11/17/13 Midwest Tornado Outbreak Damages May Top $1 Billion - Reuters

[hatrack]

(Reuters) - Residents of a central Illinois city hit by a powerful tornado worked feverishly on Tuesday to salvage belongings from the rubble of their homes, as an over-burdened police force tried to stop looting.

Authorities doubled to 1,000 their estimate of homes damaged or destroyed in the fast-moving storm that hit Washington, a town of 15,000 located 145 miles southwest of Chicago, on Sunday. Winds reached up to 200 miles per hour (322 km per hour), and many houses were reduced to piles of sticks.

The storm system triggered multiple tornadoes on Sunday in the Midwestern United States, killing at least six people in Illinois and two in Michigan. The cost of damage is estimated at $1 billion.

Roads in and out of Washington were clogged on Tuesday with pickup trucks, which residents filled with whatever they could find that was salvageable. The sound of chainsaws cutting through fallen trees could be heard everywhere. Incidents of looting, and the threat of rain on Wednesday, added urgency to the task.

EDIT

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/19/us-usa-weather-idUSBRE9AG0BS20131119

[Rambis]

1. I hope big government can help!