Latest / Illinois Valley - Shaw Local / ‘It’s in your backyard’: South Streator residents recount frightening moments as tornado touched down

Transcript

‘It’s in your backyard’: South Streator residents recount frightening moments as tornado touched down · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: It's in your backyard. South Streeter residence recount frightening moments
• 0:08
  as tornado touchdown Written by Bill Frescos. This article is
• 0:14
  being read by an automated voice brought to you by Everlett.
• 0:19
  A tornado had touched down Friday in an open crop
• 0:22
  field off East twelfth Street near South Street Or, leaving
• 0:25
  those nearby scrambling for shelter. I was driving home and
• 0:30
  heard about it earlier, but honestly just thought it was
• 0:32
  a regular old tornado watch or warning. Streeter resident Riley
• 0:36
  Parcher said, I didn't think much of it until my
• 0:39
  wife called and said a tornado actually touchdown and I
• 0:42
  needed to get home or to shelter. Riley's wife, Sarah Parcher,
• 0:46
  said she didn't take it very seriously until a call
• 0:49
  from her dad. I didn't think much of it either
• 0:52
  before my dad called, and he lives nearby Root seventeen
• 0:56
  near Twin Creeks Road and told me he saw it touchdown.
• 0:59
  Sarah Parcher said, he told me, get to you, yor Staseman,
• 1:02
  it's in your backyard. Riley hustled home and got out
• 1:06
  of his car in time to witness the massive, wedge
• 1:09
  shaped tornado tearing through the fields behind his house. We
• 1:13
  didn't have any damage, luckily, Riley Parcher said, but we
• 1:17
  know some people lost a lot. Hayley Fleming said she
• 1:20
  noticed conditions change rapidly after returning home from Aldi around
• 1:24
  five twenty pm. The sky was completely beige and the
• 1:28
  winds were picking up. Fleming said, I got my kids
• 1:31
  down into the basement, moved my car, and when I
• 1:34
  came back outside, I could see the debris in the
• 1:36
  sky just south of here. I said, that's the tornado.
• 1:40
  Fleming said. Within minutes after getting back home, the atmosphere
• 1:43
  became eerily quiet, and the power briefly went out before returning.
• 1:48
  When I came back out, it was right there, coming
• 1:51
  through the cornfield, she said. Since then, I've just been
• 1:54
  staying sheltered with my kids and checking on family around
• 1:57
  town to make sure they're okay. As of nine pm
• 2:00
  on Thursday night, Streeter Mayor Tara Badi said there were
• 2:03
  no confirmed fatalities. Despite early reports. LaSalle County Sheriff Adam
• 2:09
  Diss reported multiple houses were damaged, with one injury, but
• 2:13
  it was not life threatening. In a statement on Thursday night,
• 2:17
  Streeter officials said to avoid the impacted areas to allow
• 2:20
  emergency crews to work safely. The statement said those areas
• 2:24
  include Airport Road and the Barlow Edition, including John Street,
• 2:28
  Saratoga Lane, Sunbury Drive, and Twelfth Street between Otter Creek
• 2:32
  Road and Saratoga Lane. We are incredibly grateful for the
• 2:36
  safety of our residents and the quick action of emergency
• 2:39
  personnel both in Streeter and regionally, Bedai wrote in a statement.
• 2:44
  Recovery efforts will continue in the coming days, and additional
• 2:48
  updates will be provided as information becomes available. Residents are
• 2:53
  encouraged to monitor the city's Facebook page for updates or
• 2:56
  call eight one five six seven to two two five
• 2:58
  one seven x twelve forty for any questions. SHAW Local
• 3:03
  News Network Senior reporter Tom Collins contributed to this story.