I have more photos but I am tired. Same for the website links.
Starting with Cheesey. Don't. I have "seen" heard actually tornadoes back track and there you would be. Stuck out int he middle of no where.
I think the people are being taken care of at least to a point. You never know with bureaucracy.
When we went to the high school they had all kinds of food, that we didn't take. All kinds of work gloves and equipment to help clean up the debris. Bottled water everywhere. Mom started to cry at the immensity of the destruction. People were coming up to her offering assistance.
Fairdale is such a small town I drove through it for years before I even realized that was a town. I thought it was 2 or 3 buildings sitting along the road. They even had a 45 mph speed limit. I never saw it.
The real tragedy is the loss of life. I heard that 2 people perished in Fairdale.
Yeah Yoop 1 foot of snow is a pain in the rump. And having power lines down is never good. But having a wall of air huffing and puffing over your head make you weak in the knees.
My update- I went over to Mom's this morning to get her out of her home and someplace tat has electricity.
First problem was a local Barney Fife including the bullet in his pocket. He would not let me in to the area. I told him there was no way my mother could get out of there without me. He had orders and couldn't think for himself. I had to go to the high school and get credentials.
That was dubious as well. When I got there they would only give them to people who lived in the neighborhood. I asked how they expected me to take care of my mother. They didn't know. They had orders. The gentleman behind me, who was waiting for his credentials, asked me my name. I told him and he said he knew me, my beard threw him off. He knew my mother. That she needs help and said he would vouch for me. The kid still didn't know so he turned to the guy next to him and he said to go ahead and give me the paper.
I got out there. It took about a half hour to drive 4 miles. Get Mom packed up. Took the food out of the freezer. Took her back in to get her piece of paper too. Then on to the local Super 8.
After that I went up to the restaurant and checked on my customer. Naturally she is distraught. I was waiting for the insurance company to show up. The area VP actually come up from Peoria. He got a call from home office at about 4:30 in the morning. The company President and VP of claims had already been talking about this loss.
The area VP lives in Washington, IL so he personally and the company as a whole dealt with this 1 1/2 years ago. He brought up a nice check for her.
While we were waiting the Governor came out to meet her. He called her a hero and a saint for getting everyone into the cellar. Her son was standing next to me in the background. I took the stuff that was in his hands and told him to go stand by his mother. It is not very often that you can meet a governor. Once he got up there his mother introduced him.
The Governor asked how the insurance situation was coming along. The owner pointed over to me and said that I was here. With everyone looking at me I said, "We will take care of her Sir." He laughed and shook my hand.
There was a lot more going on but that's enough. It was a very long day and I am tired.