Survivors of '90 Plainfield storm know what it's like Emotional recovery can be as hard as struggle to rebuild

Kati Waldron, a cashier at Menards in Plainfield, was ringing up acustomer Tuesday when she heard the sirens.

Just like that, Waldron was 5 years old again, terrified.

"I started shaking. I felt like I was going to be sick," saidWaldron, 18.

The sirens warned of tornados that were sweeping the state Tuesdaynight. The fiercest of them ripped through the north-central Illinoistown of Utica, killing eight.

But it may as well have been Aug. 28, 1990, again.

Waldron lived through that tornado that all but smashed Plainfieldto bits, killing 29 and leveling her family's home. But for her andother current and former Plainfield residents, the scars still …