This video shows the general path and destruction caused by the EF4 Tornado that hit the communities of Fairdale and Rochelle, Illinois on April 9, 2015.
Just above your cursor at 7:05 and the cream colored house with the brown roof on the right at 7:25 is where Clem Schultz and his wife, Geraldine, lived. He's the one who recorded the video of the tornado racing towards his home. RIP Geraldine, so sad.
I live in Rochelle and I was around 6-8 when it happened. Still remember the basement walls shaking all around us and the deep green sky. Tornadoes terrify me, yet your content is always great. I have experience with a couple powerful yet obscure tornadoes, and this is the most notable. Great work, and stay safe.
@@Marianne-Bachmeier-Extremistalso people died.... I feel like that alone makes it notable. There's also Clem Schultzs footage of the tornado hitting him head on
5:50 Is the location of the infamous video of a guy filming the tornado from his truck at extremely close range looking south from under the overpass, if you ever wondered where that was taken.
I’m from Elgin Illinois and I’m moving Fairdale in a couple months and this is crazy!! Didn’t realize the damage was this vast and the house we bought is heavily damaged but we are in the process repairing and is seems like. It looks nothing like before a bunch of new houses and new park now only a few empty plots left.
Awesome. Subbed for more vids like this. The video the old man took from his upstairs is probably the scariest/ best tornado video I've ever seen in my life.
I know this is an old video but I'm actually from Rochelle, Il. I remember this day very well and a couple of my friends houses did get hit and destroyed. I was hanging out with friends that lived nearby and I remember it was really humid and warm then it got super cold extremely fast and we decided to head home. It was maybe around 530ish.
Getting fixated on tornadoes again, found your channel, and I'm thrilled to see you covered the Fairdale tornado. I live like 20-30 minutes west and was about 11 when it happened. The surrounding communities coming together to help was phenomenal, it's still a core memory to me all these years later. My mom drove me and my older brother by a day or two after it happened, with intentions to help out - and there was literally a line of cars outside the town, driving by, all being turned away by police - so many people came to help (and probably some to spectate too, tbh) that they had to literally turn people away because it's such a small town there wasn't room for all those people to be milling around. The Clem Schultz video haunts me when I remember just how close to home it was.
There is a video on RU-vid about this older man that filmed this tornado coming straight to his house and it hit him head on. Have you seen it? It's a must see. Can you do a video on the 2013 Moore tornado? Also a video of Tuscaloosa, Al 2011 tornado? Thanks!
Thanks! Yes I have actually! That footage is crazy. I even know the exact house, but I figured it would be best to not point it out since his wife unfortunately passed. I'm planning on doing a video that highlights all the tornados in Alabama that happened that day, including Tuscaloosa.. Highly recommend watching the live 8 hour coverage of that day with James Spann. He does an amazing job.
I just looked at the Moore tornado path from 2013 and it's incredible--oddly enough, I also looked at the El Reno Storm (used 6/1/13 date for the map) and there was hardly any ground scarring from that and it was a 2.6 mile wide ef3-ef5 tornado.
While you were tracing the path through these farms you can see the circular excoriations in the soil caused by the many mesocyclones inside this tornado...and on the Schultz video you can see them rotating around. Sad that he lost his wife in this storm as well as his home and neighborhood.
Thanks for posting this short documentary on this tornado path!! Very detailed on the actual path of this system, I followed this live back in 2015 on radar and also viewing WGN channel 9 Chicago news live with live coverage of this tornado and two others the same evening!! NICE VIDEO You put together here!!!👍👍
I was living in Downers Grove the day this happened and I remember tornado warnings were happening all over northern Illinois during a several hour stretch that evening. My then wife, my dog, and I were living in an apartment complex at the time and we had an emergency plan if our area were to get hit. It was a frightening night of storms for sure. We were watching WGN also.
@@Champwsox05 I was watching it live on radar and WGN news with Tom Skilling and Mr. Velocity, the tornado analyst/tracker. I’m still living up near Roselle. We dodged the bullet that day with those storms as the super Cellular storms were training mostly out west near and at the I-39 corridor.
