"Nobody knew Fairdale, and now they do:" Picking up the pieces in northern Illinois after EF4 tornado

FAIRDALE, Ill. (WITI) -- Hundreds of volunteers, some from as far away as Ohio and Missouri are helping with tornado recovery efforts in northern Illinois. The small town of Fairdale saw the worst of it -- with two people killed and 22 more injured after an EF4 tornado tore through the town on Thursday, April 9th.

FOX6's sister station WGN reports on Sunday, April 12th, a prayer service was held for tornado victims.

Twenty-five of the 75 homes in Fairdale were destroyed by Thursday's storms, WGN reports. The National Weather Service says the twister was an EF-4 tornado, with winds reaching up to 200 mph.

WGN reports the victims who died in the storms are 67-year-old Geri Schultz and 69-year-old Jackie Klosa.

Schultz died when her house took a direct hit from the tornado. Her husband of 25 years, Clem Schultz, survived. He thought he lost his dog Missy in the tornado, but a ComEd worker found it Saturday and they were reunited.

Klosa, who lived next door to Geri and Clem Schultz, also died. She was found in the shower, where she told her sister and daughter she was going to take cover.

Fairdale is a town of just 150 residents.

Saturday brought residents back into the town of Fairdale to sift through debris and find what remains of their possessions.

Volunteers combed through a field as crews worked on cleaning up what the tornado left behind.

"What turns out to be a pile of rubble that just seems to stretch on for block, after block, after block. You know, your heart's in your throat. You get out there and hope you can do something, hope you can find where the houses were because they're all mixed together," Kris Habermehl with the Kirkland Fire Department said.

Through the destruction comfort came for residents from friends on four paws -- therapy dogs.

"They've been fantastic. The people have really been in need of comforting and these dogs are specially trained. Their handlers have worked hard with them and TDI specially trained them to go out and work in the disaster area," Raine Ray said.

In nearby Kirkland, volunteers worked to clean up as donations came in.

"There's truck-loads coming everywhere, volunteers coming. Everyone I guess is parking up by the school and they're busing them in," volunteer Debbie Morris said.

The Red Cross is coordinating volunteers who want to help. Representatives from insurance companies were on hand to work with tornado victims. Operation BBQ Relief was working to prepare hot meals.

"It's comfort food. It's barbecue. It's social. It's community. It brings people back together in what's really one of the worst times of their lives," Scott Polak with Operation BBQ Relief said.

What's of little comfort though is the fact that two people died in Fairdale as a result of the tornado, and many others were injured.

"You know, it's not going to be the same," Adam Davis said.

Some are unsure if rebuilding will happen in Fairdale.

"Yeah. This is it. Nobody knew Fairdale, and now they do. A small town out in the middle of nowhere. Now it's on the map. Actually it's wiped off the map," Davis said.