Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 80

'I 2. Section 2 Chicago Tribune, Wednesday, August 29, 1990 In the tornado's path Workers, volunteers! I 1 rush to aid victims I i "-v "IX Tribun photo by John Irvine Residents of Crest Hill Lakes Apartments carry al people were found dead near the complex, ac-what they could salvage from their homes. Sever- cording to officials. By Jennifer Cerven and Robert Tornadoes in Will and Kendall Counties Tuesday set into motion a massive relief effort fueled by emergency personnel, volunteers and equipment from municipalities as far as 50 miles away. Although disaster crews regularly train for worst-case scenarios, many were shocked by the extent of Tuesday's destruction.

"There is no way you can practice for a disaster scene that is more than three miles wide," said Timothy Geoppo, acting director of the Will-Grundy Emergency Medical Services System. Residents of the affected areas, along with hundreds of people from other towns, rushed to aid their neighbors. "We've had a tremendous response from all over," said Dr. William McConnell, director of the emergency department at Silver Cross Hospital, Joliet After early reports of the damage, the Plainfield Fire Department immediately contacted Silver Cross Hospital, the command center for the emergency system, Geoppo said. Ambulances and emergency personnel poured in from Lockport and Shorewood along with volunteers from Sauk Village, Steger and Kankakee, Geoppo said.

"This far out it was just a call for help," said Assistant Chief Jim Savarino of the Kankakee Fire Department, which sent 14 paramedics, an ambulance and several other vehicles to Plainfield, some 40 miles away. The American Red Cross set up two emergency shelters Tuesday night to aid the homeless and also put out a call for financial assistance. Helicopters came from Loyola University Medical Center in May-wood and the University of Chicago Thousands left without power after storms i Mi Storms rip wide path of disaster By Jean Latz Griffin and Sharman Stein and tornadoes cut a band of devastation about 200 to 300 yards wide through the Chicago area. Hardest hit were the following communities: Plainfleld: The tornado ripped into Plainfield from the northwest, destroying Plainfield High School and killing at least three people. Only a few interior walls of the building were left, according to Steve Schernerhorn, who with other teachers and student athletes crouched in the halls as the roof was blown off.

More than 130 football and volleyball players were led to safety by coaches and teachers. Two people were still missing. School was to have started Wednesday. "At least three other people were killed when the tornado destroyed St. Mary Immaculate Church and its rectory, gymnasium and elementary school.

One person was killed in a vehicle on U.S. Highway 30 in Plainfield and another died in a vehicle just north of the village. On the Lockport Road bridge across the Du Page River, a truck was twisted and blown halfway off the bridge. Barns, sheds and homes were leveled along the tornado's path through open fields, through the Plainfield Acres subdivision and across Renwick Road. Grand Prairie Elementary School was severely damaged.

Several homes and two apartment buildings were damaged in the Leach subdivision just south of Interstate Highway An estimated 200 homes in two subdivisions at U.S. 30 and Renwick Road Peerless Estates and the adjacent Lily Cache Iwere virtually leveled. Four 40-foot spruce trees were uprooted in the front yard of Earl Rury on Street. At the corner of Ruben and Howard Streets, a driveway led to a pile of rubble that had been the home of Raymond and Virginia Halwed. Streets in the Lily Cache subdivision were littered with kitchen tables, furniture, trees, glass and I debris.

People who lived there could walk in to search for belongings, but no one could "drive through. A curfew was imposed in Plain-1 field starting at dark to prevent ''looting. All major roads to Plain-afield were closed, and by late evening the Illinois National Guard was on its way. Crest Hill: The tornado touched down about 3:30 p.m., leveling two buildings of the Crest Lakes Apartments. Deputy Will County Coroner William 'Ferguson said 10 people were killed in the village.

The twister blew the roof off the Elizabeth Courts apartments on Elizabeth Street. It also damaged the Colony townhouses. The bodies of at least eight pie were found near the Crest Hill apartment complexes, according to Lockport Fire Chief Dave Mar- tis. He said four bodies were lying I in a cornfield next to the complex and four others were pulled from the collapsed buildings. -tf School officials among 21 killed in the storms 1M Hospitals to transport injured people! back to those hospitals.

