Beneath the Wreckage

By Alexandra Hess

The occurrence of tornados in Illinois have been increases for years. The most recent tornados touched down on Sunday November 17th. The city of Washington was hit by a level F4 tornado and took the largest toll as entire neighborhoods were reduced to rubble. However, the disaster brought the community together through relief efforts.

Beneath the Wreckage

By Alexandra Hess

PEORIA- Tornados scattered debris and belongings across cities on Nov. 17, killing two and leaving several Washington IL. residents injured in the process. In the past weeks, Washington residents received aid from a variety of organizations as they attempted to reassemble and rebuild their lives.

The frequency in tornados in Illinois has increased immensely throughout the years with a peak in 2006 of 124 occurrences.

When the tornado hit Washington, it was classified as an F4 with a wind speed of 190 mph and path of 46.2 miles. Several homes were damaged or destroyed in the process. In some instances, complete neighborhoods were flattened.

The Illinois National Guard sent a 10-person firefighting and search-and-rescue team to Washington to help residents in their recovery. People were found trapped in their basements after houses had collapsed.

Lori Pawlias, Washington resident, was lucky enough to have missed the tornados that destroyed her house. Pawlias ex-husband was not so fortunate. After the tornado reduced their home of 20 years to rubble, he was trapped in the basement for hours before rescue teams uncovered him.

Pawlias was driving back from Indianapolis when she stopped in an Olive Garden with her daughter to eat. It was there that she learned what was occurring at that moment in her hometown.

“My first thought was, where is my son?” said Pawlias.

Her son, Grant Pawlias went unscathed as he waited out the storm in their rental property.

“I’m glad Grant didn’t go to his father’s because if he had, he wouldn’t have gone to the basement. He would have stayed upstairs, and there is no upstairs anymore,” said Pawlias.

Although she discovered quickly that her family was unharmed, Pawlias soon lost contact with the entire city for hours. Pawlias and her daughter were unable to leave the Olive Garden in Indiana for three hours because they were in the path of the tornados. Everyone in the building took shelter in the kitchen until it was cleared that they could leave.

“They shut down the Illinois line, and they shut down the interstate we were traveling on because it was in the path of the tornados,” said Pawlias.

As the two left the restaurant to drive back to Washington, they could see the tornados behind them.

“It was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” said Pawlias. “There were probably a dozen tails streaming down and the sky was the oddest color.”

Pawlias didn’t get back into Washington until 7a.m. the next day because the city had a curfew the night before. When she entered the neighborhood, she had to show proof of residency to police officers who were guarding the city. After she picked up her son from the rental property, they drove to their house to see the damage. Mascara filled tears streamed town her cheeks as she described what she saw.

“I broke down. What was left of my life was spread out on the lawn. There was a silver tray on the lawn that belonged to my great grandma and grandpa but I couldn’t take it because we weren’t allowed to take any salvage out yet. Your stuff’s just sitting there and there’s been reports of looting so you’re worried that what little bit you have left, will be stolen,” said Pawlias.

Despite the pain that comes with the situation, Pawlias feels lucky to have what little was left, along with her family and a helpful community. People from her church organized to help Pawlias and her family pack up their home for storage.  Team Rubicon helped tear the rest of their house down so they could rebuild. McDonalds drove around neighborhoods with hot sandwiches for the people working. The American Red Cross helped in relief efforts to provide shelter for displaced residents.Caterpillar sent groups of men with bobcats to help move debris and a variety of other organizations came around with water, Gatorade, work gloves, protective eyewear and hand-warmers.

“There were constantly volunteers and people helping us,” said Pawlias. “We couldn’t have done it without them.”

As days passed, Pawlias realized that she was better off than a lot of other people. Some of her neighbors didn’t have insurance when their homes were destroyed.

“I ended up taking money and giving it to other people because they didn’t have insurance and now I have more than them,” said Pawlias. “I even found some of our family photos that ended up in Joliet through a Facebook page dedicated to finding lost photos and documents.”

“We’re lucky we have insurance. We’re lucky we have what we have. We’re lucky only two people were killed in our town,” Said Pawlias. “Human beings are amazingly resilient.”

Washington Illinois Tornado Destruction

This video shows an entire neighborhood in Washington three weeks after the tornado touched down.

http://vimeo.com/81349082

Rankings F0-F5

Artwork courtesy of Skylr Harkness

• F0 (Gale): Does little damage and has a wind speed of 40-72 mph.
• F1 (Weak): Minor damage with a wind speed between 73-112 mph.
• F2 (Strong): Roofs begin to blow off with a wind speed between 113-157 mph.
• F3 (Severe): Walls begin to collapse with a wind speed between 158-206 mph.
• F4 (Devastating): Buildings get blown down with a wind speed between 207-260 mph.
• F5 (Incredible): Buildings get blown away with a wind speed between 261-319 mph.

Tornados are ranked on a scale from F0-F5. This scale characterizes a tornado by it’s intensity and area. They estimate this by estimating a wind speed after looking at the damage caused by the tornado. The above depiction of the 6 types of tornadoes would be an interactive graphic. You could click on each one individually and it would describe the tornado.

Illinois Tornado Activities 1980-2012

The above statistics show the increase in tornado activity in Illinois through 1980-2012. The average number of tornados (events) from 2008-2012 are 54.6 while the average between 1980-1985 is only 24.2. In addition to this, the year with the most tornados was 2006 with 124 events.