Deadly Tornado Rips Through Illinois
FAIRDALE, Illinois (CBS) - A deadly tornado ripped through a 50-mile stretch of northern Illinois on Thursday, killing two women.
Homes were flattened, wood splintered and piled like matchsticks as far as the eye could see in the tiny farming town of Fairdale.
A tractor-trailer caught on the road was toppled like a toy. The twister struck the town around dinnertime, and there were no sirens and no warning.
Earl Hagemeyer says he and his wife had to run for their lives after looking out a window and seeing the tornado bearing down on their house.
"This is the worst day of my life," he said.
By daylight, rescue crews went house-to-house looking for possible victims.
In the nearby town of Rochelle, firefighters were called in to dig people out of the rubble that used to be a restaurant.
Customers and employees had to make a dash to a cellar just before the tornado ripped the building apart. Raymond Cramer was among them.
"When it hit, we definitely knew it hit," he said. "We didn't know how bad."
Melissa Hay says she worked there.
"I got out and the first thing I saw was a semi that was flipped over, over here and the building's pretty much gone," she said.
