BRYANT, Ill. (WMBD) — It was a long night in Bryant, Illinois on Tuesday as a tornado devastated the area southwest of Peoria.
Route 100 from Lewistown to Route 78 Sky Rocket junction is closed until further notice. There have been multiple injuries, but no known fatalities.
A handful of fire departments, police departments, and AMTs came out to help with damage control.
The Buckheart Fire Chief, Chris Pasley, said it will take a while to figure out the extent of the damage. “We’re surveying the damage. We don’t have a lot more information other than that investigation, so it’s going to take a while to figure out what caused damage for sure, and estimated times power is restored and all that.”
While emergency entities are continuing to survey the damage, Bryant residents came together to help each other through the late hours of the night, into Wednesday morning.
“The firefighters and police officers work so hard and that’s the least we can do. They deserve some water,” said young girls Hadlee and Jocelyn Pasley. While children and adults alike did what they can to help each other, there was only so much they could do for the residents who lost their homes.
“We lost four vehicles, camper, buildings, we lost sheds, carport can’t even find it. The garage is complete. We have a three-car garage over there, it’s completely gone,” said Monica and Michelle Kline.
Monica recounted when the tornado hit and said it sounded just like a train coming by. “It was just horrifying,” Monica said. “It’s not something anybody wants to experience.”
The Kline’s explained all their neighbors are safe and they didn’t lose any of their pets, either.
A handful of roads are completely shut down due to debris covering the streets. Some homes were left without windows and even walls. It’s an effort multiple emergency entities continue to look into throughout Wednesday.
