Local Tornado Victims

At least 19 people were injured and dozens of homes and businesses were destroyed as a line of severe weather spawning one or more tornadoes slammed into the Springfield area Wednesday afternoon. The Sangamon County communities of Williamsville and Loami were the hardest hit.
Two of the 12 people taken to St. John’s Hospital were admitted in fair condition, according to Roscoe Cook, nursing coordinator. One was injured when a car was flipped by the wind and the other was blown off his motorcycle, Cook said.The other 10 were treated and released.At Memorial Medical Center, seven people were being treated for weather-related injuries Wednesday night. None was expected to be admitted, a nursing supervisor said.The destruction in Williamsville, about 10 miles north of Springfield, appeared to be the worst.Thirteen-year-old Ryan Degner was home alone when the tornado crossed Interstate 55 and pummeled the town of 1,400.

** Listen to Ryan tell his story **

"I heard a boom — glass breaking, stuff falling off the side of our house, and I freaked out,” said Degner, who'd gone to the basement. “I was thinking about the cat, and my mom and my brothers and stuff; they were at the baby sitter’s. They’re all right and everything.”About five minutes later, he said he went upstairs to find the side of the home they’ve lived in for six years was gone.“I started crying and freaking out,” he said.For Loami, about 10 miles southwest of Springfield, it was the second time in less than six months that a tornado, or suspected tornado, had struck.Authorities said 10 homes were destroyed, and another dozen were severely damaged.IN SUMMARY

Williamsville

About 25 structures severely damaged or destroyed, mostly on the northwest side of town.
Williamsville Christian Church badly damaged.

Casey's General Store heavily damaged; Williamsville Route 66 Antique Mall destroyed.
Entire town without power.

Emergency shelter set up at Williamsville Community Center, 141 W. Main St.
Loami

Ten homes destroyed. Another dozen badly damaged.

Trees, limbs and power lines down throughout the area, limiting access to some sections of the community.

Scattered areas without electricity and phone service.
Springfield
Trees and power lines down along East Lake Shore Drive near Vivian Lane and Parkway Drive.
AreawideInjuries
Nineteen people treated at Springfield hospitals' emergency rooms for storm-related injuries. Two admitted in fair condition with the rest treated and released or expected to be.
Power failures
City Water, Light and Power reported 3,300 customers without electricity at the height of the storm at 3:30 p.m. That number was down to about 265 by about 9 p.m.
AmerenCILCO reported 1,137 outages in Sangamon County at 8:30 p.m., including 689 in Williamsville and 97 in Loami.

WILLIAMSVILLE:

Storm leaves destruction, injuries A church was damaged beyond repair, two businesses were destroyed, roofs were ripped off homes, and several people were injured, though none seriously.

Recovering from Wednesday’s tornado is going to take some time.

Early estimates were that 20 to 25 homes in the town of 1,400 that’s 10 miles north of Springfield were severely damaged or destroyed. The injuries included two motorcyclists caught in the storm, a worker at Williamsville Christian Church who was hurt by a collapsing wall and a man who was injured when the winds hit his house, said Sangamon County Sheriff Neil Williamson.

“From my experience and what I’ve seen, it was a tornado,” Williamson said. “You can tell by the way the trees are bent, the roofs are taken off the houses, and the way the boards are driven into the sides of buildings.”

Most of the damage was on the north and northwest sides of town. Rescuers, as well as concerned neighbors, went from home to home immediately after the storm, and the Sangamon County Rescue Squad conducted a second search with specially trained dogs.

“We don’t have any reports of anybody who is missing, but again, somebody could be missing and we just don’t know about it yet,” said Bill Russell, deputy coordinator of the Sangamon County Office of Emergency Management.

Church ‘is gone’As rescuers searched the area, Pastor David Beals of Williamsville Christian Church stood near a line of yellow police tape. He had been inside the church when the tornado hit.

“We had some kids from the community that were coming over to the church because they heard the storm was coming,” Beals said. “I told the kids to go down in the basement. I heard some sound, and I looked outside and saw debris falling.

”Instead of heading for the basement himself, Beals said he ran to the sanctuary to warn some workers who were doing a remodeling job. As he was running up a ramp that connects the old part of the church to the newer portion, “I was picked up in the air and slammed against the wall,” Beals said. “I saw one of the workers come out of the sanctuary, and he jumped over the railing to get down in the basement. “We ended up on the ground together.”Beals said it appears the church building was destroyed. The kids in the basement were not hurt.“The building is gone, but the church is still here. The church is the people,” Beals said.

