CRAWFORD COUNTY, Ill. (WTWO/WAWV) — A local farm has experienced severe damage as a result of a tornado that touched down on March 31.
Owners of Pifer Farm, Brad and Megan Pifer, were home on the evening of the tornado but fortunately, no injuries were reported. However, the Pifer’s home suffered damage and several large and expensive pieces of farm equipment, machinery, and a semi had all been blown into a mangled pile.
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Image of damage at Pifer Farm (WTWO) -
Image of damage at Pifer Farm (WTWO) -
Image of damage at Pifer Farm (WTWO) -
Image of damage at Pifer Farm (WTWO) -
Image of damage at Pifer Farm (WTWO) -
Image of damage at Pifer Farm (WTWO) -
Image of damage at Pifer Farm (WTWO) -
Image of damage at Pifer Farm (WTWO) -
Image of damage at Pifer Farm (WTWO) -
Image of damage at Pifer Farm (WTWO) -
Image of damage at Pifer Farm (WTWO)
“I then came up the next morning as early as I could get here and just pulling in, it was just like ‘wow what do you do? where do you start?’ And instantly I had tears. Everything these guys had worked for, it’s on the ground and it’s trashed,” said Max Illyes, long-time Pifer farmhand.
Along with the farm equipment silos at the farm were also damaged or destroyed.
“I’ll put it to you this way, hauling in corn during the fall of the year, pulling across the scales, these semis, with a full tank of fuel, weigh about 28,000 pounds. They’re heavy,” Illyes explained.
Illyes said several people from around the community had already cleaned up debris in the farm’s fields.
“The main point when we got here was to make sure everybody was okay. I don’t know how we’re going to get the semis off here yet. But the neighbors around here, small-town community coming together, people are just bringing up food, you can really see what a small community does for everybody,” Illyes said.
