts). He saw the black tornado and grabbed him and they ran to the basement. Thankfully, they were all okay.
 

KristinTech

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Smith1942|1385338223|3562230 said:
Well, that sounds dreadful. To be so near and yet so far...spooky indeed. I am so sorry about all the devastation and destruction caused to your home town and all the people you know there. And although you and your mom and her house are - thankfully - OK, perhaps you are feeling a little bad that things are so awful for others, and your own family home and your own town were unscathed? That would be understandable!

I've never seen a tornado or the damage it can cause. It looks totally horrendous in the pictures.

Maybe, if it would make you feel as if you're doing something, you could offer an acquaintance or two a place to stay, or take them some warm clothes if they've lost all their things? Not saying you SHOULD do these things, since we all have our lives to live and not enough time and our daily commitments to fulfil, but just if you have the time and the room and the spare gear, I thought it might make you feel better.

And I'm so sorry about your dad, so very sorry. What a shock. I am sure he was looking after your mum, absolutely. xxx

Thank you, Smith. Yes, I feel as though I SHOULD do those things, so I did. And many local friends also offered their warm homes and beds to my friends. But I found that the relief shelters (churches, banquet facilities, etc) were hubs of information, and no one wanted to leave the area when they were in need of all that information. Huge trailers belonging to the insurance companies line one of the strip malls there. Everyone wanted to get their questions answered. Some policies cut a check immediately (within 4-5 days), others wanted homeowners to go through the contents of every room (can you imagine?!) before they cut a check. My husband and I were talking about our policy and what it would cover. It's an important conversation to have (even though we have it yearly with our agent). A particularly wealthy friend had sold his previous home, purchased a huge country lot, and rented a home in a nice neighborhood in town until they settled on a builder and a floorplan. He had renter's insurance, but he found out how underinsured they were in this situation. They won't be hurting, under any circumstance, but it was something he wanted to tell us. He was telling us all about his tools he had. "I owned every tool known to man." Mike and I had just been in those fields and barely found anything that was recognizable. We asked him, WHERE DID THEY GO?! I think they must be buried 2 feet underground. Anything of heft of any sort was buried enough that we had to kick it out with our boots. And I'm just talking PVC pipe and the three semi-intact 2x4s I found. I had to work to kick them out and get them up. A heavy tool is buried. Again, it's all surreal. We, as a town, are so thankful that so many lives were spared.
 

ame

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HUGE hugs to you. I also live in tornado alley, and that storm I think originated here. I recall when it started VIVIDLY and I got chills thinking "why are there no sirens, that cannot seriously be just a thunderstorm." And then I heard about Washington, and it was just incredible devastation, reminiscent of Joplin.

What happened with the Sacred Heart vs Washington Football game...I cried my eyes out, such an amazing outpouring of support.
 

KristinTech

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woofmama|1385342929|3562262 said:
I live in the suburbs of Chicago. Was brought to tears seeing what happened in Washington and the surrounding area.
A local business owner took up a collection of all sorts of products to bring down there today. I sent a few hundred dollars worth of pet food, I'm in that business. I'm so sorry for everyones loss :nono:
Thank god your mom wasn't injured. Sorry about your dad. Hugs to you.

Thanks, woofmama, and thanks for your donation to the area. There was a large apartment complex in town (the only one, really), and several animal lovers were setting live traps for cats and small dogs today. Many pets have been recovered, thankfully. There was a big story this past week of a guy with a beard and a stocking cap who found his dog a day later in the rubble. I was in marching band with him! His FIL was my pediatrician. Again, it's all unreal. I'm thankful that Mom can volunteer up at our parish, she wants something to do to be helpful. Friends of ours who's house is unihabitable (but will be fixed) said they smiled for the first time in a week when she hostd them for dinner. :)

Tell your friends and neighbors to look for that "trash" in the bushes-- it could be my friend's memories! :) It has made everyone so happy to get them back.
 

KristinTech

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ame|1385345888|3562299 said:
HUGE hugs to you. I also live in tornado alley, and that storm I think originated here. I recall when it started VIVIDLY and I got chills thinking "why are there no sirens, that cannot seriously be just a thunderstorm." And then I heard about Washington, and it was just incredible devastation, reminiscent of Joplin.

What happened with the Sacred Heart vs Washington Football game...I cried my eyes out, such an amazing outpouring of support.

