Washington, Illinois

A look at the destruction wrought by the November 17, 2013 tornado. One Week removed.

These used to be houses, now lined up as garbage.

Yard sale.

Washington strong.

This house had no roof, but a functioning alarm system and some intact dishes.

Halloween leftovers and some personal items.

This Jeep never left its garage; the garage left the Jeep.

Among the things that remained standing was a CD rack. No walls, but an indestructible CD rack.

Patriotism in the face of Mother Nature.

What homes with basements typically look like in the area.

A look at the state of basements in the area.

A look at one of the better off sections of the neighborhood.

There was once a door for this welcome mat.

The man in the black in the distance was the owner of this house. He took some time to speak with us about his experiences. Despite his "tornado proof" house being destroyed and having the only non-intact basement, a son who was buried under eight feet of rubble with a nail embedded in his back, his remaining possessions stolen from his relative's house the day prior, and his car overturned on the rubble of his house, he was shockingly upbeat.

The last standing wall of the only "tornado proof" house in the city.

Owner and his story in caption of previous photo.

This house may be recognizable to people who have seen this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1WMEwd8Al0

This view may be recognizable to people who have seen this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1WMEwd8Al0

This view may be recognizable to people who have seen this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1WMEwd8Al0

Upon leaving, we came across a field on fire in numerous places.

Turns out that this was the city/county border and this field was just one section (the worst of) of a 300 acre farm that was covered in debris. Being that it was county and not city, the city was refusing to help clean up. So the farmers and their extended family and friends spent the weekend piling everything up and setting it on fire as they needed to get a start on the clean up in order to plant crops in six months time (there was a lot of debris). At this point, the city took notice and sent fire trucks after them.

The family stood around the fires refusing to let the city put them out.

The city wouldn't help them clean up and wouldn't let them clean up either. Kinda bullshit.

The owner of the farm with all the fires.

The farmers and their family burning the remaining piles.

The owner of the farm with all the fires.

The farmers and their family.