With Most Volunteers Gone, Fairdale Still Needs Help Recovering From Tornado
CHICAGO (CBS) -- This weekend marks one month since a deadly tornado devastated the small town of Fairdale, and while cleanup efforts continue, most volunteers who showed up in the wake of the storm have moved on.
Right after the tornado, Fairdale had lots of volunteers helping with the cleanup.
"We had thousands. Within the first week we had a couple thousand volunteers," said Mary Carroll, a Chicago resident who helped organize volunteers in Fairdale. "And now, yesterday, I think we had nine volunteers."
Two women were killed on April 9, when an EF-4 tornado ripped through Fairdale, damaging virtually every building in town.
Carroll said the town of 150 people still needs help.
"They need help, still, cleaning up their yards and cleaning up their houses; and the help is not coming in to help them do that, and the organizations are not, I think, fully equipped - I will say - to help them do that," she said.
She said Fairdale needs at least one dumpster to hold the cleaned-up debris.
For information about volunteer efforts, go to this community Facebook page.