4 dead in tornadoes
The Associated Press
Published April 20, 2004, 10:48 PM CDT
UTICA -- A severe storm spawning tornadoes cut a swath through north central Illinois on Tuesday, tearing the roof off an elementary school, collapsing buildings and killing at least four people, authorities said.
Bill Burke, director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, said the state Department of Public Health had confirmed four fatalities in Utica.
A state trooper had earlier said four people were missing in the wreckage of a collapsed tavern there. Four other people from the Utica area, three of them children, were hospitalized with injuries, officials said.
In the Chicago suburb of Joliet, City Manager John Mezera said a roof had collapsed at a drug store. In Granville, about 60 homes were damaged and a bank lost its roof when three suspected tornados passed through Putnam County, said Patti Thompson, an IEMA spokeswoman.
At least 15,000 homes were without power across three counties Tuesday night.
The hardest hit among the cities appeared to be Utica, a town of about 1,000 residents near Starved Rock State Park, 90 miles southwest of Chicago.
Dozens of buildings in a three- to four-block area of the city were damaged, several of them collapsed in mounds of brick and splintered wood, said state Trooper Tim Reppin. Four people were confirmed injured, three of them children according to hospital officials, and four others were believed to have been in a tavern that collapsed, he said.
"This would equate to what I saw in Plainfield 10 or 15 years ago," Reppin said, referring to the Aug. 28, 1990, tornado that killed 29 people and damaged more than 1,000 homes along a 16-miles path near Joliet.
"Our thoughts are with the families involved in this incident," he said.
Jeff Whalen, 39, a LaSalle County deputy who lives just outside downtown Utica, said his 7-year-old daughter, Samantha, heard the tornado sirens and the family ran to the basement. They waited for a few minutes, then came back upstairs thinking nothing was happening.
When he looked out his kitchen window, he saw the tornado.
"It was about the size of four houses" and was dark with lots of debris swirling, he said. "It's one of those things you see once in a lifetime."
State Rep. Careen Gordon, whose district includes LaSalle County, said she had been in contact with the Gov. Rod Blagojevich's office and planned to ask the governor for emergency funds on Wednesday. She said Blagojevich was aware of the situation.
Blagojevich spokeswoman Cheryle Jackson said the governor planned to go the region to assess the damage, though she did not how soon.
Under generated-powered lights in downtown Utica, crews of police officers, firefighters and other emergency crews worked through the night Tuesday, carefully pulling away debris from several collapsed buildings in a search for anyone who might still be trapped inside.
Reppin said four people were rescued from the wreckage of buildings and were treated at a high school before being taken to hospitals. Gene Vogelgesang, a spokesman for Illinois Valley Community Hospital in Peru, said the injured were children ages 8, 11 and 16 and a woman in her 40s. He would not release details about their injuries or conditions.
Steve Beckcom, owner of Joe's Station House Pizzeria in Utica, said he could see buildings in the city's older downtown area that had been severely damaged and some that had collapsed.
"It looks like buildings down there are no longer standing," Beckcom said by phone from the restaurant. "I am shocked. This is definitely crazy."
Sam Zulbeari, who owns Ali's Pantry Family Restaurant in downtown Granville, said trees were toppled and cars and stores have broken windows but his business wasn't damaged.
"It happened so quick, we just ran to basement," Zulbeari said. "We got scared a little bit, but we're lucky we didn't get hurt ... It's just miserable."
The National Weather Service said a severe thunderstorm and tornado warning was issued for much of northern Illinois and tornados had also reportedly touched down in Will and Kankakee Counties.
My prayers go out to everyone in the Utica area.
