Monday morning Peoria greetings to one and all!

Sunday the 17th started out like a normal Sunday in Central Illinois. The weather people had talked about some rain and maybe a storm or two in the morning and then a sunny afternoon. At some point around 9:00am things started to get dark outside at my house (about 25 miles west of Washington). I checked the radar on the internet and you could see some storms and rain coming, but nothing looked too ominous. At some point at my house, it started to rain pretty heavy and then a bit of hail and a lot of wind! The trees were blowing and things were rocking pretty good for about 15 minutes and as fast as it started, it was over. No damage or issues and I’m thinking it’s just another storm that we have here in the Midwest. I couldn’t have been more wrong! The storm really picked up when it got on the Eastern side of the Illinois River and it rocked the Pekin, Il. area pretty good. The storm then headed North and hit Washington, Il. and just nailed the city. By now you’ve probably seen the photos and video of the devastation and unless you’re in it, it doesn’t seem as real. I found out a couple of people that I know lost their homes in this storm and for me that’s when it really became real. You’re then putting a face with what you’re seeing on TV and the reality starts to hit home!!!!

It’s been speculated that because this happened on a Sunday morning and people were at church, more people weren’t home and hurt or killed by this storm. I don’t know if this is true, but I’d like to think that it is!

In the coming days we’ll hear more about what can be done to help out the people effected by this storm and I know that it’s going to take awhile for things to be rebuilt! The good thing that I’ve come to know about Central Illinois is that it’s a very giving area and we will help our own!!!

Thanks for checking out my work and I hope that you’ll keep all these people in your thoughts and prayers!

Kev

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