A Day Of Working To Recover Follows A Night Of Panic When Tornado Hit Woodridge
WOODRIDGE, Ill. (CBS) -- Coming up on 24 hours after an EF-3 tornado touched ground in the western suburbs, the cleanup was nonstop – and the work was more than cut out.
As CBS 2's Charlie De Mar reported Monday night, the damage in Woodridge was stark and striking – with piles of tree debris standing more than 6 feet high. Roofs were blown off homes, trees were down, and damage was seen in almost every direction.
Indeed, the EF-3 tornado flipped the town of Woodridge on its side.
"As you can see, it's pretty crazy," said Angela Cabrera.
From Cabrera's dining room, you can now see the sky. She rode out the storm in the basement with her husband, children, and young grandchildren.
"The house started shaking," Cabrera said. "I'm just feeling very relieved and just glad everybody is OK."
Down the street, Dave Jandirs said a downed utility pole had ended up somewhere under a pile of snapped trees. He only had one thing on his mind as the storm ripped through.
"Just survive – you know, it was really loud," Jandira said. "We just saw the damage and it was just devastating."
Storm chaser Anthony Welch was on Facebook Live as the tornado touched ground – and he realized he had to hightail it away.
"Once those transformers blew and lit up the funnel in front of me - I mean, I only saw it happen because the road was narrow, so I knew it was a bigger tornado," Welch said. "The wind was trying to pull me back, like it was trying to lift the front end of the car up."
Back in Woodridge, strangers are jumping in to help speed up the recovery.
"I had about 20 people cleaning up my lawn and I maybe knew eight of them," Jandira said.
"I'm not worried about anything," Cabrera added. "I'm just glad that everybody's OK."
Three people from Woodridge were taken to the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. ComEd continued Monday night to try and restore power to the neighborhood.
Meanwhile, many customers remained without power late Monday night, and generators were running to maintain power for some homes.