The timing of the disaster coincided with a shift change at Silver Cross so the emergency room, there was heavily staffed. "We had all sorts of phone calls from people asking what they could do," said Judy Mack, spokeswoman for St. Joseph Hospital in "We had one person call in wanting4, to donate clothes." tt. "Retired doctors asked if there was' anything they could do," Mack said. "One person who dropped off two: injured people at the hospital said he found them in a cornfield and drove' them here.

We didnt even get his" name." "This is their area. They live You don't even have to call them for something like this," Geoppo' said. Emergency medical sites were im mediately set up at the Plainfield' Fire Department, a Crest Hill roller-; skating rink and the Grand Prairie, School in Plainfield. At St Joseph Hospital, about 300 extra medical personnel were; brought in, according to Pamela' Prentice, vice president of nursing' services. Temporary shelters were estab lished at Plainfield's Central ElemenJ tary School at 305 W.

Lockport Rd. and at Troy Junior High School, Illi-1 nois Highway 59 and Black Shorewood. A Red Cross first-aid station opened at Grand Prairie Junior High at Essington and Canton Farm Roads in Joliet People may seek assistance at the shelters or from the Red Cross1 Service Center at 20 E. Cass Suite 101, JoUet, 815-723-3494. Donations may be sent to Illinois Tornado Relief, American Red Cross, 43 E.

Ohio 60611-2794. John Fountain, Jerry Shnay and Patricia Davis Szymczak contributed to this report i (, Watts; James Roberson, Forest City; Sandra Clay; Kim Cuban, 25, of Rt. 30, Plainfield; Jason Borucki, 14, Montgomery; Arline Bartermey, Oswego; Maria Flores, 36, of Joliet; and her children, Bianca, 11 and Ericka, 7. Also treated and released were: Janette Smeetz, Plainfield; David Wysocki, Plainfield; Steve Snyder, Oswego; Patrick Kelly, 17, Plainfield; Lavon Darbro, Plainfield; Vickl Kelly, 22, Plainfield; Ann Ostreman, Plain-field; Sergio Hernandez, 11, Plainfield; Danielle Fried), 28 days old, Plainfield; and Brian Beecher, 18, Woodridge. Morris Hospital, Morris: 7 people were treated.

2 were hospitalized and 5 were released. Edward Hospital, Naperville: 40 people were treated, most for minor injuries and 1 1 were admitted. Mm Cross Hospital, Joliet: 33 were treated, including: Alan Gentry, Shorewood; Samuel Latson, Chicago; James Kachel, 70, Plainfield; Danielle Bernard, 10, Joliet; Edward Jones, 50, Plainfield; DeAnna Barges, Ellwood; Charlotte Herald, Chicago; Nancy Sos-song, 42, Plainfield; Jason Neef, 19, Plainfield; Harold Skoien, 58, Joliet; David Lee, 60; and Debra Strnad, Plainfield. 1 Also treated were: Lawrence Ator, Joliet; Krisanne Tibbs, Crest Hill; Joseph Silakowski, 86, Joliet; Holly Junkroski, 35, Joliet; Tom Enlch, Lock-port; Mary Ward, Joliet; Byron Lane, Plainfield; Sheila Smith, Plainfield; William VanBuskirk, Big Rock; Sherre Lantz, Plainfield; Nicole Hagestrom, 9, Crest Hill; Sue Taylor, 40, Crest Hill; Glenn Cooley, 6 months, Crest Hill; Trucinna Cooley, 22, Crest Hill; Trucin-na Cooley, 4, Crest Hill; Fred Singer IV, Plainfield; Anne Hutchinson, Plain-field; Terry Bernard, Plainfield; Bernice Lea, Plainfield; Kurt Prignan, Plainfield; Mike Chaplin, Plainfield. Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood: 5 people were treated, including four children.

Barry Paydon was in fair condition with a broken leg. Jake Bavilacqua, 4, of Plainfield was Jn critical condition with internal injuries. Sarah Brower, 3, of Joliet was in critical condition with a head Two unidentified girls, about 2 and 5 years old, were listed in critical condition.) "i 3 As the rotating wind pattern becomes more condensed, wind speeds increase up to 500 m.p.h., causing heavy damage wherever it touches ground. By Monica Copeland The storms and tornadoes that ravaged the Joliet area Tuesday caused power shutoffs and disrupted services- for thousands of residents in western and southern suburbs. In Plainfield, a water shortage was declared and authorities asked residents to conserve.

