Saturday afternoon’s tornadoes, which swept through Pike, Macoupin, Montgomery and Christian counties, left behind extensive damage to homes, businesses, trees and other property.
The hardest hit city was Taylorville where 21 people were injured, three seriously.
Damage was also reported in Staunton, Butler and Raymond plus rural areas. At Country Classic Cars in Staunton, buildings and cars were damaged.
Bond County has been lending assistance since the tornadoes struck.
Saturday night, members of the Mulberry Grove Fire Department delivered the county’s Mutual Aid Box Alarm System light tower to Taylorville. That tower is kept at the Mulberry Grove firehouse.
Sunday, the City of Greenville was represented in Taylorville with equipment and manpower. City Manager Dave Willey said he and Public Works Superintendent Bill Grider have talked for several years about providing mutual aid to another city if a natural disaster occurred.
Willey said this was the first opportunity the city has had to help in this way. He authorized Grider to take a few people and equipment on Sunday. Three dump trucks and a backhoe and a total of five people were sent to Taylorville. He expects some of the personnel to remain there until Tuesday.
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The city manager said Taylorville officials were happy to get the offer of help from Greenville. He believes the Greenville crew was among the first to make contact with those in Taylorville. He said this process is similar to fire departments providing mutual aid to each other.
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As of Monday afternoon, the National Weather Service was reporting there were up to 22 tornadoes Saturday afternoon in Central Illinois.
