{"id":157,"date":"2013-12-09T17:29:34","date_gmt":"2013-12-09T23:29:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/?p=157"},"modified":"2013-12-11T18:38:58","modified_gmt":"2013-12-12T00:38:58","slug":"beneath-the-wreckage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/2013\/12\/09\/beneath-the-wreckage\/","title":{"rendered":"Beneath the Wreckage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beneath the Wreckage<\/h3>\n

By Alexandra Hess<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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Beneath the Wreckage<\/strong><\/h3>\n

By Alexandra Hess<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The frequency in tornados in Illinois has increased immensely throughout the years with a peak in 2006 of 124 occurrences.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy first thought was, where is my son?\u201d said Pawlias.<\/p>\n

Her son, Grant Pawlias went unscathed as he waited out the storm in their rental property.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m glad Grant didn\u2019t go to his father\u2019s because if he had, he wouldn\u2019t have gone to the basement. He would have stayed upstairs, and there is no upstairs anymore,\u201d said Pawlias.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey shut down the Illinois line, and they shut down the interstate we were traveling on because it was in the path of the tornados,\u201d said Pawlias.<\/p>\n

As the two left the restaurant to drive back to Washington, they could see the tornados behind them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the scariest thing I\u2019ve ever seen in my life,\u201d said Pawlias. \u201cThere were probably a dozen tails streaming down and the sky was the oddest color.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pawlias didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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\u2019t take it because we weren\u2019t allowed to take any salvage out yet. Your stuff\u2019s just sitting there and there\u2019s been reports of looting so you\u2019re worried that what little bit you have left, will be stolen,\u201d said Pawlias.<\/p>\n

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. \u00a0Team Rubicon helped tear the rest of their house down so they could rebuild. McDonalds drove around neighborhoods with hot sandwiches for the people working.\u00a0The 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were constantly volunteers and people helping us,\u201d said Pawlias. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t have done it without them.\u201d<\/p>\n

As days passed, Pawlias realized that she was better off than a lot of other people. Some of her neighbors didn\u2019t have insurance when their homes were destroyed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ended up taking money and giving it to other people because they didn\u2019t have insurance and now I have more than them,\u201d said Pawlias. \u201cI even found some of our family photos that ended up in Joliet through a Facebook page dedicated to finding lost photos and documents.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re lucky we have insurance. We\u2019re lucky we have what we have. We\u2019re lucky only two people were killed in our town,\u201d Said Pawlias. \u201cHuman beings are amazingly resilient.\u201d<\/p>\n

Washington Illinois Tornado Destruction<\/strong><\/h3>\n

This video<\/a>\u00a0shows an entire neighborhood in Washington three weeks after the tornado touched down.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/vimeo.com\/81349082<\/p>\n

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Rankings F0-F5<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Artwork courtesy of Skylr Harkness<\/p>\n

\"Tornado\"<\/a><\/p>\n