Twisters damage homes, cut swath through ward
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Two homes belonging to Church members were destroyed and four others received extensive damage from a cluster of tornadoes that struck this area, about 40 miles southwest of Chicago, on Aug. 28.
Bishop Phillip John Burkhart of the Joliet 1st Ward said the twisters cut a swath through an area in which about 25 families in his ward live."Tuesday night [Aug. 28] we spent accounting for everyone," Bishop Burkhart reported. "Early Wednesday we mobilized and replaced the roof on a member's home because we were afraid a storm would cause further damage. We had a project Saturday cleaning a member's home, and we had a project on Labor Day to get everything out of a member's home in preparation for it to be bulldozed down."
Bishop Burkhart said a Young Men and Young Women service project in the Chicago Heights Illinois Stake - which includes the Joliet 1st Ward - has been rescheduled to help needy Church members victimized by the tornado.
"We had no loss of life or real injuries to the members themselves, although some have non-member relatives who have passed away due to injuries," the bishop said.
It helped that he and other ward members are involved in the construction industry and were able to quickly obtain materials for the relief efforts, he noted.
Wire service reports said the twisters flattened scores of homes, killed at least 24 people and necessitated hospital treatment for at least 306. The tornadoes touched down about 3:30 p.m. along a seven-mile southwesterly path from Plainfield to Joliet.