I remember that day well. I live a little over an hour northeast of Fairdale, scary winds and hail in McHenry. Up in Harvard, Illinois they found a menu from the restaurant at 64 and 251! Only damage my truck had was two hail dents.
Thanks for these vids, they are very fascinating. Found your channel after watching the infamous video recording by Clem of this tornado, and then diving headfirst into more videos.
At the time of 550 on the clock you see route 39 I was there the day after it happened and that whole farm field look like absolute fresh plow dirt like you had just tilled it for farming.There was debris everywhere garage doors tons of insulation and various wood from houses. At 5:56 on your clock you hover over a forest and that was a complete twisted mess of giant trees just throw it apart every which way. I actually drove by it yesterday and you can still barely see evidence of it but with the leaves and everything on it is hardly noticeable unless you point it out. The North Avenue and 251 area I was able to go by shortly after and that was absolutely completely devastated.
i live about 15 mins from Fairdale, i had a buddy that actually was in the tornado. Geraldine was actually his babysitter. i remember going back to school the day after and that was the only thing everyone talked about, i got to help pick up my friends house on that Saturday, April 11th. the town was unrecognizable. sheet metal wrapped around trees, mattresses just scattered in fields. it was awful
I’m local to the area. And literally hit everything I know well which sucked... I’d say 50-60% probably more of the houses in that subdivision at the 2 minute mark were either heavily damaged or just blown apart.The subdivision is known as hickory ridge.
I was talking to my cousin about this tornado once because he, along with his siblings, my aunt and uncle lived just 10 minutes west of Fairdale in a town called Byron. He said the sky was just so dark and it was hailing. The next day, him and my uncle went and grabbed some chainsaws and helped out with some of the clean up efforts and they couldn't believe some of the damage they saw. Btw, this tornado was not far from the Byron Nuclear Plant. Illinois has the highest number of active nuclear power plants in any given state.
My mom was on her way to Shabbona Grove to meet her boyfriend for pizza (Chumleys?) And passed thru Rochelle on 39 around the time it was destroying those estates just w of Rochelle. She called me from the south side of rochelle (steward if i remember right) and was freaking out😮 (cant blame her!) Thanks for sharing this video!
Man, I really enjoy these videos as I've recently became a interested party as well as voyer if which my desire to peep upon being tornados of days gone and to watch them before, during and after they are born until they rope out and vanish. I'm familiar with the recipe and the type of cell now that can and will spawn these terrifying events. I even paid for google maps of the ability to view past satellite imagery of our states and I can identify the scarring upon the earth now and I credit these informative presentations you make. Joplin and the moore events ice even used my phone and that simple version of maos to follow along the route with you and It was then I realized I was falling in a type of love with these monsters. A love based on the respect mother nature need be shown as she can react with incredible ferocity that is of unimaginable consequence and will surely traumatize you as it so definitely has across the heartland of America. You are articulate and have a way of presenting fact with image which is the second best way I learn things only second to being hands on with what it is I'm trying to become familiar with. I see how easy it would be to develop a passion for them and wait in anticipation for those months of may and June and July. August where it's perfect for them and you can count on seeing them if you can identify their creating anomalies and scents that come only with such a storm. I particularly am now most fond of the color the sky can turn in the area in front or around the center storm and surrounding the actual spiraling mass of pedestal and muras cloud surrounding the cumulonimbus host that carries it and births them. Thank you for the taking of time as well as the editing that may or may not consume much of the free time you get. I appreciate them and I admire your passion for their occurence because I'd totally be all about tornados had I been raised and brought up I areas that they form in and devastate. I have a very healthy respect for her ability to terrify you seemingly out of nowhere. I'm from California for the 43 years of my life and experienced the 1989 7.1 earthquake that I surely thoug4 throughout its duration of shaking was signaling the end of all the know world as it was so powerful and devastating tight u front of my eyes like I've not ever felt to this day. Its amazing and fascinating. Again, thank you because I really enjoy them before I sleep. I am getting the bug for their massive ability to be insane in all aspects of its life. Thank you and respect! Late!
