Tornado leaves destruction, disbelief in its wake

The scene Monday morning in the Woodridge neighborhood near 75th Street and Janes Avenue could only be described as surreal.

Less than 12 hours after a tornado ripped through the residential community, large tree branches lined practically every street and the sound of chainsaws and wood chippers filled the air.

Residents slowly walked the streets, many documenting the destruction with their cell phones. Others pulled wagons and coolers filled with bottled water and soda and offered it to their neighbors who were busy cleaning debris from their property.

Nicor and ComEd trucks trucks could be seen on practically every block as crews assessed damage. Cars and pick-up trucks from repair and estimating companies traveled through the subdivision offering their services.

Some blocks featured a mix of houses that stood practically unscathed while other dwellings were practically destroyed--windows shattered, roofs sheared off or parts of the structures collapsed.

Michelle Hill, who traveled from Montgomery to check on her parent’s house, walked slowly along Evergreen Lane to get an up close look at the damage.

“Everybody was safe, just the trees knocked down,” Hill said of her father’s house, which sustained only minimal damage.

She added that the community had already begun to rally in support neighbors who needed assistance.

“There’s so many Good Samaritans,” Hill said. “A couple people came and dropped off gasoline, a couple gallons of gas at my dad’s house. Another company—my parents are elderly--cut down a tree to get it out of their front yard. It’s sad, but on the upside everybody is coming together to help everybody out.”

A few blocks away on Crabtree Avenue, Sarah Moore stood on her neighbor’s front lawn trying to comprehend how the tornado uprooted a massive pine tree that crashed onto her neighbor’s roof.

Moore recalled the moments before the tornado touched down.

“The sirens had gone off last night for Woodridge and so we went downstairs and took cover and everything calmed down quite a bit,” Moore said. “We went back upstairs and the phones got the emergency (alert).”

Her family again took shelter moments before the tornado hit.

“It was so fast,” she said. “It just went from being kind of calm, like they say, before a huge storm, to a catastrophe happening.

“It happened so fast. I don’t think you don’t get nervous and scared until you can look around when it’s all over,” she said. “I’m just thankful no one was injured.”

Incredibly, there have been no reports of deaths. In Woodridge, where more than 100 structures were damaged, three people were taken to area hospitals with various injuries, Lisle-Woodridge Fire Protection District Chief Keith Krestan said.

Two patients were being treated at to Edward Hospital in Naperville for injuries they suffered in Sunday night’s tornado. One patient was in fair condition, a hospital spokesman said, and the other in good condition. Six other people were treated and released.

The Red Cross has established a shelter at Thomas Jefferson Junior High School at 7200 Janes Avenue, Woodridge. For assistance, call 877-597-0747.

The first tornado sirens blared in Woodridge at 10:48 p.m. The tornado appeared to cut a path east of Route 53 and south of 75th Street.

A tornado may have touched down in Darien, but has not yet been confirmed, Deputy Police Chief Jason Norton said. There have been no reports of injures in Darien. A few houses were left with roof damage, and one with structural, Norton said.

But the storm damage in Darien’s Woodmere subdivision, located near 75th Street and Lemont Road, was significant.

A house in the 2700 block of Woodmere Drive is likely a total loss, said its owner, Robert, who asked that his last name not be used, as he stood in his garage Monday morning cleaning and salvaging what he could.

“This is probably a complete and total loss—this unit,” he said of the his home for the past 15 years.

Robert and his wife and dog took shelter in a downstairs bathroom moments before storm hit.

“We were in the basement in the bathroom with kind of a mattress thing on top of us,” he said. “You felt the air just drop out of the room. You felt like a sucking for a second and it got quiet and the it just sounded and felt like an airplane flew through my house.”

The storm destroyed a tree in front of the house, but two cars that were located several feet away were practically unscathed, he said. However, his garage sustained damage and the north wall of the house was ripped from the structure.

Daily Herald Media Group contributed to this report.