As Washington Illinois was hit by a
tornado on November 17, 2013 immediate chaos broke out. Chaos is expected in a
natural disaster of course because nobody expected that “it would ever happen
to our community”. When something bad occurs we are taught to call 911 at a
young age and it sticks with us throughout our lives. Immediately after the
tornado struck my first instinct was call 911 as we were trapped in the basement
of our now leveled home, of course the lines were down or busy as to be expected
if you are thinking clearly which I was not. As my family of five and only dog
found at the time climb out of our broken storm window my first thought was “where
am I? Where are my neighbors?” as my mind “cleared” I hoped my neighbors were
alive as I heard crying and hysterical screams coming from there house, as one
neighbor climbed out. All you heard was screaming, tornado sirens, and emergency
response vehicles. Washington Police immediately got together teams and rescue
groups to search houses/basements and vehicles the teams were informed if they
found spray paint on the ground or yarn to pick it up, and use the spray paint
to put an “X” on buildings and cars after they had made sure everyone was out
of them, and the string was to be used as a tunicate if there was somebody
bleeding profusely. This organization
was chaotic but was the best they could do with the situation. They were also
informed to avoid the gas leaks (which were everywhere). After they had cleared
most of the victims out they closed off the area to fix gas and water leaks.
The next day you could only get into your neighborhood by having your drivers license
to prove you were a resident of the effected neighborhood to keep people who
were just trying to see what had happened, which would have worked well but
many had lost licenses’ in the tornado. The secretary of state, Jesse White,
then decided that replacement drivers licenses’ would be replaced free of
charge for the victims of the tornado. Washington also put a curfew on the town
to keep the thieves out of the area. It’s sad that was a concern and it
definitely caused more issues for the residents, but was a good decision made
by the Washington authorities. They also thought ahead about the first Tuesday of
the month, and they decided that the sirens would not go off since the sound
was so traumatizing. Many people complained how Washington reacted to the
natural disaster, but with the problems that had occurred Washington handled
the chaos well in my eyes. No town is going to handle every situation perfectly
especially one that nobody had expected, but Washington did an amazing job
organizing the selfless people who offered to help with the search and rescue,
and clean-up efforts. Washington is still dealing with the tornado disaster daily,
but as a community we all have come together to support and help each other.
We
are Washington and we are Washington STRONG.
