Thirty-five years ago, the F5 “1990 Plainfield Tornado” devastated the area, killing 29 people, injuring more than 353, with around $380 million today in damages across Plainfield, Crest Hill, Joliet and parts of Oswego.

The storm shocked and shattered these Will County and Kendall County communities.

Rita Johns, Plainfield, “Everyone knew someone that was gone”

I was at Gehrkes grocery store in Plainfield on Route 59. I noticed there was trouble when the wind pushed the metal awning through the store’s front window. I turned around and ran. I was trying to help calm children down around me. We had like four inches of rain in 10 minutes pour through tiles above us like a sieve. The tornado had ripped off the roof.

Live power lines dropped on the outer building preventing anyone from escaping, trapping like 25 people. The incinerator in the store’s back blew up, causing a fire we were unaware of.

When we finally got out, a building next to us was completely gone. You could see damage in the direction of the high school. Cars were all damaged, mine had a light pole on it. I was 25, and just wanted to tell my mom I was safe.

I lived in Lily Cache subdivision. We lost around 150 homes in our neighborhood. Many people knew the principal of the Catholic school that was killed. One of my science teachers was killed at the high school. Everyone knew someone that was gone or seriously injured.

The community really came together. There was a shelter for people that lost their homes, but the shelter was empty because everybody had someone that let them stay with them.

Even right after the storm, the high school football players were searching houses for survivors, it was amazing how everyone was helping. By the time the Corps of Engineers came to help the next day, we had all already been out there cleaning up debris.

It showed me the importance of community and knowing and caring for your neighbors.

Brian McPherson, Naperville, “The closest triage and trauma center to the tornado”

It was my first day of high school my senior year at Naperville North. I played on the golf team, we were at Springbrook Golf Course. All the players saw this huge, dark cloud approaching. It looked ominous, lightning everywhere. It was before warning signals and detection devices. In the clubhouse we watched the storm go right over our heads. I had never seen anything like it. It was a massive green cloud.

I had my mother’s car that day, she was an oncology nurse at Edward Hospital. My best friend’s mother was an E.R. nurse at Edward Hospital. I dropped off the car at the hospital. We found out they were the closest triage and trauma center to the tornado. My friend’s mom triaged the deceased. They received more than half of the victims of the tornado, including someone who had debris go through them. There was no saving him. That was my first real experience with trauma from a natural disaster.

Me and my friend were so impacted from our mothers’ work, we went down to Plainfield to help with recovery efforts. The people in Plainfield were in shock. There was no warning. It looked like a war zone. I saw the old Plainfield High School, you could see the path of destruction that ripped the school in half. There were trees down everywhere, cars all flipped over.

Since then, whenever a storm hits our area, I’ve made it almost a life mission to help out. It’s different when you’ve lived through it. The devastation and emotional impact is still the same.

Greg Anzelc, Plainfield, “My wife said everything in town was gone”

At lunch in Rockdale, I was watching Tom Skilling’s weather forecast for the afternoon. He said there was a chance for thunderstorms. A short time later, the sky turned purple in the northwest, and the wind began to increase.

I tried to phone my wife, and while the phone was ringing, it suddenly fell silent. Immediately, I left to drive home to Plainfield. Our home was fine, my wife just arrived home and said that everything in town was gone. This was hard to fathom, so I headed towards town. The DuPage River was covered with floating debris, insulation, doors, wood and toys.

The day after the tornado, I began two weeks of assisting others to clean up debris. While shoveling debris at St. Mary School, I filled my shovel and a book fell open that had our daughter’s name in the book. Had she still been in the building, she and her two brothers possibly could have not been here today.

John McKanna, Joliet, “That killer storm came right over my house”

I was working on rebuilding road between Peotone and Beecher that day. Around 1 p.m. my operator said look at that sky to the northwest. I turned on WGN radio and Tom Skilling was talking about a “unique” circumstance with cloud tops at something like 80 thousand feet in the Rockford area moving southwest.

I lived in Joliet in the Marquette Gardens subdivision. It was clear storms were coming, on the radio there were requests for emergency equipment and personnel to head to the Plainfield, Crest Hill, Joliet area.

I yelled to the guys I was leaving immediately. I had a wife and a one-year-old at home. Branches, debris and high wind pummeled my truck. I was shaking badly.

I pulled in my driveway to see my detached garage on our car, a 40 foot spruce bent 15 degrees, my picket fence gone and the back windows busted out. My wife and son were fine, but everybody was shaken up.

After hearing what happened only a mile or so away, I was sick about the death and destruction in Plainfield and Crest Hill.

That killer storm came right over my house with my wife and child quivering in the basement. I did feel very lucky realizing there could have been more death. That storm would have been a whole lot worse if it had stayed on the ground. Joliet actually got lucky.