Springfield: Tornado Rips Roof Off Animal Shelter, 155 Dogs and Cats Left Homeless

A midnight rescue on Taintor Road

A severe storm and possible tornado struck the Animal Protective League on the north side of Springfield late Wednesday night, June 11. The shelter lost its roof completely. The spay and neuter clinic next door also lost its roof. 155 dogs and cats were inside when the storm hit. All of them survived.

"The shelter is a total loss. It's one that's behind us right now. You can see the walls are collapsed. The upper level is completely gone," Jeff Cunningham, APL Event Coordinator, told NewsChannel 20.

Volunteers formed a fire line to save the animals

A nearly 100 people showed up in the middle of a storm to help get the animals out, according to Cunningham. Volunteers formed a human chain to pass dogs out from the bottom levels of the building.

Cats were trapped on the second floor. The fire department did not allow volunteers upstairs until they confirmed the power was cut.

"It makes me really proud actually the way the community has shown up," Cunningham said. "We had many people that I've never seen at APL. A lot of brave young men that showed up last night in an unsafe structure. They were in there digging around finding cats putting them in cages."

Deana Corbin, APL Executive Director, was at home when her son told her about debris at the shelter. She arrived to find an assembly line of volunteers already working.

"It was midnight, one o'clock and people were showing up offering to foster, offering to help, offering to do whatever they could," Corbin told WAND News. "It's just such a heartwarming feeling to know that people care enough to come out to help in the middle of a crazy storm like we were having last night."

Where the animals are now

Sangamon County Animal Control took in 11 dogs and 29 cats for temporary housing, according to a post from Friends of the Animal Protective League. The remaining 133 cats and 22 dogs need foster homes.

"The thing we need the most right now is foster families. 155 animals are homeless right now. And we have no place to put them," Cunningham said.

Jeanne Keenan, director of Sangamon County Animal Control, said her team went into emergency crisis mode.

"It was very heartbreaking to see that. It was very heartbreaking to see the staff go through that," Keenan told NewsChannel 20. "We always try to support APL and they support us. We work together as much as we can because that is something that needs to take place for all the animals of the community."

The spay and neuter clinic is also gone

The APL's spay and neuter clinic performed 6,000 to 7,000 procedures per year for the community and shelter partners, Corbin said. That service is now offline with no clear timeline for restoration.

"So that is going to be a huge loss for us and we're going to try and figure out how to make that work maybe in some other locations," Corbin said.

Melissa Boastick, a volunteer at the shelter for 12 years, called the damage devastating.

"We help so many animals and pull them from counties, pull them from other places," Boastick told WAND News. "Right now, we're not going to have that ability."

What happened that night

According to NPR Illinois, the storm packed strong winds and possibly a tornado. Damage was reported at the Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport as well. Several small planes were thrown into fences. One plane was found without its wings or tail.

The Animal Protective League's phone lines are down. The shelter said the primary mode of contact is through Facebook and email. The APL's 5K Donuts and Dogs event scheduled for Saturday was canceled due to the storm damage.

Volunteers who want to foster an animal can apply through the shelter's website at apl-shelter.org, under the volunteer tab. Monetary donations can also be sent through the same site.

No animals and no people were injured in the storm, officials confirmed.