Saturday, April 11, 2015

Tornado ruins 30 homes in Rochelle; 2 dead in Fairdale - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

 

  • By Ben Stanley
    Rockford Register Star

    Posted Apr. 10, 2015 at 7:00 AM
    Updated Apr 10, 2015 at 5:34 PM

  • Rubble photographed Friday, April 10, 2015, at Grubsteakers restaurant in Rochelle, which was damaged by a tornado the previous night.SUNNY STRADER/RRSTAR.COM | Rubble photographed Friday, April 10, 2015, at Grubsteakers restaurant in Rochelle, which was damaged by a tornado the previous night.

  • By Ben Stanley
    Rockford Register Star

    Posted Apr. 10, 2015 at 7:00 AM
    Updated Apr 10, 2015 at 5:34 PM

  • Rubble photographed Friday, April 10, 2015, at Grubsteakers restaurant in Rochelle, which was damaged by a tornado the previous night.

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    SUNNY STRADER/RRSTAR.COM | Rubble photographed Friday, April 10, 2015, at Grubsteakers restaurant in Rochelle, which was damaged by a tornado the previous night.

    Rubble photographed Friday, April 10, 2015, at Grubsteakers restaurant in Rochelle, which was damaged by a tornado the previous night.The day after: The damage is significant inside Grubsteakers restaurant in Rochelle, where a tornado tore through the building Thursday, April 9, 2015.Overturned semi trucks photographed Friday, April 10, 2015, in Ogle County.Dave Schabacker and an insurance company representative survey the tornado-caused destruction Friday morning, April 10, 2015, to Schabacker's home in rural Rochelle.Damage from a neighboring farmhouse (photographed Friday, April 10, 2015) in Rochelle, where a tornado ravaged the area the previous night.Family and friends of Dave Schabacker assist with cleanup Friday morning, April 10, 2015, after his home in rural Rochelle was destroyed by a tornado the previous night.Nearly everything was destroyed in this Rochelle neighborhood by a tornado that ripped through the area Thursday, April 9, 2015.Homes were leveled, power lines downed and cars destroyed Thursday, April 9, 2015, by a tornado that ripped through eastern Ogle County.A single picture hangs on a wall Friday, April 10, 2015, at Grubsteakers restaurant in Rochelle, which was damaged by a tornado damaged the previous night.Cows and sheep, still locked in their paddocks near Rochelle, amid twisted metal and scattered hay Friday, April 10, 2015.Damage photographed Friday, April 10, 2015, from a tornado that rolled through Rochelle the previous night.

    • By Ben Stanley
      Rockford Register Star

      Posted Apr. 10, 2015 at 7:00 AM
      Updated Apr 10, 2015 at 5:34 PM

      ROCHELLE — Dawn broke over twisted strips of aluminum, loose bricks and shards of wood Friday, hours after entire neighborhoods were obliterated by what National Weather Service representatives are calling an EF-4 tornado.
      EF-4, used to describe tornadoes with wind speeds reaching 166 to 200 mph, is the second-most-powerful category.
      The tornado ripped through multiple northern Illinois counties Thursday.
      About 30 houses were destroyed or rendered uninhabitable, Ogle County Sheriff Brian VanVickle said at a news conference Friday.
      Two people were killed in nearby Fairdale: neighbors Geraldine Schultz, 67, and Jacklyn Klosa, 69. Schultz was killed during the storm and found in her home. Klosa’s body was recovered Friday morning.
      Officials said 20 people were admitted to the hospital Thursday and six stayed overnight; one is in serious condition.
      VanVickle, whose residence was destroyed, said there are no warning sirens in Fairdale or in the most heavily affected parts of Ogle County in and around Rochelle.
      “We didn’t hear any sirens,” said Dave Schabacker, who hid with his wife in a crawl space while the tornado ripped through their home near Kings, just north of Rochelle.
      “Our phones went off about 10 minutes, 12 minutes before (and) said there was a tornado.”
      Schabacker said dirt was blowing all around them. “We saw the thing coming. We got our shoes on … and we crawled in the crawl space and just rode her out.”
      Schabacker, his wife and members of their extended family sifted through the rubble of the house where the couple lived for 30 years, searching for salvageable clothing and valuables.
      “What do you do?” he said.
      Gov. Bruce Rauner visited Rochelle to survey the damage and visit with families.
      “We’ve obviously suffered a great tragedy here,” he said, declaring DeKalb and Ogle counties as state disaster areas.
      About 200 yards east of the Schabackers’ leveled house, T.B. Carmichael assessed the damage to his family’s farm. An equipment shed had been severely damaged, but his parents' home, where he grew up, was unharmed.
      “Everybody’s good, the house is good,” Carmichael said, turning to the shed. “All this stuff can be replaced.”

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