Galatia recovering from storm; water pumps powered

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Galatia is slowly but surely recovering from the wind storm Friday that caused substantial property damage and blew over numerous trees and limbs.

Power was restored late Monday to residences in the village. The village's water pump stations had power Tuesday.

"We still probably need to conserve water and the boil order is still in effect," Allan Ninness, Saline County Emergency Management Agency coordinator, said.

School is back in session today in Galatia and stores are open again. Residents are, however, still cleaning up debris and trees from the storm.

A state disaster declaration for Saline and Gallatin counties, as well as Randolph County in southwestern Illinois, was signed by Gov. