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SheShark
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« on: June 10, 2008, 02:24:48 am »

Chicago area tornadoes for south suburbs.
http://www.southtownstar.com/news/994249,060808bigstorm.article


Twisters tear through the Southland

June 8, 2008Recommend (12)

By staff writers Dennis Robaugh, Phil Kadner, Shenequa A. Golding, David Schwab and Paula Carlson
When Yvonne Afriyie heard the blare of a tornado siren in Richton Park, she dashed into the bathroom of her third-floor apartment and crouched in the tub. Two minutes later, after the twister passed over her block, she looked out her patio window.

"I could see right into the lady's bedroom across the way. It was all gone," Afriyie said, looking over at the Richton Square Courts apartment complex where the building's third floor was torn away. "I could see her TV set, I could see her closet, I could see everything. I saw the poor lady a few minutes later coming out with garbage bags trying to pick up her clothes.

» Click to enlarge image
 
Anthony Watson stands near a pile of debris in the Arbors of Hickory Creek. Exhausted, he said the door felt like someone was trying to push it open from the outside.
(Mary Compton/SouthtownStar)

» Click to enlarge image
 
Concerned residents of Arbors of Hickory Creek check out the damage done to their buildings after a tornado touched down Saturday.
(Mary Compton/SouthtownStar)

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Audrey Broyles, a resident of Arbors of Hickory Creek, stands near a tree wrapped with a a piece of tin roof by a tornado Saturday.
(Mary Compton/SouthtownStar_
"If it had hit my building, I would have been killed."

Tornadoes swept through the south suburbs Saturday evening - passing through Frankfort, Richton Park, Chicago Heights and into Indiana - snapping power lines and stripping rooftops from buildings.

Late Saturday, officials hadn't reported any loss of life but a number of people suffered minor injuries.

The largest tornado at times was half a mile wide, according to the National Weather Service. The storm came in from the southeast and moved northeast through Livingston, Grundy and Will counties before passing through southeast Cook County shortly before 7 p.m. and into Indiana.

A tornado touched the ground at 6:04 p.m. just southwest of Monee and moved northeast at 26 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service.

On Interstate 57, several semi trucks and cars were overturned in the southbound lanes near Stuenkel Road, including a semi truck that blocked all lanes of traffic, said Illinois State Police Trooper Mark Dorencz. One person was hurt. Troopers closed a three-mile stretch of highway.

The twisters downed power lines, damaged a sportsman's club in rural Will County, tore rooftops off apartment buildings and damaged homes near Frankfort.

The heaviest damage appeared to be in Richton Park. A total of 74 families were being housed Saturday night at Rich South High School in Richton Park, according to Richton Park Fire Capt. Scot Allen.

Melissa Voss was working at the Aurelio's Pizza on Sauk Trail in Richton Park as the storm approached.

She and the other employees at the pizza place gathered behind the counter and looked out the front window when they heard a noise that "sounded like a train," Voss said. They saw a black cloud and debris flying everywhere.

"It must've been the apartment building that was hit," she said.

An abandoned carwash about 50 feet from Aurelio's had its roof ripped off, too. Throughout town, pieces of roofing could be seen wrapped around trees. Residents wandered about checking the damage to their homes.

Mayor Rick Reinbold called it "a miracle" nobody in town was killed.

At 6:53 p.m., a tornado was spotted about two miles north of Chicago Heights near Interstate 80 on the Illinois-Indiana border, according to the National Weather Service.

"Most tornados are on the ground for a minute or two, but they can last up to an hour. This one (was) on the ground for a while," meteorologist Gino Izzi said.

The twisters' path

At 4:45 p.m., police spotted a tornado in Livingston County. The twister moved through Grundy County and was in Will County, near Godley, by 5:20 p.m. where it reportedly touched down, according to the National Weather Service. At 5:23, a tornado touched down again near Essex in Kankakee County, downing large trees and snapping power lines.

At 5:40 p.m., police near Wilmington saw a half-mile-wide tornado on the ground, still moving northeast. A few minutes later, a tornado was on the ground in Manteno. Just before 6 p.m., a tornado was spotted on the ground just south of Frankfort. In Green Garden Township, homes were damaged and trailers in rural areas were overturned.

A trained spotter for the National Weather Service followed the storm, reporting power lines down 5 to 10 miles south of Frankfort. The storm continued heading northeast. The skies darkened over Mokena and Tinley and rain fell, but the center of the storm headed toward Richton Park and Chicago Heights.

Four houses were reportedly damaged at Manhattan-Monee Road and Harlem Avenue.

At this point, two funnels could be seen in the stormclouds as they passed through.

At 6:20 p.m., a multiple vortex tornado, meaning multiple funnels, was spied at Interstate 57 and Stuenkel Road in Will County. The tornado crossed Interstate 57 and headed toward Richton Park, crossing Governors Highway.

Heavy rains were reported in Homewood and Flossmoor - 1.3 inches of rain fell in 45 minutes - but the tornado skirted those towns as it headed toward Indiana. Shortly before 7 p.m., power outages reported in the 1500 block of Hanover on the East Side of Chicago Heights. There were reports near 16th Street and East End Avenue of stop signs blown over and electrical wires down.

Michael Sabo, director of city projects for Chicago Heights, said the twister moved directly over his neighbor's house, but didn't hit ground.

"I've never seen anything like this in my life," Sabo said.

'We're grateful we're alive'

A tornado was on the ground between Richton Park and University Park about 6:30 p.m.

In its wake, Richton Park homeowner Debbie Bulliner, 47, surveyed her home. She took shelter in her basement. Her kitchen wall was blown in and eight windows were shattered.

"It felt like a freight train was coming in my house. I could feel the wind, It felt like the whole house was blowing away. I was praying to God the whole house wouldn't cave in. I'm shaken. Looking at the devastation, I could have been killed. This is material. This can be replaced. We're grateful we're alive."

Her 10-year-old daughter, Helena, took stock of her own belongings, too.

"At least my bedroom is OK," she said.

Nearby homeowner Larry Smith, 50, was watching "what used to be a real great garage" now leaning to one side in a slow fall toward the ground.

"The storm came in within seconds. It didn't take no time ... just blew everything apart. There was three to five seconds of shaking and it was gone."

Still, Smith was upbeat.

His classic 1970 Chevelle escaped damage.

Shelter under a blanket

In Will County, just west of Harlem Avenue and south of Monee-Manhattan Road, in the 26900 block of Center Road, the storm blew out the back wall of Dan McManigal's master bedroom. From outside the house, one could see his king-sized bed. Pieces of the wall were found a half block away.

McManigal was not home at the time of the storm and was grateful his two dogs and two cats were not hurt.

Nearby, at Center and Pauling, Nicole DeLuco was baby-sitting a young child.

"It sounded like a freight train went through the house," she said. "I heard glass busting upstairs."

Glass flew down into the basement where they took shelter under blankets.

The storm demolished a barn on the property and scattered pieces of a playground set everywhere.

Farther east, the tornado passed through a beach near a private lake at the South Wilmington Sportsman Club, 24628 County Line Road in Wilmington.

"It went through the middle of the beach," said Lindell Roberts, a member of the club's board of directors. "We have a lot of trees down and power lines and stuff like that. A lot of big trees were blown down and limbs lost."

Roberts said nobody was injured and lifeguards evacuated the beach about an hour before the storms arrival. Members of the clubs were sent to various buildings on the ground. None of the buildings were damaged, Roberts said.

You've got to have priorities

For one woman, the imminent threat of a twister and TV warnings wouldn't send her scurrying for cover.

"Yes, I saw them," she said of the tornado alerts on her television. "I was watching the baseball game. They kept interrupting my baseball game."

A twister blew through and tore the rooftop off an apartment building nearby, but she didn't budge. The Cubs and Dodgers game was tied.

"I wanted to see who would win."

Asked for her name, she said, "you can call me Jane Doe."

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