Dena Day plans to return this week to her newly rebuilt home, one year after she escaped a deadly tornado that demolished much of the L-shaped ranch along with a large swath of this central Illinois community.
She is overjoyed. And she is frightened.
“I’m glad to go home after moving from place to place, friend to friend, all year. Nobody wants to live out of a suitcase,” said Day, who suffers regular nightmares of trying to dig out of her house. “But I’m scared to go home.”
The fall storm was of historic strength and magnitude: On Nov. 17, 2013, some two dozen tornadoes ravaged 15 counties around the state, killing eight people and destroying hundreds of homes, according to the National Weather Service’s most recent data. It was the fourth largest outbreak of twisters in Illinois since 1950, part of a chain of 75 tornadoes that stretched across seven states in the Midwest and the South.
In Illinois, the people of Washington bore the brunt of the natural disaster. The tornado that flattened part of the Peoria suburb about 145 miles southwest of Chicago was rated an EF-4, the second-highest rank on the scale that measures tornado strength.
One year later, surface debris has been carted away and the town of 15,000 people is slowly rebuilding.
Nearly 750 homes were either destroyed or so damaged they were deemed uninhabitable, with hundreds more in need of repairs, according to the Tazewell County Emergency Management Agency. Washington officials say they’ve issued 813 building permits, with 160 destroyed homes already rebuilt and occupied. Total new construction is estimated at more than $123 million.
While immediate needs like food, shelter and clothing have been met, aid workers say the community remains in the midst of a long-term recovery.
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Some folks have yet to find permanent housing. Debris remains buried in yards. Survivors like Day still fight back tears as they relive the dash for cover and how those deadly winds permanently altered their lives.
Experts say psychological and emotional scars will linger, and might even peak as the anniversary revives memories of the trauma.
“Recovery is really a long process, and it will have lasting emotional effects for many people,” said Julie Caron Sims, a clinical social worker and volunteer with the central Illinois chapter of the American Red Cross. “In the balance of that, people are also really resilient.”
Recovery needs evolve
Homebuilders in heavy coats worked under wind and snow flurries last week, their trucks lining the streets of Washington in the most damaged parts of the city. Pumpkins decorated some of the newly finished porches.
From a distance, it could be mistaken for a new housing development. But there were signs of last year’s devastation. Mature trees stood eerily broken off midtrunk. Grass was stripped from the landscape.
“Many of these are people who lost everything,” said Liz Pollack, a disaster case manager from Tri-County Long Term Recovery. The nonprofit is an umbrella organization that coordinates services from a variety of local charities, simplifying the process for survivors. “They didn’t have a cellphone, or a computer to get an email. They didn’t even have a wallet or identification to prove who they were.”
Pollack said Tri-County has coordinated more than 1,000 cases and 330 remain open, though others come in weekly as new needs arise. The nonprofit has collected $551,000 in donations large and small, including $21.60 in crumpled bills and spare change from a kindergarten class at Irving Elementary School in Oak Park.
Charity workers have found that disaster needs evolve as time passes.
Now, many tornado victims are making mortgage payments on a house that no longer exists or isn’t inhabitable, while at the same time paying rent on temporary housing, said Mark Roberts, CEO of the Community Foundation of Central Illinois. He said some survivors are learning their insurance covers rent for only one year, or that they were underinsured. Roberts said nonprofits expect to see many more people asking for help to pay rent.
Experts say soil remediation is a struggle as well.
The 190 mph winds drove debris several inches into the ground, said Alyssa Pollock, regional emergency services director for the central Illinois chapter of the American Red Cross. One couple reported finding an entire ceiling fan buried in their yard, she said.
Some survivors fear allowing children or pets to play in their yards because glass shards, wood and siding fragments keep surfacing. Inches of soil will have to be removed and then replaced, and it is a time-consuming and expensive process, Pollock said.
“Insulation, glass, nails, everything you can imagine is buried in that soil,” she said.
At least 180 tornado victims across Illinois suffered injuries, some that have had permanent consequences.
Bud Broyles, 56, of East Peoria held his face in his trembling hands last week as he recalled losing seven teeth when his 280-pound frame was hurled by the wind face first into a brick wall.
The storm was “the meanest thing I have ever seen in my life,” said Broyles, who has since had dental work done.
Emotional scars
Fran and Mike Tubbs came home from a trip to find their Washington home destroyed.
While most of the structure was blown to bits, one drawer from the kitchen cabinet survived with contents intact. It happened to be the drawer that held the blueprints for their home.
“So we rebuilt it,” Fran Tubbs said. “We took that as a sign. We are back, but boy, this week is going to be a week with a lot of Kleenex.”
The anniversary of a natural disaster is often a tough time for survivors, with memories of the trauma reviving feelings of anxiety and loss, said Gerard Jacobs, a clinical psychologist and director of the Disaster Mental Health Institute at the University of South Dakota.
“Our culture tends to expect people to move on and find closure,” he said. “Grieving for a year or more is perfectly normal in a good, healthy individual. It’s OK to grieve.”
Sims, the social worker with the Red Cross, said she’s seen an uptick in survivors reporting domestic problems, difficulty sleeping, trouble concentrating at work or school, or struggles with flashbacks of escaping the tornado.
She said many children would feel particularly scared on cloudy days, assuming gray skies signaled another catastrophe. So local schools and nonprofits designed a “weather school,” where kids could understand how severe weather works and how rare tornadoes are, allaying some anxieties.
“People at first, especially adults, don’t feel they need a lot of help,” Sims said, adding that most disaster victims are at first consumed with finding safety, food and shelter. “The emotional part doesn’t set in until later.”
On Monday, Mayor Gary Manier said, Washington plans to remember the one-year anniversary with a morning prayer service, followed by a community walk past three spots that signify the community’s upheaval and renewal: South Cummings Lane, where the tornado entered city limits; Advance Auto Parts, a local business destroyed but rebuilt; and LaHood Park, a public space whose soil was damaged by demolished cars stored there after the tornado.
The park is being refurbished. Its sod is now fresh and healthy. Visitors can enjoy a new pavilion — which includes a shelter designed to give cover in the event of another natural disaster.
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Manier said the anniversary will be a time for solemn reflection. The day after, the city will celebrate.
“On the 18th, we’re going to party like it’s a new year,” he said. “Because that’s the day we started to recover.”
Joan Cary is a freelance reporter; Angie Leventis Lourgos is a Tribune reporter.
Twitter @angie_leventis