‘A disaster area’ Strong storms cause tree to fall on Granite City home, hospitalizing two people
A tree collapsed into a Granite City home on Monday
By Web staff
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GRANITE CITY, Illinois (KMOV) — A tree collapsed into a Granite City home on Monday, leading to two of the residents needing hospitalization.
It all happened really fast for Trent Reynolds Monday afternoon, he said he and his parents were inside the house on Logan St. when a tree barreled down on the residence.
“The filing cabinet, the china cabinet, landed on my dad,” said Trent Reynolds. “The ceiling came down on my mom’s head. She got a few scratches on her face, she was all covered in insulation.”
He was busy gathering valuables before he got to the hospital, but was told they’re doing okay.
“I got word that they are stable,” said Reynolds.
When News 4 was driving to the house, we ran into roads inundated with water, some drivable, others too wet to pass.
“It was just like a disaster area,” said Tom Vanberkel, who lives next door to the smashed home.
He wasn’t home at the time of the storm, but had trouble getting home afterwards.
“It was flooded out, you couldn’t get into the streets, you had to figure out how to get into my own house here,” said Vanberkel.
While he was shocked to hear his neighbors were injured, he was less surprised that the large tree next door fell.
He said they’ve asked the city for years to take it down, but it didn’t happen.
“I said it’s going to go right through your roof if that thing comes down Buzz, and I wish it wouldn’t have but it did and now they’re in the hospital because of it,” said Vanberkel.
Mayor Mike Parkinson told News 4 over the phone that the city isn’t responsible. He said the city was in the process of using community development block grant funds to get rid of the tree.
He said it was too large for city staff to get to it on their own and therefore it was currently out for bid, along with a number of other trees.
He said he does feel bad for the victims.
Reynolds echoed what his neighbor said saying he did all he could.
“I did everything I could to make sure my mom and my dad were safe,” said Reynolds.
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