“We have to be careful,” Kirkland Community Fire District Chief Chad Connell told reporters at a briefing Friday. “We have to take the time to get through them. It’s tedious work.”
Connell said the tornado yanked 17 of the town’s 71 structures “completely off their foundations.”
About 200 people live in Fairdale. The DeKalb County Sheriff’s office has accounted for all residents as of Friday afternoon.
Residents and insurance agents will be escorted into the area Saturday morning to survey the damage, but a curfew will be in place after 7 p.m. Friday, the sheriff’s office said.
The victims were Geraldine M. Schultz, 67; and Jacklyn K. Klosa, 69, both of Fairfield.
Klosa was found dead in her home about 10 a.m. Friday, according to the DeKalb County coroner’s office, which said she died of injuries “sustained as a result of the storm.”
Family members found Schultz in her home late Thursday. Officials said that home was “totally destroyed.”
Kari Atchison, owner of the Marathon gas station in Kirkland, said Schultz had paid the gasoline bill for a woman who’d fallen on hard financial times a few years ago.
“She’s just a sweet lady. Her husband, Clem, he is a Tebala Shriner and is one of these guys that would ride in parades in a little go cart shaped like an airplane to raise money for Shriner’s Children’s Hospital in Chicago,” Atchison said.
A woman who asked not to be named said that Clem was searching for his wife in the rubble of the destroyed block in the immediate aftermath of the tornado.
In all, Connell said 11 people were taken to area hospitals, but none was believed to have life-threatening injuries.
“It’s the worst thing I’ve seen,” DeKalb County Sheriff Roger Scott said of the damage Thursday night.
Emergency officials have enough volunteers and supplies, and are asking the public to hold off on donations — especially perishable food — until future notice, the DeKalb County sheriff’s office said as of 3:30 p.m. Friday.
Ogle County Sheriff Brian VanVickle estimated about 30 homes were either completely destroyed or uninhabitable in the area near Rochelle. But he said no one has been reported missing, and there were no fatalities.
County officials credentialed residents and restricted access to damaged areas. VanVickle, who lost his own house in the storm, said the tornado tore through Flagg Township and headed northeast.
The sheriff credited early warnings with saving lives in Ogle County. He said the earliest warnings went out nearly half an hour before a funnel cloud was spotted. He said the first 911 call was placed 47 minutes after the first siren sounded.
“I don’t think you could ask for any better advance warning,” VanVickle said.
Emergency crews worked through Thursday night and into the morning to account for residents and address immediate life-safety issues, Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Patti Thompson said.
Officials said rescuers searched all structures, ranging from houses to cars, twice, on Thursday.
“There are some houses that were just basically pushed into a big pile,” Sycamore Fire Chief Pete Polarek said. “It’s a lot of manpower to go through a pile like that in the dark.”
“We saw a lot of people who were just numb, walking around in disbelief,” Polarek said a at press conference early Friday.
State officials in Springfield sent communications equipment and a unified command vehicle to assist with operations Thursday night.
Radar indicated at least two tornadoes, or possibly more, touched down as a strong line of thunderstorms swept over northern Illinois, said Kevin Donofrio, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service.
Gov. Bruce Rauner activated the state’s Incident Response Center in Springfield. Officials are assessing the storm’s impact and are ready to deploy to help local emergency responders, the governor’s office said in a statement.
The storm flattened Grubsteakers Restaurant in Rochelle, fire officials there said. Several patrons and employees inside made it to the basement but were trapped there because of the heavy damage.
Fire officials had to shore up the basement, but they rescued everyone inside without major injury within about 90 minutes.
Raymond Kramer, 81, told WLS-Channel 7 that he and his wife were driving home from Rockford and stopped at Grubsteakers because the hail was dropping out of control.
As Kramer took photos of the tornado from the front door of the restaurant, the owner told the seven patrons and four employees to “get in the basement right now.”
The group hid in an old-fashioned storm cellar under the restaurant for about 40 minutes before rescue crews discovered them. They were out about 50 minutes later.
Kramer said the group prayed together until crews responded, describing some of the group as very shaken up.
According to Kramer, the group included six men and six women, including the restaurant’s owner, his wife and son, a cook and a waitress. No one was injured.
“This has been an experience for an 81-year-old man,” Kramer said.
Summerfield Zoo in Belvidere also was damaged by a tornado. Two animals died and the rest were accounted for, the zoo said in a post on its Facebook page.
“A lot of fences, sheds, and building are a compete loss,” the zoo said.
Several homes were leveled near the communities of Flagg Center and Hillcrest, according to Oregon Assistant Fire Chief Randy Travis. Rochelle fire officials said several buildings in Flagg Center had been damaged.
Van Vickle said multiple people from Flagg township were being treated at an area hospital.
Sheet metal, siding and other debris was scattered near Route 23 and Streit Street about a mile south of Harvard in McHenry County, also possibly from a tornado, National Weather Service meteorologist Kevin Donofrio said.
Residents in Washington, Ill., who experienced a devastating tornado of their own in November 2013, were already rallying Thursday evening to raise funds for the small town of Fairdale, Washington Mayor Gary Manier said.
“We were so blessed with so many people coming to our rescue,” Manier said Thursday night. “I think the fabric of central Illinois is we try to give back and pay it forward.”
Washington resident Jewel Ward, who grew up near Fairdale, has set up a fundraising page on YouCaring.com seeking tornado relief donations for the nearby Kirkland Lion’s Club.
—Chicago Sun-Times and Sun-Times Wire
