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| Courtesy of Shawn McLey |
Coal City, Illinois is a small community of about 5,500 people that sits about 60 miles south of Chicago in Will and Grundy counties. A town that is not unfamiliar with tornadoes, on November 17th 2013 an EF-2 tornado ripped through part of town leaving many residents to rebuild.
Monday June 22nd started out as a normal day for Shawn McLey, his wife, and their 3 dogs. A summer rainstorm had came through the area that morning followed by a few peaks of sunshine and clouds. A chance of severe thunderstorms was in the forecast later that afternoon. Shawn and his wife went about their day, little did they know 90 miles away a storm would form that would change their lives forever. Around 3:30 pm a tornado watch was issued for most of north central and northwest Illinois. Around 7:00 pm a tornadic thunderstorm was taking shape Near Amboy, Illinois some 90 miles away and heading towards the small town of Coal City.
Meanwhile storm chaser Adam Lucio had already documented a couple tornadoes from this storm and was traveling along Interstate 80 trying to keep up with the storm. "I thought I was gonna die when the storm crossed over me on I-80" Lucio said. "I have never seen whiteout rain like that before, that thing was a monster"
At 9:06 pm a tornado warning was issued for Grundy county Illinois. As this tornadic storm was bearing down on the area, Shawn stated "I heard the sirens go off once" Around 9:30pm "The sirens went off a second time and my phone went off and we had about 3 minutes to take cover" I asked Shawn if he owned a weather radio to which he stated he did not. "We didn't have time to get into our crawl space, we just ran into the bathroom and huddled down. I can't get the sound of stuff hitting our house out of my head, the sound and the pressure was so intense" The tornado had now passed and Shawn, his wife and 3 dogs had all survived the tornado. A night they will not soon forget.
Reflecting back to that night and everything that had happened Shawn emotionally stated "People need to realize that when a warning is issued you better take it seriously because I could have been one of the people that died that night".
In closing what was a tragic day could have been much worse. 0 deaths were reported from 9 confirmed tornadoes across northern Illinois, a reflection of the amazing job the National Weather Service in Chicago truly does. People of northern Illinois are dealing with a lot this year, but they should also all be proud of the resilience they have shown this year.
A big thank you to Storm Chaser Adam Lucio and Shawn McLey for agreeing to do this with me.
This story is a true testament of how invaluable weather radios really are and maybe it is time as a community to require them in every home.
Be sure to check out Adam Lucio's page and the NWS Chicago for more great weather information!
Be sure to Check out my page also
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