It was a learning experience yesterday for area emergency personnel from Ogle and Lee Counties as they took part in a disaster drill.
Over 20 agencies were faced with a scenerio in which a tornado touched down in Franklin Grove in Lee County and then traveled through Ashton and Rochelle.
There were 6 separate sites that the tornado hit. This included the Cleveland addition in Rochelle, a train derailment at the Intermodal facility involving ethanol fuel, and people hurt AFC High School. Rochelle Community Hospital had over 50 people receive treatment and 7 fatalities from the exercise.
Mayor Chet Olson of Rochelle and Detective Terry Inman both said that several things need to be corrected in case a real disaster hits the area. Most officials during the drill said that there needs to be better communication between the agencies.
Results and recommendations from the exercise will be released in a couple of weeks.