Streator, Illinois, couple speak after tornado collapses home with them inside during last week's storms
People are still cleaning up and recovering from last week's tornado outbreak, with at least 15 now confirmed.
That includes a family in Streator, Illinois, who lost everything.
Their daughter spoke with CBS Chicago about the moment she got a call from her mother as a tornado approached the area. Now, the couple, Gary and Roxanne Rymeck, are sharing their story as they're now on a path to healing.
Joe: Did you know the tornado was coming?
Gary: We heard there was tornado warnings and I hear the siren outside. And then we saw across the field like a funnel cloud, like swirling.
Joe: Roxanne, you took video of the tornado. Did you not send it to your daughter, right?
Roxanne: I did, yeah. I was actually on the phone with her about 20 … about 15 minutes before that hit. And I told her we have a tornado warnings now here. I love you, Jill, and uh, I'll talk to you later.
Roxanne Rymeck says she and her husband, Gary, ran from the front of their home, where they saw the tornado, and into the home. She says they barely made it into the closet, and the storm was pulling as Gary tried to close the door. The door then flew out of his hands, and that's the moment everything collapsed around them.
Gary says he couldn't see as everything was on top of him, but was able to spot a little bit of light as Roxanne cried and screamed that she couldn't breathe.
Roxanne: There was a treadmill. Our treadmill was underneath it on top of him.I pulled that off of him and that's when I saw the top of his head. He was like buried alive. And then I just start screaming to the guy in the street could you please come and help me? I can't lift this stuff off anymore.
Gary says he remembers a cameraman helped lift some of the heavy debris off of him.
He says the event changed them. Roxanne added that after things have settled down, the impact is starting to hit them.
Gary says the most important thing is that they're alive.
"We might've lost everything we've ever owned, but um, we do got our lives," he said.
Gary will have to have surgery on his ankle and a torn bicep.
