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CNN Live Today

Interview with Mayor Mickey Bora of Fairfield, Illinois

Aired April 22, 2002 - 11:24   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: It has taken longer than ever before, but the first tornado-related death of the year has occurred in southern Illinois. The body of a 47-year-old man was found inside a demolished mobile home near Wayne City.

Now, since cord keeping began, this is the latest in the year the country has ever gone without a tornado-related death. One reason is that there have been far fewer twisters than normal this spring. That's the good news. Damage from yesterday's storm was also evident in the rural communities of Sims, Fairfield and Golden State. Dozens of people were injured there.

Fairfield Mayor Mickey Bora is joining now on the phone. He has been out on a tour. As I understand, it, Mr. Mayer, you have been out touring to get an idea of the damage this morning.

MAYOR MICKEY BORA, FAIRFIELD, ILLINOIS: Right.

HARRIS: Can you give us a report on what you have seen?

BORA: We had some 25 to 30 homes, 13 of those demolished. The other various stages of -- or degrees of damage, power lines down. We had 110,000 square foot factory building that was empty, but it was totally demolished. Sims to our west was hit pretty hard. They had four or five buildings demolished. The gentleman that was killed was in Keenes, Illinois, which is about 16 miles to our west. And I had a child killed in the Orchardville area, which is about 18 miles from here.

HARRIS: So we actually have two deaths to report on this.

BORA: Yes.

HARRIS: Thank you very much for that update, and our condolences to those families. What was happening at the time? Can you give us an idea of what you were doing at the time when this storm struck?

BORA: Well, I was sitting out on the patio. I heard the scanner come on. It was dark. It had been raining most of the day. They said that there was a tornado on the ground at Sims. So I went down to the light plant to talk with the people there. We couldn't see anything. And then -- then it hit. It was just -- went to the south of the main part of the city. It stayed on the ground and looked like it took out about four or five blocks. HARRIS: Well, the pictures we are showing right now as we talk with you -- excuse me -- on the phone are actually from Sims. Can you give us an idea of just how big an area we are talking about here with you and Sims and your Fairfield and Sims as well as Golden Gate? How big of an area would you say in miles are we talking about?

BORA: We are talking about -- well, it's from Keenes to Fairfield, it's probably 18 miles, something like that. And from Fairfield to Golden Gate it's probably another 12 -- so we are talking 28 miles.

HARRIS: 28 miles or so.

BORA: Yes.

HARRIS: And see, I'm not an expert here, but that strikes me as a very large area. Are the people you are talking with there, the experts, are they saying that they believe this was the same twister in each town here? Or were there a number of them?

BORA: No. I think we think there might have been at least two. The Orchardville area had one, and the one that hit Sims, and possibly the Wayne City and Keenes area was probably the one that went through Fairfield.

HARRIS: Well, how are you situated for recovering here, the supplies and...

BORA: We are doing fine. The crew worked last night. We were out until about 1:30, 2:00 this morning. The EMA from Springfield came down, got here about 11:00 last night. We met. We did a walk- through of the area about 1:00 this morning. The city electrical crew worked along with the water utility people getting services back to most of the damaged area. And we'll have that completely back online hopefully by the end of the day today.

HARRIS: Well, here's wishing you good luck in doing so.

BORA: Appreciate it.

HARRIS: Fairfield, Illinois Mayor Mickey Bora -- thank you very much. We appreciate that update, and we also extend our best wishes to those families who suffered losses in their families, as well as their properties there.

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