BETHALTO, Ill. — Severe storms on Friday impacted several states including Illinois.
The Village of Bethalto, just a half hour from St. Louis, was one of the towns to sustain damage.
“We experienced some heavy straight-line winds and a lot of heavy rain at that time. I’d estimate the wind speeds roughly somewhere around the 70-mile-an-hour range,” Bethalto Fire Chief Brian Buhs said.
Neighbors in Bethalto’s Kickapoo Village- Mobile Home & RV Park said the storm was terrifying at times.
“The hail came down just a little bit at a time, and the wind started picking up and picked our camper up about a foot off the ground, and slammed it down twice. And then like 90 seconds later, it was perfectly calm again. And then everybody came out and saw all the damage,” neighbor Rich Hediger said.
Most of the mobile homes in this community were damaged in the storm. Much of the damage came from trees and tree branches that had fallen on the homes or residents' vehicles.
“I had Styrofoam all the way around here and it was all the way up here and it broke loose all the way around and it’s gone. It blew away,” Hediger said, surveying the area around his camper.
The Hedigers, like their neighbors, spent the day cleaning up.
“Our windows were closed on the camper. But it's just like somebody had a fire hose gushing the water through our windows,” Hediger said.
Buhs said the neighbors are all helping each other pick up the pieces.
“A lot of neighbors, a lot of family, a lot of friends coming out, getting up on roofs and helping them cut down trees and help them get back into their residences,” Buhs said.
Hediger said the power was out for about half of mobile home park and they’re slowly getting it back.
“They said two transformers blew up here last night,” Hediger said.
Everyone’s just thankful no one was seriously injured.
“The people across the street where that van is covered up," Denise Hediger said, referring to van covered by a fallen tree, near a home. "That front bedroom where that window is, is their son's room. So there was a higher power looking out for everybody here,” she said.
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