As local officials continue to assess the cost of tornadoes that slammed into the area on Sunday, state officials are continuing to offer assistance in the aftermath of the storm.
Woodridge and Naperville, which were both hit with an EF-3 tornado during the severe weather outbreak on Sunday, are still cleaning up, and elected officials are working to make sure those impacted get the help that they need.
Alicia Tate-Nadeau, director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, toured various locations in the area on Tuesday, and she spoke to NBC 5 about what she witnessed, and what the state is doing to help homeowners.
“We were blessed,” she said. “We could have had a lot of devastation and loss of life. We were really spared.”
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Local officials met with Tate-Nadeau to discuss the state response. Officials continue to assess the cost of damage, and it’s unclear at this time whether the state or federal government will be called upon to help communities impacted by the storm.
State Sen. John Curran, who also toured damage in the communities on Tuesday, says that his office is doing everything it can to ensure an accurate accounting of the damage, and to get residents as much help as possible.
“We want to make sure that we capture every uninsured loss,” he said.
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Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who is on vacation this week with his family, has been checking in on the situation by phone, and has reached out to local leaders to offer the state’s assistance.
“He’s been very clear that my job is to ensure that anything these communities need, I am to get it to them as quickly as possible,” Tate-Nadeau said.
“It’s really the professionals that are doing the job here, and that’s what we really require,” Curran added.
