By Eric Stock
SPRINGFIELD – Gov. Bruce Rauner has activated the State Emergency Operations Center in Springfield and the American Red Cross has opened shelters following tornado touchdowns in several communities in northern Illinois on Monday night.
Rauner said the SEOC can ensure state personnel and equipment are ready to be quickly deployed if needed to help local emergency responders with public safety issues
“I activated the State Emergency Operations Center to ensure we’re prepared to act quickly if any local responders need our assistance,” Rauner said. “The Illinois Emergency Management Agency is in close contact with local emergency managers in several counties and stands ready to coordinate deployment of state resources if needed to support local response efforts.”
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Severe storms that spawned at least one tornado tore through northern Illinois, injuring at least seven people. The Chicago Sun Times reports twisters touched down in Will, Kankakee, Lee, Grundy and LaSalle counties. Damage was as far south as interstate 80.
One twister reportedly touched down in the town of Sublette. Assistant fire chief Kevin Schultz said the storm downed a lot of trees and caused a few injurie, including some in a private camping resort where one person was hospitalized.
“There’s about 40 miles of paved roads inside of Woodhaven (Association) and we are trying to get around to all of those areas as quickly as we can,” Schultz said.
Illinois State University Chief of Staff Jay Groves was among the drivers caught in the storm as he drove south on Interstate 55.
“Hundreds of drivers were driving around Coal City with nowhere to go, we couldn’t get out,” Groves said. “There were trees down, power lines down everywhere we’d go. The police would stop us and turn us around.”
Groves said he and his family made it home ok.
Jared Ortega in Lee County went to check on his grandmother and found a tree had crashed through her trailer.
“Everywhere were trees, I had to drive around tree branches, tree trunks that were all over the road,” Ortega said.
Ofelia Saucedo of Lee County said a tree crashed through her trailer while she was inside.
“It was raining and windy and I thought ‘Oh my God, oh my God,” Saucedo said. “A lady three trailers down came down and asked if I was ok. I said ‘Yeah I’m ok.”
Downed power lines also forced the closure of Interstate 55 in Braidwood.
Representatives from several state agencies are reporting to the SEOC. The center will remain activated as long as necessary.
The Red Cross opened two shelters in Northern Illinois to support people displaced by severe weather. Nineteen people spent the night at the Red Cross shelter location at the United Methodist Church, 6805 E. McArdle in Coal City and several peopel stayed at the Red Cross shelter located within the Ellice Dinges Center, 202 South West in Sublette, Illinois. The Red Cross has additional shelter locations on standby if needed.
Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].
CBS News contributed to this report.
