Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Before and after the storm: The heartbreaking aerial photos that show the incredible scale of tornado destruction in Illinois town

Wreckage: A tattered American flag is tangled in a tree as the sun sets on Washington Monday night. Officials estimate the damage at many millions of dollars

  • Winds reached 200mph in Washington, Illinois, when a tornado tore through the middle of town Sunday night
  • Six people are dead and dozens of homes have been leveled
By Daily Mail Reporter and Reuters Reporter
|

Aerial photos of Washington, Illinois, show the heartbreaking scale of the description visited on the town after tornadoes touched down there Sunday night. 

Eighty one separate twisters were reported across the Midwest. The devastating storm outbreak brought winds of up to 200mph that flattened hundreds of homes and killed six people. 

Residents of Washington, a downstate town of 15,000, were left to pick up the pieces Monday and begin recovering from the disaster. 

Bits of American flags and insulation from destroyed houses clung to trees that had been stripped of most of their branches and remaining leaves by the twister. 

Scroll down for video
Devastating: This quiet residential block was utterly destroyed by the tornado that touched down Sunday night
Devastating: This quiet residential block was utterly destroyed by the tornado that touched down Sunday night
Devastated: Entire neighborhoods of Washington, Illinois have been reduced to rubble
Devastated: Entire neighborhoods of Washington, Illinois have been reduced to rubble
Heartbreaking: Only from the air can the immense scale of the destruction in Washington, Illinois, truly be seen. Hundreds of homes were reduced to splinters by tornadoes that brought 200mph winds
Heartbreaking: Only from the air can the immense scale of the destruction in Washington, Illinois, truly be seen. Hundreds of homes were reduced to splinters by tornadoes that brought 200mph winds

Picking up the pieces: Some residents returned home to survey the wreckage of their homes Monday and retrieve what they could - though some had very, very little left Picking up the pieces: Some residents returned home to survey the wreckage of their homes Monday and retrieve what they could - though some had very, very little left



Police were keeping residents from returning to the storm-hit area, where buildings were destroyed and cars turned upside down, out of concern that people could be injured while attempting to retrieve possessions.

Ryan Bowers, 33, and his wife Andrea, 32, briefly returned to retrieve a family Bible and pink baby rattle that was their 2-1/2-year-old daughter Sydney's favorite toy.
'We're back here just to get any idea of what everything looks like,' Ryan Bowers said. 'We have what's important. My wife and daughter are OK. That's all I can ask for.'

The couple, their daughter and the family's dogs, hid in their basement when the storm roared through Washington. They emerged to find their neighborhood destroyed.
As they picked through the wreckage of their home, a police officer approached and told them they had to leave.

Mayor Gary Manier said authorities were keeping evacuated residents away out of concern that the remaining structures were dangerously unstable.
'I know it's frustrating for people,' Manier said amid piles of rubble. 'I'd be frustrated. I'd want to be looking for pictures.'

Manier estimated that 250 to 500 homes had been destroyed by the tornado, rated as the second-most powerful magnitude of twister, which hit the city east of Peoria with winds of 166 to 200 miles per hour.
Leveled: Nothing could withstand the force of the 200mph winds that the fast-moving storms brought to the region Sunday night
Leveled: Nothing could withstand the force of the 200mph winds that the fast-moving storms brought to Washington, Illinois, Sunday night
Not even trees were spared the devastating winds. This wooded grove behind a neighborhood was left utterly destroyed by the tornado
Not even trees were spared the devastating winds. This wooded grove behind a neighborhood was left utterly destroyed by the tornado

Nothing remains of this house except the foundation and concrete steps. The entire structure was swept away by the violent storm
Nothing remains of this house except the foundation and concrete steps. The entire structure was swept away by the violent storm

Force of nature: A small, pink baby bed somehow survived the winds. It was one of the few things this family could salvage from the home
Force of nature: A small, pink baby bed somehow survived the winds. It was one of the few things this family could salvage from their home


The storm killed three people in Massac Country, two in Washington County and one in the city of Washington, in Tazewell County, said Patti Thompson of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.

Illinois State Police spokesman Dustin Pierce said about 120 people were injured in Washington.

BASEMENT SAFE HAVENS

Survivors of the storm said they rode it out in their basements, which are common in homes in the affected area, a fact that may have helped hold down the death toll, officials said. In May, a monster, top-category tornado killed 24 people in Moore, Oklahoma, a part of the United States where basements are less common.

Nancy Rampy, 62, said she fled to her basement when she heard the storm sirens blaring on Sunday.

'It got real calm and I knew that was bad because I've been in a tornado before. And then I heard what sounded like 12 trains, just roaring down the tracks, and it just wouldn't stop. It just kept coming and coming,' Rampy said. 'I ran to the basement, sat in the basement with my flashlight in the dark and just prayed let it be over soon.'
Rampy's house was spared.

'The good news is the tornado warning system worked, so there wasn't a lot of loss of life,' said U.S. Representative Aaron Schock, a Republican whose district includes Washington. 'These people knew what was coming, and they were smart and took cover.'
Entire square blocks were wiped out by the twister that tore through the downstate town Sunday. The death toll thus far stands at six
Entire square blocks were wiped out by the twister that tore through the downstate town Sunday. The death toll thus far stands at six

Cars and SUV were flung around like kindling by the storm. The white sedan and the blue SUV sit in what remains of tow garages in a subdivision
Cars and SUV were flung around like kindling by the storm. The white sedan and the blue SUV sit in what remains of tow garages in a subdivision

This is what remains of an apartment building. The roof has been torn entirely off the top floor units and several walls have collapsed
This is what remains of an apartment building. The roof has been torn entirely off the top floor units and several walls have collapsed

Officials and residents have not even begun to calculate the cost of the devastation
Officials and residents have not even begun to calculate the cost of the devastation


Two people, an 80-year-old man and his 78-year-old sister, were killed in Washington County, Illinois, about 200 miles south of Peoria, county Coroner Mark Styninger said.

Three others were killed in Massac County, Illinois, on the Kentucky border, where a tornado devastated several neighborhoods, emergency officials said.

The American Red Cross has worked with emergency management officials to set up shelters and provide assistance.

In neighboring Kentucky, the storm system damaged several homes in the western part of the state, ripping shingles and gutters from roofs, scattering tree limbs and taking down power lines. But no one died and no injuries were reported, according to Kentucky Emergency Management spokesman Buddy Rogers.

'We literally dodged a bullet,' he said. 'When you look across the river (into Illinois), there are places that are just wiped out. But we're in good shape.'

The unusual late-season storms moved dangerously fast, tracking east at 60 miles per hour, with the bulk of the damage spanning about five hours, Thompson said. Remnants of the storm sent rain and wind to the northeastern United States on Monday morning.

The storm knocked down power lines across the Midwest and power companies reported that some 786,600 homes and businesses were without electricity on Monday. Michigan had the largest number of outages, with Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, West Virginia and Pennsylvania also feeling the storm's aftermath.


Wreckage: A tattered American flag is tangled in a tree as the sun sets on Washington Monday night. Officials estimate the damage at many millions of dollars
Wreckage: A tattered American flag is tangled in a tree as the sun sets on Washington Monday night. Officials estimate the damage at many millions of dollars

Two residents sift through the rubble of their home after returning to find nothing but splinters on Monday
Two residents sift through the rubble of their home after returning to find nothing but splinters on Monday

This three-quarter-ton Dodge Ram pickup truck was wrapped around a tree after it collided at high speed in the storm
This three-quarter-ton Dodge Ram pickup truck was wrapped around a tree after it collided at high speed in the storm


No comments:

Post a Comment