Northern Illinois Gas Co. cut off natural gas at more than 100 houses in the affected areas of Will County as of 7:45 p.m., said spokesman Scott Lewis. There was no damage to the system, Lewis said, and he did not have an estimate on the number of customers affected. NI-Gas has asked customers with damaged homes to call the company to have gas turned off. In Joliet, Plainfield, Crest Hill and Rockville, 43,000 customers were left without electricity when winds knocked down two Commonwealth Edison transmission towers just north of Joliet, spokesman Michael Kelly said.

Power was being rerouted from surrounding areas to the affected area, but at 7:30 p.m. 17,000 customers were still without electricity. In the Aurora area, 22,000 customers lost power. As of 7:30 p.m., power had been restored to all but 6,000 customers. Commonwealth Edison crews, including some brought in for the emergency from other areas in the state, will be working at least into the morning to restore power, Kelly said.

Getting the power back in some areas was "painstakingly" slow because of wires entangled in fallen tree limbs. Kelly said most customers would have electricity by Wednesday morning, but it will take weeks to repair the transmission towers. Main highways closed included Interstate Highway 55 between U.S. Highways 52 and 30, and U.S. Highway 59 from the Du Page-Will County line to Black Road in Will County, said state police at the Cre-stwood District station.

The roads are expected to be closed until Wednesday. Dick Hill, a spokesman for Illinois Bell, said damage to phone lines in Plainfield was extremely heavy. There were reports of delayed dial (tones in Joliet, and phone company officials asked that only emergency calls be made in Will County because lines were working at capacity with priority being given to outgoing calls. Outside the main storm area on Chicago's South Side, 30,000 Commonwealth Edison customers, including the Michael Reese Medical Center, were without electricity from 7:45 p.m. to 8:35 p.m.

Power was out from 22nd to 35th Streets between Ashland Avenue and Lake Michigan. Tribun photo by John Irvin Firefighters and rescue workers go through the remains of Crest Hill Lakes Apartments looking for survivors. Other apartment complexes in the area also suffered extensive damage. At least 21 people died and at least 280 were injured in the storms, authorities said. The principal of St.

St. Mary Immaculate School in Plainfield, Sister Mary Keenan, and music teacher Gloria Sanchez were among the dead, according to Bishop Roger Kaffer, auxiliary bishop of the Joliet Diocese. Of the 21 confirmed dead late Tuesday, 10 were from the Crest Hill area, according to Will County Deputy Coroner William Ferguson. Three of the dead were at St. Mary in Plainfield and three at Plainfield High School.

Two fatalities were reported on Route 30, one in Plainfield and one just north of town. One man who died was in a house on Lock-ner Street, just south of Louis Joliet Mall in unincorporated Will County, and another fatality was reported in a street near the house. The identities of some of the dead and many of the injured were withheld until relatives were notified. Hospitals reported late Tuesday the following information: St Joseph Hospital, Joliet: At least 170 people had been treated by 10 p.m., said hospital spokeswoman Judy Mack. At least 25 were admitted, and at least 80 had been released.

Copley Hospital, Aurora: At least 30 people were treated. Two people were admitted and both were in satisfactory condition, said hospital spokeswoman Carolyn Wille. They were identified as Heather Moliter, 13, Collins Road, Oswego, and Ismael Garibay, 17, who suffered internal injuries. Treated and released, according to Wille, were: Aaron Geheber, lacerations and abrasions; Art Coop, 3, eye irritation; his sister, Haley Coop, 6, dust and debris in the eyes, Collins Road, Oswego; Dennis Benz of Wisconsin; and Daniel Eppard, cuts. Also treated and released were: Melvin jacent to the station had flipped over on its back.

At Oswego High School, fences surrounding the tennis courts blew over and the auditorium roof was blown off. Aurora: Severe thunderstorms knocked out power for 22,000 customers; 80- to gusts knocked down power lines. Kankakee: No injuries or fatalities, according to Kankakee County Sheriffs Officer Brian Zasada, but many trees were knocked down and fires were ignited in Momence and Manteno by lightning strikes. Several residents were without power because of downed lines. Pecatonica: The first tornado hit here at 1:32 p.m.

across the street from Illinois State Police headquarters. Police Sgt. Glen Koski said he saw the storm hit from the window. "It was on the ground. It hit in the parking lot across the street," Koski said.

