NEOGA, Ill. (WCIA) — “Neoga Strong,” has been the rallying cry for many people in the community — and beyond — as they begin to rebuild in the aftermath of our first severe storm of the season.
The National Weather Service said Neoga was hit by a confirmed tornado on Friday. It caused damage to the school — homes — and more, leaving people in limbo.
“I’m surprised that it happened. I’m surprised there was so much damage,” 6th grade student Amari Rivers said.
On Friday the town of Neoga felt the full force of what a tornado can do. On Saturday, James Auten — a meteorologist with the National Weather Service — was out looking for damage at the school.
“It helps us in being able to validate and verify what we’re seeing on radar as far as like, ‘Okay, seeing rotation of this strength is going to give us this kind of wind speed.'” Auten said.
According to preliminary findings from the NWS, an EF-2 tornado touched down.
Auten said wind pushed into the school through its weakest point: the garage.
“When the wind pushes through those and get those doors open, the wind’s got to go somewhere,” Auten said. “Either goes out the back the side or goes out the top. And obviously with the high school, it went out the top and it took off a bunch of the roof that’s there.”
But the school has more than just roof damage.
“[The Agriculture] Department is in pieces and it hurts my soul because I spent a lot of time there,” Neoga resident Tyler Worthey said. “A lot of my high school career was spent in the Ag Department, so it hurts to see so much damage done.”
It could have been worse. The superintendent said no one was hurt. The school hosted a dance Friday — but one student said they moved the time up 30 minutes to finish before the storm, giving him and his family enough time to get home before it hit.
“Scary. My whole family was we had mattresses over our heads trying to duck down the corner. I had such an adrenaline rush,” Rivers said.
Now Neoga is looking to build themselves up again. But even when the outward signs of damage are fixed — the inward ones will be harder to mend.
“I’m just scared. I’m scared if it ever happens again,” Rivers said.
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