WASHINGTON/PEORIA/PEKIN, Ill.—When death and destruction come calling, the power of people pushes past personal concern.

That’s what happened when an EF-4 tornado, the second highest rating with wind speeds of 170–190 mph, cut a 1/8-mile-wide and 46.2-mile-long path of devastation as it hammered Tazewell, Woodford, Livingston and LaSalle Counties in central Illinois late on the morning of Sunday, Nov. 17.