Northern Star Monday, April 13, 2015
Volume 115, Issue 83
The Truth Shall Bear All Light
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Courtesy Walker Ashley
An EF4 tornado cuts across northern Illinois on Thursday. The tornado resulted in the deaths of two people in Fairdale.
Locals rebuild after tornado Guide: Where, how to donate to victims Go to bit.ly/1NwC8PO
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Student survives tornado Cameras in hand, that killed 2 in Fairdale faculty chase storm Keith Hernandez Managing Editor T @dezjournalism
Jackie Nevarez News Editor T @NevarezJackie
DeKalb | Thursday was like any other start to the weekend for Sarahlynn Basit, who was visiting her boyfriend’s apartment in Fairdale. Basit, a junior family and child studies major, said she always spends a lot of time with her boyfriend, Josh Kroesch, 23, in his home of two years in Fairdale. They had no idea it was even going to rain, much less that the town would be hit by an EF4 tornado on Thursday, Basit said. Kroesch was running errands when Basit received severe thunderstorm warnings at Kroesch’s apartment. Kroesch came home at about 7 p.m. and the two sought shelter in the basement at 7:09 p.m. “We were sitting on the couch watching the hail and it started to get pretty bad so we went downstairs ... . We [were] going to wait out the storm,” Basit said. Basit told Kroesch they needed to close the door to the basement and get in the closet as the weather grew increasingly severe. Within five minutes of going downstairs, Basit said she felt a pressure as the tornado passed Kroesch’s home. That pressure felt like it lasted for 30 seconds, Basit said. Kroesch’s apartment, sandwiched between two other units, was the only one left standing, Basit said. Kroesch’s neighbor, Geraldine Schultz, 67, who Basit referred to
Go to bit.ly/1IF98Cb for photos of the tornado from associate professor Walker Ashley didn’t know professor Walker Ashley. DeKalb | Associate meteorology
Courtesy Sarahlynn Basit
Josh Kroesch (left), 23, of Fairdale, and Sarahlynn Basit, junior family and child studies major, hold each other in the remains of a building in Fairdale. Kroesch and Basit survived a tornado that carved a path through the town and killed two of Kroesch’s neighbors. Go to bit.ly/1JD3Y7e for more photos.
as Gerry, was found dead under the rubble of her home. Schultz’s neighbor, Jacklyn K. Klosa, 69, was also found dead. Kroesch’s “apartment is destroyed,” Basit said. “It’s completely non-livable, but we were able to salvage all the items from the basement. Everything on the top floor was gone, pretty much, but [in] the basement everything was attached, so we were lucky for that.” The couple returned to Fairdale on a bus Saturday and picked up what they could from the remains of
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Kroesch’s apartment. They returned for the rest on Sunday. Kroesch is staying at a hotel and Basit said they are in contact with the Red Cross to receive assistance. A GoFundMe page has been set up at bit.ly/1JCY1ai, asking for donations to help Kroesch pay rent, buy a car and purchase items he lost in the tornado. The page will feature updates on Kroesch’s progress. “There’s a lot of people asking and they just want to help, so it’s the organized way to do it,” Basit said. Kroesch declined to comment.
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he was going to see an EF4 tornado when he drove out on I-88 to observe Thursday’s storm. The tornado that hit northern Illinois resulted in two deaths and left a trail of destruction from Ashton to Kirkland. Ashley, who is a certified meteorology consultant, said he had known about the approaching weather for a week. He grabbed his camera and gear and drove along I-88 toward Dixon, north of where the storm was starting to form, as soon as he received reports of a tornado watch. “I certainly wasn’t expecting such a high-end event that day,” Ashley said. “In fact, if you probably had asked me at 5 o’clock if you thought I was going to see a tornado that day I probably would have said, ‘pretty unlikely.’” Ashley observed what he described as an elephant trunk tornado form about 6:30 p.m. between Franklin Grove and Ashton. The tornado grew into a barrel as Ashley drove east along I-88 and then formed into a wedge as Ashley turned onto I-39 near Rochelle. “Immediately what I did was call 9-1-1 to report the tornado that was between Franklin Grove and Ashton,” Ashley said. “It’s one of those things where you knew it was going to be moving toward the somewhat populated area of Rochelle, so I was
Huskie Bowl
quite concerned.” While Ashley watched the tornado from I-39, associate history professor Eric Jones sought shelter in his basement with his 12-year-old son and four foster kittens. Jones’ house, located near Kingston, seemed to be in the path of the tornado, he said. “It’s bizarre how to describe it; it’s like the humidity went out of the air,” Jones said. “It got quiet and then it got much more intense. As it got closer you could hear it and the lightning was pretty frightening.” The tornado never hit Jones’ house. Jones received a text with the news the tornado had changed direction and he went upstairs and filmed it. He felt “fear and everything for the people it might hit, relief that it wasn’t coming at us, but then had immediate concern for the houses it must be hitting,” Jones said. The tornado produced EF3 damage in Fairdale and EF4 damage outside of Rochelle, Ashley said. “... As a scientist I always realize that the reason we’re assessing these sorts of events and trying to forecast them better is because they do impact people,” Ashley said. “And that direct impact on people we hope to minimize in the future through improving the forecasting of these events.”
Football divided into the Black Team and Cardinal Team for the Huskie Bowl on Saturday. See photos from the pre-game activities on Page 3. Go to Page 11 for a recap of the game.