Article clipped from The Decatur Daily Review

Tornado Hit 3 Major Areas By Tom Witherspoon It was almost as if the tornado chose the path of least resistance when it slashed across the northwest side of the city Wednesday afternoon. From the air, after the storm had passed, it was evident that much more serious damage, and likely a heavier loss of life, would have occurred if the storm had been a mile or two east toward the city. As it was, the storm cut through wide areas of farm land and hit only three major housing areas. The storm would have missed Decatur completely if it had been about a half-mile further west. Damage was serious enough, however, and the path of the storm clearly could be seen from aloft. First traces of damage were visible along the banks of the Sangamon River southwest of Wyckles Corner. Trees were mangled and twisted. The storm moved northeast, apparently staying on the ground all the way past the | places. Many homes were cloverleaf at U.S. 51 and heavily damaged on its fringes, Interstate 72. too. There it either lifted or its The next area of damage path, could not be. detected peared to be superficial, such because of the isolation of the shingles missing or outbuildings area. Only a few farms and knocked down. trees break the monotony of The Sun & Fun swimming pool vast stretches of farmland north near the cloverleaf was filled and east of Decatur. with debris. A playground near Moving past Wyckles Corner by was covered with rooftops the storm ripped through the and smashed trees. Boiling Springs Cemetery area Fields north of the cloverleaf doing heavy damage to many were littered with personal homes. The twister crossed belongings and building Illinois 121, narrowly missed the materials for hundreds of yards. corner of the grandstand at the Doors and portions of walls and Macon County Fairground and roofs were deposited in tree leveled several barns. It then tops. struck several farmhouses en Some homes appeared to have route to the area that appeared been pried open, almost as if a from the air to be most seriously giant can opener had been used. damaged, the Cresthaven Some frames were exposed Country Club area. where roofs were gone. In other The path of the storm ap- cases, where tops of houses peared to be at least 12 miles were gone, one could look inside, long. much as if looking into a Nothing in its direct path was dollhouse. spared. Every house in the path, Persons could be seen inside or tree or any other solid object, the roofless homes moving about was gone. The 'swath appeared trying to salvage whatever they to be up to 300 feet wide in could. Some Victims Lucky, Some Not Outside the homes, activity seemed at a minimum. Some payloaders were at work clearaping Vehicular debris from streets. traffic was light both in 1 and near heavily damaged | areas. Power and telephone company units could be seen in some areas trying to restore electricity. In one area all outbuildings on a farm were destroyed. The home next to them was spared. Every now and then while flying over farmland, one could see a smear of what looked like scattered building materials. Nearby would be a concrete slab, or a basement, evidence of a missing home. Activity above the ground was heavy. Many airplanes circled the storm zone, most containing television cameramen and newspaper photographers. Some Air National Guard helicopters were present, too. One, with a Red Cross emblem, touched down now and then, and investigations were made to see if anyone had been injured.

Article from 04 Apr 1974The Decatur Daily Review(Decatur, IL)

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