This tornado and wind speeds of 200-210 mph and it’s initial rating was going to be an EF5 but they rated it an EF4 because they didn’t want to scare the public. Otherwise technically it is a EF5
There is a farm kiddie corner from that restaurant (grubsteakers) they were both destroyed graincarts in trees it was crazy the cars were a lot of helpers helping clean up the areas hit had a good response to it
I’m about 8 minutes from Franklin Grove and I remember the dark green sky. I think it was around 7 pm and I was about to fall asleep before the tornado sirens went off. I could see the tornado shaping a few miles from my house. It was the worst feeling I’ve felt in my life
The Fujita scale does not measure the tornadoes strength. It measures the damage it causes. So, for example, a tornado with 1,000 MPH winds in the desert would only be an EF1 because it did not cause any damage. Conversely a tornado with only 75 MPH winds that tore through a trailer park 100 miles long would be an EF3 or EF4 depending on damage.
@@AlanM2349 Obviously you have no fuc%ing idea regarding structural engineering. Have you ever thought about a mobile home? They cannot withstand a 50 MPH wind let alone a 75 MPH tornadic wind. You are a waste of oxygen.
@@AlanM2349 Yes actually if a tornado with around 90 mph winds is moving in about 5 mph and it moves over your house it would be destroyed depending on how wide it is
@@AlanM2349 say you have a 2.6 mile wide 90 mph tornado it’s moving at 5 mph it will take at least 5 to 10 minutes to move over your house with how slow it is moving your house would be totaled
They're probably was a lot of cars because i believe it was graduation day for one of the high schools and the ceremony had already started before the tornado hit
This is also the tornado for the Sam Smith video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4QT9n_4XK-E.html. Crazy that same tornado yielded two of the craziest tornado videos ever (along with the Clem Schultz video)
I just watched a young couple, as the tornado siren had just started and the tornado was approximately 3 miles away...stovepipe, extremely suddenly it wedged and the entire meso dropped. To me, semi expert in behavior during disasters, each resident I saw appeared to have never seen a tornado! They connected the siren to weather, went outside to observe, as the now speeding directly at them with very slight movement toward their right...it was now within a mile, crossing a field and destroying the farms ! Two very young children had been left inside, as both parents were struck with a HYPNOTIC awe! Finally the guy handed his wife his phone, as he had tried to ask her to start preparing the basement...but could not reach her brain as she remained transfixed, but able to call someone... neighbor pulls up into driveway and she is there to greet them ....tornado is within 1/2 mile and enlarging with satellites! Amazingly...the husband reappeared took over filming and the tornado is 1//4 mile away when slowly strolling around, 2 more people stop to say wow...and they aren’t even looking over their right hand shoulder as two funnels are rapidly dropping to become newly recycled menaces! It was like watching Zombies in Pleasantville! As I listened to news reports...and witnesses, along with other home footage, everyone was completely transfixed ...either on their TVs, Never looking to see that the tornado they were showing 2as aimed directly at them...if they had glanced out the window, they couldn’t miss it!
7:34 The Route On The Northern Part Of The Town Has Street View 3 Years After The Tornado Showing The Recovery 😏 Edit: Theres A Cell Phone Video Of This Tornado Hitting "Clem Schultz's" House And It's Crazy! It's Right Inside Of The Tornado 🌪😨
MrBallen made a video about this and stated that this guy was in his attic getting flashlights or lanterns in prep for losing power. And he stated the gentleman didn't have time to seek shelter. That's totally false, according to me, after looking at his video. He sat there for awhile and filmed it... 2 minutes maybe. Just silly.
The ONLY thing I have to say is...if you have time to take your phone out to make a video, you have time to attempt to take shelter. That obviously wasn't done here. Maybe the elderly couple didn't have a basement? I don't know, but he sat there and filmed it... and his wife died.
They did, but confirmation from a relative was that had they gone to the basement, they both would've died anyways. Why? Because a metal bathtub was actually thrown in there, along with other projectiles, in addition to stuff being sucked out. Obviously, you still go to the basement, but some tornadoes, there's no hiding from.
