A sound as of a rushing mighty wind

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Many of us on this list in the middle portion of the United
States know without a doubt that Spring has arrived, what with
all the stormy weather we've received this past weekend.

Illinois Governor Jim Edgar has declared Macon and Champaign
Counties as disaster areas.  The city of Decator Illinois got
hit by tornadoes last Thursday AND Friday.  Then, last Friday,
the Civil Defense sirens went off about 8:15 pm in Savoy, where
I cowered like a scared dog in the basement at a friend's house
on Church Road.  Willard Airport, located in Savoy, recorded
winds of 75 mph (120 km/h).  A tornado touched down in a
cornfield on Church Road at Race Street (incidentally, Church &
Race is where I hit a patch of ice last November and rolled my
truck).

The storm passed over Savoy and since the power was out I went
out to my car to listen to the radio.  I heard the sirens going
off in Champaign and the radio announcing a funnel had been
spotted over Champaign, then the radio went off the air.  I
couldn't find any other radio stations on the air either.

We learned later that a few dozens homes in Southeast Urbana got
hit by the tornado, including several that were completely
destroyed.  One woman was in the house when she heard the "take
cover immediately" warning come on, and went to the garage to
tell her husband.  Because of the air pressure difference, she
could not open the door!  She heard the ominous "freight train"
noise and hit the floor.

The husband in the garage figured out what was going on when the
garage doors got ripped off, so he hit the deck too.  Husband
and wife are both okay.

Another person was driving down the street when the tornado
picked up his minivan and deposited 300 yards away on its side.
The guy suffered a broken arm.

Several people in my church live in east Urbana, and many of
them actually watched the funnel cloud as it passed over them.
A camera crew from one of the local TV stations videotaped the
funnel as it passed over then touched down.

The storm continued east over St Joseph.  An unoccupied car is
sitting in the top of a tree in St Joseph.

A few miles east of St Joseph, a tornado picked up a
sixteen-wheeler from the Interstate and threw it into the
cornfield by the village of Ogden, killing one of the occupants
for the only fatality of this particular storm.  The tornado
then ripped through Ogden.  An aerial photo of Ogden in
yesterday's newspaper shows complete devestation.  Scores of
residences and businesses are completely destroyed.

My wife Sara knows a couple people in that town -- one of them
has "only" major damage to the home. Her neighbors roof is in
the backyard, and somebody's garage is slammed into the side of
her house.  The other person lost their home completely.

There's a Nazarene Church right on the main street through
Ogden.  It's completely collapsed now, the peak of the roof not
being much higher than a man's heigth.

Richard M.