GENESEO, Ill. — Several buildings in Geneseo sustained damage after Friday's storms rolled through the western end of town. Parts of roofs and sides of buildings were ripped off, while others lay collapsed.
Geneseo police officers reportedly spotted a tornado touching down just west of town at 6:28 p.m. In a press release, Deputy Chief Gene Karzin noted the tornado traveled east toward the city. Then at 6:30 p.m. officers observed the twister raise off the ground.
This sighting has not yet been confirmed by the National Weather Service.
"During these two minutes on the ground in the west side of Geneseo several structures were damaged," Karzin wrote.
There have been no injuries reported. Officers went door to door checking in on residents.
Ryan Thurman and Cameron Hodgson had been hanging out at Pinks' Paint and Body when the storm hit. Hodgson, whose family owns the autobody shop, said the two had been playing music together that evening.
"(Thurman's) wife is messaging him constant alerts about tornado warning, tornado warning. Me and him look outside- the sun's up, everything's fine," Hodgson recalled.
To help calm her nerves, the two prepared a shelter within a paint pit in the floor of the shop. The long, skinny hole in the ground was just wide enough for both men to crawl in and lay on their backs, with Hodgson's head laying at Thurman's feet.
"Just to make her happy, we'll do this," Hodgson said.
Not 10 minutes later, Thurman's wife frantically called, saying a tornado had touched down on I-74. The two men remember looking at each other and rushing to the back of the shop to take a look.
"In the distance is a full-blown tornado touched down, coming directly towards us," Hodgson said.
The two sprinted back to the paint pit and laid down just in time for the twister to roar directly above their heads.
"All the air was being rushed out at such an intense speed it felt like my phone was gonna be ripped out of my hand, that my hat was being blown off my head and it was even hard to breathe," Thurman said. "I just started praying. Frantically started praying! I didn't know what else to do!"
Overhead, the storm ripped away the building's siding. Pieces of styrofoam and debris tore through the air. All the while, Thurman and Hodgson remained hunkered down in the paint pit.
"We felt the wind, we felt the pressure," Hodgson said. "It was loud but I feel like the fear drowned out the noise."
Just as soon as it began, it was over. While the building was damaged, both men walked away unharmed, saying they were extremely lucky.
"God has a plan," Hodgson said. "And I made it out on the other side."
News 8's Charles Hart spoke with owner of Innovative Machine Kim McCubbin who said he was shocked when he saw his business for the first time, after the tornado tore through one of his two business buildings.
"Got here and I had no clue it would be this bad," McCubbin said. "It was very shocking, I mean I couldn't believe it, all of the sudden calls started rolling in from different people, hearing about it and wanting to come help. I think I can have a pretty good crew here this morning, help cleaning up and doing what we can."
Fortunately for McCubbin, he was safe after the tornado hit. He said despite his business and another business nearby being affected, luckily, there was little damage to surrounding homes.
Watch more coverage on Friday's storms on News 8's YouTube channel