Six LaSalle County boys and several others most likely will be changed forever by the tornado that tore through Utica on Tuesday night.

“I couldn’t sleep last night,” said Jordan Crane, a LaSalle-Peru Township High School sophomore. “I was so shocked by the damage.”

Crane, who lives in North Utica, which is just outside Utica, saw the tornado touch down and called his buddy who lived up the road. Crane listened to his police scanner and learned the roads leading to Utica were blocked. He came through a back way, he said.

After the tornado hit, Crane drove to his friend’s house right away to help him clean up.

“When we saw the damage, we were in shock,” he said.

The tornado that swept through Utica, a town with a population of about 1,000, was an F3 on the Fujita tornado damage scale. The storm was one of 14 reported tornadoes that swept through Illinois on Tuesday night. While other towns were affected, Utica was the hardest hit, with eight confirmed dead.

On Wednesday, Crane and his friends, Matt Stabb, Matt Wieshrock, Chris Suarez, Matt Sarver and Justin Nelsen were out surveying the damage. Though none of their homes were affected, they all knew people or had friends whose homes were.

“We just came down here to help out,” Crane said.

On the edge of town, Utica didn’t seem that different from most small towns, but the scenery changed along Illinois Route 178.

Road signs and sheriff’s police blocked the intersection of routes 178 and 6. Volunteers, journalists and others who needed to enter the area had to go up the road to get passes from Illinois State Police.

“It’s amazing how much of a big deal this was. We’re not used to this,” said Stabb, also a sophomore at LPHS.

Crane agreed. “This ain’t something you see around these parts,” he said. “This is stuff you see on the news.”

The young men’s observations were correct, as trucks and vans from Chicago’s WGN, NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox news networks lined the area. Crews from Rockford and St. Louis affiliates also were reporting live.

News crews weren’t the only outsiders present, however. Police and firefighters from surrounding areas and towns farther away such as Naperville, Downer’s Grove and Lisle-Woodridge, came out to help. The Salvation Army and Red Cross had on-site volunteers as well.

“It’s hard to believe, really,” said Wieshrock, a junior at LPHS. Most individuals roaming the area also seemed to have a look of disbelief on their faces. Many looked tired and stressed.

“We got a hell of a tornado,” said Suarez, an LPHS sophomore. Hell, or something close to it, was an accurate description. Many large trees were uprooted completely. Several houses were missing walls, windows and shingles, with crumbled remains scattered across their yards. Cars with smashed windshields were parked in driveways. Some homes had no roof, and in some cases, couches, tables and whole living rooms were exposed.

In addition to the numerous damaged homes, Waltham Elementary School also suffered severe damage. The school’s flagpole was bent on its side, bricks from the school’s walls were on the ground and a playground basketball hoop was ripped from the ground.

“Everyone thinks Utica’s so small, but it’s a big-time place where a lot of kids live,” Suarez said.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich held a press conference Wednesday at Waltham when he visited the area to assess the damage. On Wednesday, he declared LaSalle, Putnam, Kankakee and Will counties state disaster areas.

Along with the elementary school, Utica’s Little League baseball field also was damaged, with scraps of its fence and locker room scattered about.

Sarver and Nelsen didn’t have much to say, but they explored and picked through the rubble. The rest of the boys seemed to stop for a moment and take it all in.

“It’s going to be a lot different around here now,” Stabb said.