UPDATED 12:34 P.M.
PEORIA, Ill. – Members of a South Peoria church were still expected to come together to worship Sunday, despite only two walls of their building standing after a collapse Saturday.
Peoria Police and Fire were called to United Fellowship Ministries on South Saratoga around 7:45 a.m. on reports that the roof had collapsed. Turns out, the collapse was much bigger than that.
“My daughter…her room is on the second floor. She can see directly over to the church and she had said that there was tons of smoke just barreling out of it,” said Devin Zentmyer, nearby resident, to 25 News.
A number of residents were evacuated – some receiving Red Cross assistance – because the remainder of the building couldn’t be demolished until Ameren completed restoring power to the area, and investigated and potentially fixed a natural gas smell.
“Now they’ve asked us to evacuate our house because the front of the church could still fall and that would damage our house also,” Michael White, nearby resident and church member, told 25 News.
Church officials say they’ve spent $300,000 in recent years remodeling the building that was believed to be constructed as early as 1939, according to a 25 News report.
Authorities are still investigating what may have caused the collapse. A round of strong thunderstorms moved through the area Friday night, but the storms did not trigger any warnings, despite a Severe Thunderstorm Watch. More severe weather was experienced to the north and east of the area.
No one was inside at the time of the collapse, and no one was hurt.
Damage is estimated to be $1.5 million.
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