4:10 p.m. CDT
Meteorologists from the National Weather Service have been surveying northern Illinois areas hit by tornadoes and say it looks like one of them may have had winds of up to 200 mph.
Preliminary reports Friday show at least one tornado touched down near Fairdale on Thursday evening. Meteorologist Jamie Enderlen says there's still work to do, but so far it's been classified as an EF4, which means it had wind speeds from 166 mph to 200 mph.
She says there's not yet an official count on the number of tornadoes or full details about them.
The National Weather Service has said there were at least two tornadoes in a six-county area.
———
3:10 p.m. CDT
Emergency officials in the tornado-damaged Illinois community of Fairdale say they are confident everyone has been accounted for.
Crews have been going through the wreckage since Thursday evening looking for missing people after at least one tornado struck the area. Two women from the community were killed.
DeKalb County Sheriff Roger Scott told reporters Friday that he didn't expect to find additional victims.
Kirkland Fire Department Chief Chad Connell says three crews also were conducting their searches with cadaver dogs. But he also said he was confident no other victims would be found in the rubble.
Connell says residents likely would not be allowed to return to their damaged homes until Saturday. Authorities say that with the debris and lack of power, it remained too dangerous.
———
1:55 p.m. CDT
A woman who knew the two people killed in a tornado-ravaged northern Illinois community says the other women were friends.
The two killed were identified as 67-year-old Geraldine M. Schultz and 69-year-old Jacklyn K. Klosa. The women lived close to each other.
Sixty-seven-year-old Sue Meyer says Schultz was known as "Geri" to friends and was kind-hearted and gentle. She would also drive Klosa to clinics for medical treatment. Meyer says Klosa was fun-loving and quick-witted.
Meyer was among those whose homes were severely damaged. Fairdale was among the towns hit by severe weather Thursday night.
———
1:45 p.m. CDT
A mayor in northern Illinois says towns in the region affected by tornadoes are close knit.
Les Bellah has been mayor of Kirkland since 1997. He says neighboring Fairdale, which was among the hardest-hit by severe weather Thursday night, is like part of the family. He says Fairdale is "our little sister" and everybody knows everybody else.
He says Fairdale is surrounded by farms. There isn't a grain elevator or school. Children go to school in Kirkland. Aside from a metal-fabricating building, there isn't much else for industry in Fairdale.
Still, he says the population of roughly 150 has generally remained steady. He says there is a core of people who have lived in the area for a long time.
———
1:30 p.m. CDT
Residents of a small northern Illinois farming community hit by at least one tornado are remembering two women who died.
The women killed were identified as 67-year-old Geraldine M. Schultz and 69-year-old Jacklyn K. Klosa. The women lived close to each other in Fairdale.
Kari Atchison is the owner of a Marathon gas station in Kirkland and tells the Chicago Sun-Times (http://bitly.com/1FuRJIy) that Schultz had paid the gasoline bill for a woman who'd faced tough times a few years ago.
Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/1CDcrkZ
0 comments:
Post a Comment