Metro-east couple thought they escaped storm damage. Then a tree smashed their house
Leonard and Debbie Moore thought their home had escaped any damages from the severe thunderstorms that moved across the region April 18.
The next day, Leonard Moore, the mayor of Washington Park, was helping a neighbor remove a storm-felled tree off of her house and making sure the older woman was OK. That’s when he got the call from his wife: A large oak tree in their backyard had just fallen over and smashed into the house.
Luckily, no one was injured.
When the mayor arrived home, “my wife was standing outside in the yard crying. Our grandson, by the grace of God had just came out of the bathroom” and narrowly escaped injury when the tree struck that area of the house.
“It took out our cooling system, the back side of our house, our gutters and it moved the foundation,” he said. “ We’ve got cracks through the walls. You can stand in the bathroom and look outside. It’s just a mess. I am still walking around looking in disbelief.”
The night before, as a thunderstorm blew through their town, Debbie and Leonard Moore sat in their living room and watched. “I was praying and holding my breath. I told my wife I was praying no trees would come down,” he said.
She watched out the window as wind pummeled trees around their neighborhood.
Other communities in the region were hunkered down late that afternoon too, as storms spawned 9 weak tornadoes, mainly in southwestern Illinois. National Weather Service survey teams confirmed tornadoes struck the areas of Cahokia Heights in St. Clair County; Prairietown, Pontoon Beach and Marine (2 tornadoes) in Madison County; Standard City in Macoupin County; Athensville in Green County and Kemper in Jersey County. In Missouri, a tornado was confirmed in the High Ridge area.
No one was injured or killed in the storms, which uprooted and damaged trees, damaged roofs and buildings and caused power outages across the region.
In Washington Park, as the thunderstorms moved through, it seemed that the Moore home had escaped damages. The mayor speculated that the tree that smashed the house must have split during the storm but had not fallen until the next day.
The Moores have homeowners insurance and are hopeful it will help them with whatever is needed to fix their house. In the meantime, they are staying elsewhere.
Debbie Moore said she’s devastated, but thankful her grandson was not hurt. She’s always tried to help people who have lost their homes in a fire, a storm or other disaster, but this experience gives her a greater understanding of what victims suffered.
“Now, though, I can truly say I understand how people who have been faced with a situation like this feel when they lose their homes, even in a fire,” she said.” Your home is part of your life and when you lose it or you have to be displaced… leave and go somewhere else, it is very hard.
“Like I said, I am thanking God that all of us are OK. We still have life,” she said.
