CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, Ill. (WCIA) — Many weren’t expecting the severe weather which seemingly popped out of nowhere.
Tyler Suits and his family had just sat down for dinner when they heard a loud crash outside.
“We came to look and see what it was and, at that point, there were trees blowing across the front yard,” Suits said.
They ran to the basement and came back up a few minutes later.
“You could still see the funnel floating a little bit above the cornfield across the road, and then started to see the aftermath,” Suits said.
They saw pieces of their machine shed flung across the road, trees ripped up and crops blown over. Suits says they’re lucky their home wasn’t damaged and nobody was hurt.
“We were all in the house. We were thanking the Lord, I guess that we were safe,” Suits said.
Just a short ways away, Ryan Ideus was with his family and shot video of the tornado.
“We sat there and just kind of kept filming and that’s when we realized now it’s time to stop and get in the house,” Ideus said.
He says they’ve never seen anything like it.
“I can honestly say, and speak for everyone else, we’ve never been so scared ever,” Ideus said.
Both Ideus and Suits say they’re glad nobody was hurt.
“It could have been a lot worse, had it been a little bit north and hit the house obviously so we’re counting our blessings,” Suits said.
The National Weather Service completed their damage survey and confirmed that it was an EF-1 tornado with winds up to 90 mph with a width of 75 yards. It touched down at 8:27 PM 3.3 miles southeast of Rantoul and was on the ground for 3.9 miles when it ended at 8:35 PM 1.9 miles of Gifford.
by Erick Payne (2018, June 27) WCIA
