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American Morning
Illinois Among Several States Hit Hard Again by Violent Storms
Aired May 12, 2003 - 08:03 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Illinois among several states hit hard again by the violent storms of the weekend. Two dozen people injured, some critically, when tornadoes touched down outside of Peoria. South Pekin is the town there.
And Gary Tuchman has arrived and joins us with an update from that position -- Gary, good morning there.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, good morning to you.
The last major tornado to hit South Pekin, Illinois was 1938. Sixty-five years later, there's been another one, and you can see we are right now in the yard of a couple that lives here that right now is in serious condition. Their boat in a tree, their Chevy flipped over here. And when we take a walk through the wreckage in their yard and give you a look at their house, you can see what these poor people went through.
This over here, the steps up to the front door of their house. But this is not the front door of the house, this is the back door. The house was completely flipped over and this is where David and Kathy McMullin (ph) lived.
They were in critical condition up until yesterday. The good news is their condition has now been upgraded to serious. But 27 people in this small town of 1,200 people hurt, three seriously, including the two people who live in this house.
Of the 1,200 people who live here in South Pekin, 120 are now homeless because 30 homes were completely destroyed. That's 10 percent of the entire population of this town homeless. A proportional equivalent, New York City has eight million people. It's the equivalent of 800,000 people being homeless in New York City if there was a weather related catastrophe here.
So you can see they have a lot of work to do here in South Pekin. But they're very grateful that nobody was killed -- Bill, back to you.
HEMMER: Gary, we spoke with the sister of David McMullin last hour live here on AMERICAN MORNING. She described Kathy, the girlfriend of David, as being buried in rubble and debris.
Do you know where that was in that home behind you?
TUCHMAN: We can give you an idea right now. You can't see it anymore. She was actually in the basement of the home below the house. And that's where the rubble is and you can see it right there. She was buried underneath what you're looking at.
The man, on the other hand, was trying to get down into the basement. He was upstairs. What happened to him -- and it's hard to listen to, but he was actually impaled with some of the wreckage in the house. He actually pulled it out himself, we're being told by medical officials. So that man is very lucky that he's still alive.
HEMMER: That is extraordinary and lucky, as you point out.
Gary, and the people you talk to up there, have they been paying attention to the news throughout this season about the tornadoes in other parts of the country? And, if so, did that put them on guard for these storms over the weekend?
TUCHMAN: Bill, no question about it. The authorities here in South Pekin believe the reason that nobody was killed is because everyone was aware of all the tornadoes that happened over the past week. They had good forecasts. They knew the bad weather was coming and people had taken the proper precautions.
HEMMER: Wow. And a good thing because of it.
Gary, thanks.
Gary Tuchman there in Pekin, South Pekin, Illinois.
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Storms>
Aired May 12, 2003 - 08:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Illinois among several states hit hard again by the violent storms of the weekend. Two dozen people injured, some critically, when tornadoes touched down outside of Peoria. South Pekin is the town there.
And Gary Tuchman has arrived and joins us with an update from that position -- Gary, good morning there.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, good morning to you.
The last major tornado to hit South Pekin, Illinois was 1938. Sixty-five years later, there's been another one, and you can see we are right now in the yard of a couple that lives here that right now is in serious condition. Their boat in a tree, their Chevy flipped over here. And when we take a walk through the wreckage in their yard and give you a look at their house, you can see what these poor people went through.
This over here, the steps up to the front door of their house. But this is not the front door of the house, this is the back door. The house was completely flipped over and this is where David and Kathy McMullin (ph) lived.
They were in critical condition up until yesterday. The good news is their condition has now been upgraded to serious. But 27 people in this small town of 1,200 people hurt, three seriously, including the two people who live in this house.
Of the 1,200 people who live here in South Pekin, 120 are now homeless because 30 homes were completely destroyed. That's 10 percent of the entire population of this town homeless. A proportional equivalent, New York City has eight million people. It's the equivalent of 800,000 people being homeless in New York City if there was a weather related catastrophe here.
So you can see they have a lot of work to do here in South Pekin. But they're very grateful that nobody was killed -- Bill, back to you.
HEMMER: Gary, we spoke with the sister of David McMullin last hour live here on AMERICAN MORNING. She described Kathy, the girlfriend of David, as being buried in rubble and debris.
Do you know where that was in that home behind you?
TUCHMAN: We can give you an idea right now. You can't see it anymore. She was actually in the basement of the home below the house. And that's where the rubble is and you can see it right there. She was buried underneath what you're looking at.
The man, on the other hand, was trying to get down into the basement. He was upstairs. What happened to him -- and it's hard to listen to, but he was actually impaled with some of the wreckage in the house. He actually pulled it out himself, we're being told by medical officials. So that man is very lucky that he's still alive.
HEMMER: That is extraordinary and lucky, as you point out.
Gary, and the people you talk to up there, have they been paying attention to the news throughout this season about the tornadoes in other parts of the country? And, if so, did that put them on guard for these storms over the weekend?
TUCHMAN: Bill, no question about it. The authorities here in South Pekin believe the reason that nobody was killed is because everyone was aware of all the tornadoes that happened over the past week. They had good forecasts. They knew the bad weather was coming and people had taken the proper precautions.
HEMMER: Wow. And a good thing because of it.
Gary, thanks.
Gary Tuchman there in Pekin, South Pekin, Illinois.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Storms>