Sacred Heart-Griffin was outstanding. They announced on Monday--just 24 hours after the tornado!--that they would charter busses for the team and the fans, feed the team their superstitious PB&J before-game meal, and would feed the team and all the fans afterward. All additional funds going to the high school to do as they saw fit for the community. Incredible. The people lined the streets to see them off and a ton of emergency vehicles led them back into town at 5:15 yesterday. Sacred Heart's coach led both teams in prayer after the game and told Washington, "We're going to win the state for you, Washington." It's an awesome story, and has meant so much to the town to see the boys go to the state semi-finals. Stories like this are happening, big and small, all over my town. It is surreal, and these types of stories make me tear up, too.
 

AprilBaby

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I'm in Dupage county and people here are finding photos in their yards. Is there a FB or website to post them to get them back to their owners? So sorry for your home town!
 

packrat

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How awful! We were driving to the city yesterday, looking at the damage from the tornado that came thru a few weeks ago, and I mentioned to my husband that this one was bad (there was a couple two or three but only one came directly outside of our town before dispersing), but nothing compared to what I'd seen on the news from your area last weekend. I was really floored by the footage I'd seen. I do feel proud of the Midwest tho, when things like this happen, we band together and do what needs to be done for each other.
 

ame

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KristinTech|1385347813|3562316 said:
ame|1385345888|3562299 said:
HUGE hugs to you. I also live in tornado alley, and that storm I think originated here. I recall when it started VIVIDLY and I got chills thinking "why are there no sirens, that cannot seriously be just a thunderstorm." And then I heard about Washington, and it was just incredible devastation, reminiscent of Joplin.

What happened with the Sacred Heart vs Washington Football game...I cried my eyes out, such an amazing outpouring of support.

Sacred Heart-Griffin was outstanding. They announced on Monday--just 24 hours after the tornado!--that they would charter busses for the team and the fans, feed the team their superstitious PB&J before-game meal, and would feed the team and all the fans afterward. All additional funds going to the high school to do as they saw fit for the community. Incredible. The people lined the streets to see them off and a ton of emergency vehicles led them back into town at 5:15 yesterday. Sacred Heart's coach led both teams in prayer after the game and told Washington, "We're going to win the state for you, Washington." It's an awesome story, and has meant so much to the town to see the boys go to the state semi-finals. Stories like this are happening, big and small, all over my town. It is surreal, and these types of stories make me tear up, too.
It really is an amazing and moving thing they did. My brother played high school and college FB and he was saying that it is so incredible that the other school did such a thing, you'd like to assume that would happen always but it doesn't always enter the minds. It's just astounding to see everyone pull together. I wish it was like that ALWAYS, and not just after such tragedies.

I used to remark about how amazing one of the parents on my brother's college team was. This father/family owns a bbq joint (famous apparently, and even more being on a few Food Network shows, I just saw a rerun he was on like two weeks ago not even knowing he was ever on it) somewhere in Tennessee and for a lot of the games they played within a few hours drive, the guy would pack up a smoker, a huge trailer full of supplies, and he would set up a huge banquet for both teams, all the parents and families and coaches and staffs for both teams and any fans, all out of his own pocket, all free, as much as you wanted. He never had any branding on any of the stuff either, it was completely non-advertised. Since he and his own father and family ran it, the family did the work, and occasionally someone from the restaurant came along to help out if his parents didn't come with (they were not young, this guy easily in his 50s, I think the fball player was his youngest). The other schools would be totally blown away each time, just couldn't believe how kind he was. He just loved to bbq, and liked to share it with everyone. So very southern. It used to just give me serious chills that he was so nice (and amazing food, btw) and any leftovers he'd give to the boys to take back to have later.
 

KristinTech

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AprilBaby-- YES! There are a couple of big ones.

Tazewell County Document and Photo Recovery
PHOTOS found from November 17, 2013 Illinois Storms/Tornadoes
Found items from (central IL tornadoes) <-- not sure about this one, I couldn't locate it just now.

The sites have been so awesome, please let your local friends know how much this means to us! Local libraries have been collecting items and transferring them down to Morton Public Library (nearby town) for residents come to claim.

Thanks for asking. :)
 

KristinTech

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Ame-- Okay, I guess it's dinnertime, because that story made me HUNGRY! People really are amazing. Washington will never be the same after this -- in many sad ways for what was lost, and for many many more wonderful ways for the manner in which people came together. Really overwhelming to see it in person.
 
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