"It lifted up a tree and took a stop sign down." north of the city of De Kalb at 2:54 p.m. By 3:10 p.m., three-fourths of an inch of hail was falling in De Kalb. The storm moved on, dumping hail southwest of Aurora and destroying several aircraft at the Aurora Municipal Airport A state police aircraft was able to track the course of one of the tornadoes that cut a swath 200 yards to 300 yards wide for a distance of 15 miles. According to Trooper Mark Finn, it started near Oswego in Kendall County and moved in a southeasterly direction generally running parallel to U.S. Highway 30 until it crossed into Will County near Plainfield.

It continued southeasterly through Plainfield, crossed Interstate Highway 55 and then moved on toward Crest Hill, a suburb of Joliet. By 4:30 p.m. the storm still had cloud tops at 60,000 feet, according to radar, and headed east into Indiana. if fcMWa Jl Joliet: The tornado took down two transmission towers just north of Joliet, knocking out power for 43,000 customers in Joliet, Plainfield, Lockport, Rockdale and Crest Hill, according to Commonwealth Edison Co. spokesman John Hogan.

One tornado, touching down near the Louis Joliet Mall just off Interstate Highway 55, wiped out 20 to 30 homes and killed at least two people. Toppled electric towers and downed lines sparked fires in Joliet, said City Manager John Mezera. At least six people were injured in pileups on 1-55 caused by violent winds, said State Police Lt. Clifford Mann. At 1-55 and U.S.

30 outside Joliet, Joliet Fire Department paramedic David Brozman said, he saw people blown out of their homes and flung at least 200 yards into a cornfield. Brozman saw a man searching for his 8-year-old son, and said he knew of two people dead at the scene. Oswego: In Oswego, the roof and one wall blew off Toby's Video near Illinois Highway 71, U.S. Highway 34, Wolf Crossing Road and Wolf Road. A trailer with two Harley-Davidson motorcycles and a '57 Corvette inside was flipped over with its wheels in the air.

Across the street, the huge Amoco gas station sign was toppled and three telephone poles were knocked over until their ends stuck up four feet off the ground. An Illinois Bell panel truck parked on a grassy area ad Although the Chicago area has experienced scores of tornadoes in its history, few have been as deadly as Tuesday's. In 1976, three people died when a twister hit Lemont, and the area's worst tornadoes ripped through Oak Lawn and Bel-videre, killing 58 people, on the afternoon of April 21, 1967. Illinois State Police reported a tornado on the ground at 1:42 p.m. near its post at Pecatonica, IS miles west of Rockford.

According to Soulje, the tops of the massive clouds were reported at 65,000 feet over Rockford at the time. By 2:08 p.m., golf-ball-size hail was fulling at Rockford, and several other funnel clouds were reported. The storm moved on to De Kalb County, where police reported marble-size hail in the northwest corner of the county at 2:30 p.m. The storm continued to move southeasterly, and tree and crop damage was reported 11 miles Severe storm seemed to have mind of its own How tornadoes are formed Tornadoes are extremely violent, small storms of rapidly rotating winds. Most occur in spring or summer when lines of thunderstorms move through the Central Plains states.

Hurricanes also spawn tornadoes. According to one theory, tornadoes usually occur when cold, ir moves collide with and override hot, hut, air moving rapidly from the west or north to from the south. 1 The instability of cold air over hot causes rapid upward movement of the warm, moist air. i it 2 The updraft pulls in air from all sides and the Earth's rotation begins the By Rudy Unger and William Recktenwald Tuesday's killer storm began about 1:30 p.m. near Janesville, Wic anrl frtr the npvt fivp hram moved on a southeastern track, generating numerous tornadoes as it crossed nearly 200 miles.

The storm itself was unusual, meteorologists said, because it was not a line of storms and did not move toward the northeast as most area storms do. Most tornadoes strike in the afternoon and, al- though most occur in the spring, August tornadoes have struck the Chicago area in 1956, 1958, 1960 I and 1965. "This was just one lone, incredi-f bly huge and severe thunderstorm complex which seemed to have a mind of its own," said Greg Soulje of the Central Weather Service. The storm registered Level 6 on radar, iMhe highest reading possible, the weather service saidr spinning Jr-St a motion of yf) I the storm, x) Hot humid air "Tr" nrJ "fi Chicago Tribune Graphic Ml I lrS Jl fj spinning motion of the storm..