That would be the EF-4 tornado that barreled through Washington in Tazewell County, just more than five years ago. Wells, a 56-year-old loan processor from Decatur, had a sister just miles from the damage path whose church was devastated. Wells wanted to help.
"My mom read in the (church) bulletin that they were having this emergency response," Wells said. "She said you need to go to this class. So we always do what our parents tell us to do."
Wells listened to her mom and enrolled in the Lutheran Emergency Response Team (LERT) training course. She has since become a seasoned veteran at responding to all sorts of natural disasters.
On Saturday, Wells and more than 200 LERT volunteers, along with response teams from the American Red Cross, Salvation Army and Team Rubicon, were deployed to the tornado-ravaged streets of Taylorville to offer a helping hand to those in need.
The response teams were the only volunteer groups certified by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and recognized by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide disaster relief.
Such groups are more favored than "spontaneous" volunteers, who despite good intentions, many times end up getting in the way of recovery efforts.
"Everyone here's trained," said Stephen Born, LERT's central Illinois coordinator. "They know not to self-deploy, they know what to do, what not to do, what to wear, what not to wear."
The group's volunteers huddled in the basement of Trinity Lutheran Church at 8:30 a.m. Saturday to form teams and receive assignments.
LERT solicited work orders from the community before hand, with most requests dealing with the removal of debris from property and breaking down tree branches. More complex requests involved chainsaws and forklifts.
While the community still recovers from the EF-3 tornado, volunteers went about their business like seasoned pros.
"The locals don't realize that they're in shock. And we don't feel like we're in shock," said the Rev. Rodney Blomquist, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church. "And at times, we feel like we don't know what we should do next, but these guys do. They come from the outside, they're clear-minded, and they know what needs to be done."
Born said the massive show of manpower is a credit to the coordinated disaster response effort, as timing — a week after the storm — allowed the groups to assemble volunteers and plan relief efforts while first responders dealt with the immediate aftermath.
"What that did allowed the first responders to do their job and to get things established," Born said. "So it's a coordinated and collaborative effort with us working with the emergency management agency. By us arriving here today, we can come full force with 170 people on a Saturday and get a lot of work done versus coming in on a Wednesday and bringing 17 members."
LERT volunteers helped on 31 work orders, finishing at least 14 of them, Born said.
Mike Crews, the Christian County emergency manager, credited the "very well-organized" groups for helping accelerate relief efforts.
"The amount of progress we've made in a week's time could not have possibly been done without these people," Crews said. "The big advantage is that they are able to get onto private property to help those people, whereas municipal workers are not able to do much beyond the easements of the boulevards."
An order Wells' crew fulfilled involved clearing the dismembered pieces of a barbecue grill from a backyard, taking down splintered pieces of fence and raking other remaining debris from the property.
"To me, this sometimes is more than money," Wells said. "Because I see this guy has a handicapped (symbol) on his license plate. ... He can't do it. Being the hands for the person, to me, is a pretty rewarding thing."
A group of about 10 volunteers from the University of Illinois Springfield students also made the trek down to help tornado victims, partnering with Team Rubicon.
Ben Szalinski, a sophomore, said the tornado hit home for many of his classmates.
"There's a lot of students at UIS who are from Taylorville, so this impacted a lot of students directly," Szalinski said. "... And since it was so close by, it's one of those things where you can picture yourself in that situation. We saw what it did to Taylorville, and we thought this was something we need to go help with."
As was the case for many LERT volunteers, Taylorville was not the first foray into disaster relief for Szalinski and many of his classmates. Many of them were on a school-sponsored trip to Houston in March, when they aided in relief efforts in the months after Hurricane Harvey.
"We gutted a lot of houses and picked up a lot of debris in neighborhoods that actually kind of look like some of the neighborhoods in Taylorville do today," Szalinski said.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, Gov.-elect J.B. Pritzker and Lt.-Gov.-elect Juliana Stratton on Saturday joined the line of elected officials who have toured the destruction this week.
Pritzker, who spoke with residents still picking up the ruins in some of the hardest-hit areas, praised local relief efforts while assuring local leaders the state would be there to help with the recovery.
"Honestly, Taylorville people have been out volunteering, helping their neighbors in a way that I haven't seen really for quite some time," Pritzker said. "It's really tremendous the volunteer activity that's going on, neighbor helping neighbor. I'm proud to be an Illinoisan, proud to be here in Taylorville and proud to support you here and the families here."
Both Pritzker and state Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, indicated that additional state funding for long-term relief could be appropriated once the new legislative session begins in January.
Durbin, on the other hand, all but ruled out federal relief, given FEMA's high threshold for disaster costs.
"The formula is not good for those of us from downstate and small-town America," Durbin said.
But for now, Crews said the response at the local level will focus on debris management, while starting to look at some long-term housing issues.
Whatever comes, locals say they are grateful for the outsiders — who range from folks who live just minutes out of town to some who made the early morning trek from the Chicago area — for helping boost Taylorville's recovery.
"This is a kickstart," Blomquist said. "The overwhelming amount of work and cleanup that comes in on a disaster and these groups come in like this, that takes a heavy load off the people."
One group that's felt a heavy load this past week? The town's first responders.
But even as the volunteers pack up, the first responders that remain got their due Saturday night at the city's rescheduled Christmas parade. Postponed last week as the tornado was barreling toward town, the parade was dedicated to all the tornado victims and the town's first responders.
"We're going to go with it, and since it was such short notice, we've invited the fire department and other responders to be part of it to get their accolades from the community, which they deserve," Crews said. "It's just a good event for the city right afterward."
Contact Brenden Moore: 788-1526, brenden.moore@sj-r.com, twitter.com/brendenmoore13.
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