MAROA, Ill. (WCIA) — Early Tuesday morning around 3 a.m., the Maroa community was woken up by a severe thunderstorm.
“The thunder and lightning, I’ve never heard thunder like that in my entire life,” said Maroa Road Commissioner Jamie Shafer.
Isabel Shafer said normally storms don’t bother her, but this one was different.
“It was pretty, pretty loud. Probably the loudest thunderstorm I’ve ever heard,” Isabel said.
The WCIA weather team said downburst winds of at least 60 miles an hour were in the area.
“It was quite an ‘oh no’ moment,” Isabel expressed. “The wind was really strong and everything around felt intense. So, we got up quickly, headed to the basement, grabbed our dog, and stayed there for a bit.”
Jamie Zombro was out fighting a fire when he got the call that their $250,000 Maroa Township and Road District building roof was missing.
“I walked in, there’s water everywhere,” Zombro said. “And I can kind of see daylight coming through the ceiling outlet in the bay.”
But it didn’t end there. When he walked to the back, you could see solar farm panels destroyed and water bubbles in the ceiling.
“Yes, it’s upsetting. Like I mentioned, I’m still trying to process what occurred,” Zombro stated. “You wake up one day and obviously don’t expect this to happen.”
But the community is working together to get everything back to normal as soon as possible.
It seems the town has made significant progress. They’re clearing away the fallen trees and similar debris. You can see it happening over there. The neighbors are having theirs cleared, and they’re taking excellent care of us.
