WASHINGTON PARK, Ill. – Four families in Washington Park, Illinois, have been displaced after strong weekend weather left their apartment building condemned.
A large tree, which neighbors said was healthy and strong, came crashing down on the four-unit building. Residents are left to pick up the pieces of their lives.
“I was sitting in the living room, slowly getting ready for work. The wind was blowing kinda high, so we closed the windows. It was rainy extremely hard. All I heard was a big boom,” Latosha Howard said.
That boom was the sound of a tree crashing into the apartment building, collapsing the porch and trapping families inside.
According to the National Weather Service, winds reached at least 40 miles per hour Saturday afternoon; strong enough to bring down trees that neighbors say had never caused problems before.
“I jumped up. I finally got a chance to look up—it was ridiculous,” Howard said. “We [were] trapped in. … It was scary.”
City crews had to rescue Howard that day.
“I’m just glad to be alive; but it was a scary situation,” she said.
Howard said debris covered the windows, leaving just one way in or out. Now, the only back inside her apartment is by climbing a ladder up to a door.
With the building condemned, four families are being forced out, but Howard said that’s easier said than done.
“They’re asking us to move, but we don’t have any steps to move,” she said. “I can’t move my furniture; can’t do anything.”
For the time being, residents are salvaging what they can, waiting on insurance adjusters, and leaning on neighbors for support.
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