Cameron, Illinois residents were let back into their homes on Saturday, July 18, after a tornado ripped through their town two days earlier.
The tornado came through Thursday evening, July 16, 2015. Since then, clean-up crews have been removing debris from roadways and utility companies were trying to get gas and electricity back to their customers.
The Warren County Sheriff said they have been trying to limit the amount of people going in and out of the community for safety precautions.
"I want to stress that if you don’t have a reason to be in Cameron, don’t come into Cameron. There’s a lot of trees down, trucks moving, a lot of activity," said Martin Edwards, the Warren County Sheriff. "If you don’t have a reason to be here, don’t be here."
When asked what it was like seeing his community destroyed by the tornado, Edwards' tough demeanor changed. His voice started to crack and he took a moment to gather his words.
"It’s been tough. We've had a lot of people upset and crying, seeing their homes destroyed, it’s just hard to see that," said Edwards.
Multiple different first responder municipalities were set up in the center of town handing out food and water, and directing people where to go for help. Some of those municipalities included the Warren County Sheriff's Office, Galesburg Police Department, Unified Command Post, Central Warren Fire District, Silvis Fire Department, and Illinois State Police.
One homeowner in town was out-of-town during the storms, but her daughter was at their house when the tornado hit.
"I could hear the siren going off in the background," said Brenda Sage, who was on the phone with her daughter when the tornado hit their house. "She went quiet for a second and then she screamed, 'oh my god the lights just went out,' and it was just a few seconds later, [when] it got really, really loud on the phone and she was just screaming."
Sage came home to find her home badly torn up by the tornado. The side addition they'd spent years remodeling had been completely destroyed.
"We spent a lot of time out there, more than anywhere in the house probably," Sage said.
Multiple volunteer groups were in Cameron on Saturday. One group of workers from Sparky's Smokeshack set up their smoker just outside of town and were serving free meals to anyone who needed them.
"I grew up around here and know a lot of people in town," said Bill Spitzig, owner of Sparky's Smokeshack. "I just want to be able to give back to the community."
Spitzig said they will be set up around town through the rest of the weekend.
American Red Cross volunteers are also in Cameron distributing water and food to residents and workers.
"People are working hard and want to get things done but they also need to be concerned about the heat and hydrate and take breaks and go a little bit slower. It's really pretty miserable and that is just compounded problems so we want people to really be careful about that," said Trish Burnett, an American Red Cross representative.
