Chris Beavers was stringing for Disclosure NewsMagazine on the morning of February 29, 2012, when an EF4 tornado struck the southeast edge of Harrisburg, Illinois. Chris, also the tech guy for DisclosureNewsOnline, was searching the debris-filled streets for his cousin Chad Mills, who had been staying at their grandma’s residence on Red Bud in the Country Club area of Harrisburg; Grandma Thelma Robinson had gone down to Elizabethtown the night before and fortunately didn’t have to go through the storm. Chris had only heard that there’d been a bad storm when Chad called him at about 5:45 a.m. and was unprepared for the sight that greeted him when he pulled up to the WalMart off of Highway 45…and proceeded to have to enter the damaged area on foot in order to access the residence on Red Bud.
Disclosure regular staff was on-scene about two hours later; we have more photos, but will have to wait to post them tomorrow. In the meantime, this is what Chris went through in order to get out to his grandma’s house and view the damage before much else was being done with it. Chris did watch as bodies were discovered in the wreckage; we are very careful not to show such images, and those are not featured on this video, even if they got into the film accidentally.
There is a relief effort being set up by Jessica Gwaltney of Albion, who is coordinating with churches in North Counties of Disclosure’s readership area in order to provide items for the victims of today’s storm. If you are interested in assisting, call her at 618-445-7733. We’ve known Jessica and her mom Lindsey for years and they are great people, very motivated and organized, so if you can help, Jessica is the one to go to.