‘Didn’t last two minutes’One of the Williamsville residents who rode out the storm in his home was Allen Schnellenberger. He said his neighbor and his neighbor’s two children joined him when the tornado sirens sounded.

They were watching television and thought the worst had passed, when they heard a bolt of lighting hit, which apparently knocked out their power. They heard another boom, and then the tornado arrived, blowing out the basement windows.

Everybody ran to the center of the basement to get away from the debris.

“It didn’t last two minutes. It sucked the basement windows out, and it was gone,”Schnellenberger said.

Part of his roof was torn off, and all of the windows were blown out.

Despite the damage, Schnellenberger was taking the loss in stride. His wife, Rose, passed away unexpectedly a few months ago, which puts the damage to the house in perspective, he said.“I’m kind of numb. Nothing bothers me anymore,” Schnellenberger said. “It’s just a house. Compared to losing my wife, this is nothing.”Rode it out in a pickup

The Casey’s General Store near Interstate 55 also was severely damaged.

Casey’s employee Helen Blake of Athens said it suddenly got very dark, and a customer came in and said, “It’s here.”

A few people took shelter in a bathroom, while others, including Blake, headed for a walk-in cooler.

“We heard a big bang and could hear the glass flying. I was scared for my life,” Blake said.

Sherman resident Bill Lillard didn’t make it into the Casey’s.

He was about ready to pull into the parking lot when the storm hit.

There was no time to run for cover, so he rode out the storm in the cab of his Chevrolet pickup.

“There was nothing to do but hold on,” Lillard said. “I wasn’t sure if the truck was going to stay on the ground.”

Several windows on the truck were blown out, but luckily, it remained upright.

“It was raining so hard and blowing so hard, you couldn’t see anything,” said Lillard, who suffered a few scratches from the broken glass.

Two cyclists injured Williamson said two male motorcyclists had just gotten off the interstate near Casey’s when the worst of the weather hit.

“They drove right into the storm,” the sheriff said. “When I last saw them, they were laying on the ground. They had neck braces on. They were banged up pretty good.”

As of 8:45 p.m., 689 of the 692 AmerenCILCO customers in Williamsville still were without power.

Leigh Morris, spokesman for Ameren Illinois Utilities, said the utility expected that half would have power restored overnight.

Police blocked off the severely damaged area of town, though by late Wednesday, they were escorting people back to the damaged structures so they could get medicine and other necessities.

A curfew is in effect until 6 a.m. today, Williamson said.John Reynolds can be reached at 788-1524.Route 66 Antique Mall in Williamsville destroyed
Jack Caldwell, one of five owners of the Williamsville Route 66 Antique Mall, said it appears that Wednesday’s tornado touched down first in a cornfield directly west of his building.

Two employees were in the one-story structure just off Interstate 55 as the storm approached. They sought shelter in a closet.“And the only area that’s standing is an office, a break room and the closet,” Caldwell said in a phone interview.

Caldwell, who lives in Williamsville, got to the antique mall within about five minutes of the tornado’s arrival.

He stopped and saw the two employees, and then “the building — it was just gone.

”The mall, which houses about antique 100 dealers, is nearing its 10-year anniversary, opening in Nov. 1, 2000.— Deana Poole
Red Cross arrives on scene in Williamsville
WILLIAMSVILLE — By late Wednesday, Red Cross volunteers had set up a shelter for displaced residents at the Williamsville Community Center, 141 W. Main St.

At 9:30 p.m., volunteers were setting up cots for 12 people who planned to stay overnight, shelter manager Ann Dixon said.

About 10 families registered at the shelter over the course of the evening. Dozens of residents along with emergency responders moved in and out of the facility to take a break and eat soup, salad and other food items donated by the nearby Blucat Café.

The restaurant wasn’t damaged but did lose power, so employees brought the food over to the shelter so it wouldn’t go to waste. The Red Cross also provided food from McDonald’s.

At about 7:30 p.m., the building’s generator overheated, causing it to lose power. Dixon said Williamsville Junior High School will serve as a shelter if power is not restored or an overflow occurs at the community center.

Lawrence McVickers, 76, was at the shelter, talking to neighbors and helping himself to a bowl of hot soup.

