PEORIA, Ill. — It will be months before places like Mayfield, Kentucky and Edwardsville, Illinois recover from the weekend’s deadly tornadoes.
Six people died Friday night at an Amazon facility in Edwardsville, Illinois. In Mayfield, Kentucky, at least 80 people have died…but the number could jump to 100 from tornadoes there early Saturday morning.
Washington, Illinois Mayor Gary Manier told WMBD’s “The Greg and Dan Show” on Monday that the first 24-48 hours after a tornado are the hardest, as the recovery process begins.
“Now, the recovery will start once no one is trapped, and everyone is out and accounted for. Then the real work begins to rebuild,” Manier said.
Washington was devastated by a tornado on Nov. 17, 2013. Three people died, and about 1,000 homes and businesses were destroyed or damaged.
Manier says cleaning up after a tornado is a dangerous process.
“With the shingles, with nails…there’s 2 x 4s sticking out. A lot of the injuries that happened in days three and four were puncture-type wounds,” Manier said.
For Washington, it was about a year into the rebuilding process before things felt normal again, Manier added.
Manier said he has a call scheduled Monday with the mayor of Mayfield, Kentucky. At least 80 people have died in the tornado there, but the number is expected to reach 100.
The weekend’s tornado swept across eight Midwest and Southern states.
