Tornadoes that swept through Bloomington-Normal on April 17 left Community’s athletic facilities with significant damage—destroying a softball dugout, bending baseball fencing and stripping sponsor signs from two fields, Athletic Director Mr. Nic Kearfott said.

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Mr. Brad Bovenkerk

The most severe blow came to the softball complex, where the lower-level home dugout was flattened.

Kearfott said half of the structure had collapsed to the ground while the other half was tilting and had to be taken down to prevent anyone from being injured. A nearby visiting varsity softball dugout also lost a sliding door and part of its roof.

The storm’s path appeared to track directly over Community’s soccer fields.

Soccer dugouts on both sides lost shingles, Kearfott said, with the visitor dugout taking the worst of it. Community also lost all of its sponsor signs at the soccer field and two more at the baseball-softball complex.

Over at the baseball field, five fence poles were bent and broken along the varsity diamond, and the fence in center field of the lower-level softball diamond was pulled out of alignment.

“Thankfully,” Kearfott said, the damage “was nothing that prevented us from playing or using [the] facilities.”

The tornado that struck the area touched down just west of Rivian Parkway in Bloomington at 8:56 p.m., moving northeast along Route 66 before ending to the northeast of Towanda, according to the National Weather Service.

The EF1 storm traveled 11.3 miles and reached an estimated peak wind speed of 110 mph—just below the 111 mph threshold for an EF2 classification. The tornado also flipped a semi on I-55 before passing through Towanda, where it caused minor damage, according to the NWS.

It was not the first time the facilities had weathered a similar event.

Kearfott said a comparable storm roughly two and a half years ago lifted a section of metal soccer bleachers over a fence, flattened the lower-level visiting dugout and sent pole vault mats airborne—one was later found near the retention pond at the front of the building.

Cleanup from the most recent storm began the morning after the tornado hit.

Crews cleared shingles and nails from the soccer field before play resumed, and the softball area was cleared by Monday morning.

A maintenance crew repaired the varsity visiting dugout roof that same day, Kearfott said, though the damaged door had not yet been replaced.

New damage continued to surface throughout the week. Kearfott said he photographed every affected area daily and submitted the images to the district office so an insurance claim could be filed.

The cost of repairs has not been finalized.

Kearfott estimated the demolished softball dugout alone could run $10,000 to $15,000—the approximate cost when the dugouts were originally built two years ago.

He said sponsor signage lost in the storm cost roughly $1,300, and that fencing projects at Community have historically not been cheap, though he did not have a specific estimate.

Construction on the softball dugout is not expected to begin until after the season ends, Kearfott said, because equipment and machinery in the area would prevent the team from using the space during any active build.