The lifelong resident of Williamsville and his wife, Margie, also 76, were in the basement of their bungalow, catty-corner from Williamsville Christian Church, when the storm hit. The couple heard the sirens and decided to take cover.

“We felt a change in pressure, Margie really felt it,” he said. “It broke all the windows out… the back part (of the house) lost the roof. In the front part, the roof is still on, but all the windows are gone. It’s a big mess.”McVickers said the couple would be staying with his brother-in-law Wednesday night. He said it’s too soon to know what the couple will do in the long run since the house is inhabitable. Last July marked the couple’s 10th anniversary in the house. He credited first responders’ quick actions to help the couple evacuate. “They came and got us right away,” he said.

LOAMI: 10 homes destroyed, 12 damaged

LOAMI — A suspected tornado destroyed 10 homes and severely damaged another dozen Wednesday afternoon, the second time this year the community 10 miles southwest of Springfield has been struck.

There were injuries, authorities said, but none was serious.

Whether it was straight-line winds or a tornado that hit about 3:30 p.m. had not been determined.

The worst damage happened near Mill and Witt streets and John’s Creek Road, said Chief Deputy Jack Campbell of the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office. Many homes along East Loami Road also were damaged and left without electricity or phone lines.

As the severe weather approached and the tornado sirens went off, Chandra Ushman, 32, who lives on Mill Street, got out of her parked van, shut the garage door and told her three children to head for the basement.

“My kids were crying,” she said. “I had to walk my dog down (the stairs).”Once downstairs, Ushman began praying.“The pressure was unreal,” she said. “My house started creaking. I threw myself on top of my kids. My dog had his nose pressed against me the whole time.”

Then everything went still. She started hearing water pouring into her basement.“I didn’t know how to get out, and I didn’t have a (phone) signal,” she said. “I was too scared to get out of the basement.”

She and her three children eventually had to walk barefoot through glass after learning they couldn’t get out of one of the doors. A neighbor helped them out another door.

Twice in six monthsVillage President Alan Mann said he’s certain Loami will bounce back again.

“Everything can be rebuilt. I know it’s hard for people to realize it, but we’re OK,” he said. “... We knew it was coming, and we had plenty of alarm.”Mann said that’s unlike the tornado that hit March 8, destroying half a dozen homes.“This time, we knew 30 minutes before it hit,” Mann said. “Last time, we didn’t.”For cattle farmer R.P. Minder, 83, a lifetime’s worth of work was swept away in a matter of minutes.“The tornado hit and tore her all to hell,” he said.Minder was home alone at the time, standing in his garage on East Loami Road when he knew from the strength of the wind that it was time to head to the basement.

A few minutes later, Minder walked upstairs and looked outside. A large barn, a cattle shed, a storage building and two grain bins were destroyed. One of the two bins was carried more than a hundred yards from its foundation.

Minder said he’s thankful that he and his wife, Wilma, 73, weren’t injured.“We worked all our lives and finally had it built up nice like we wanted it, and in 20 minutes, it was gone,” Minder said.

“It’s a bad situation, but neither one of us were hurt and that means a lot.” ‘Sucker came fast’Just down the road, Pat and Theresa Gaffney were home with a mechanic who had come over to fix their lawnmower.“It was just raining, and it didn’t look that bad,” Pat Gaffney, 79, said. “That sucker came fast and was gone fast.”The mechanic had just walked over to the Gaffneys’ door to talk to them and was about to walk back to his truck. Luckily, he didn’t.

Several trees in the yard were uprooted or damaged, several of them totaling the mechanic’s truck.About 97 AmerenCILCO customers in Loami were still without power at 8:45 p.m., according to Leigh Morris, spokesman for Ameren Illinois Utilities. Morris said he expected power to be restored to all customers overnight except those who could not have it restored as a safety precaution.

There was no need to set up an emergency shelter in Loami, authorities said, because everyone displaced by the storm had somewhere else to stay.In Morgan CountyBefore reaching Loami, the storm downed trees and power lines in Morgan County, where there was an initial report of a tornado. Sheriff Randy Duvendack said no injuries were reported. At least two houses were damaged, he said, one significantly.

He said the damage was concentrated in three locations — on Leetham Road near Nortonville, on Heart’s Prairie Road and Clevenger Road.
Staff writer Deana Poole and staff photographer Jason Johnson contributed to this report. Rhys Saunders can be reached at 788-1521.