Kane County tornado: Burlington, IL residents cleaning up storm damage

Tuesday, August 10, 2021
BURLINGTON, Ill. (WLS) -- A tornado that touched down near Burlington, Illinois in Kane County Monday evening has some residents cleaning up from the damage.

"There's too much to digest, to be honest with you," said Greg Kmieciak, whose home was damaged. "I really haven't even got a chance...I haven't even looked at my property, to be honest with you."
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Kmieciak wasn't home when the storm hit, but his wife was.

Tornado leaves behind damage in Burlington, IL


"She called me up, and she says, 'I think our house has been tornado'd?' And I go, 'Really,'" Kmieciak said.

RELATED: Multiple tornado touchdowns reported in DeKalb, Kane counties

She thankfully wasn't hurt as fierce winds took apart their roof.
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"My oldest son who lives in Sycamore called her and said, 'Are you in the basement?' And she said no. He says, 'Get down to the basement now,' and so luckily he listened to him," Kmieciak said.



At least a handful of properties near the intersection of Plank and Engel roads about a mile and half west of Burlington damaged by a suspected tornado.

The storm obliterated a shed and damaging other structures on this farm...
A massive, half century old tree was uprooted with the owner barely making it to safety.
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"He was trying to close up, you know, batten down the hatches, trying to close up his garage doors, and stuff like that," Jake Stamper said. "He kind of got caught in the middle of it."

Stamper said he was OK.

Kmieciak's home of 25 years... is now considered unsafe, but he knows it could have much worse.



"Bottom line, my wife is safe," Kmieciak said. "That's all I care about. The rest of this stuff can be fixed, can be replaced."

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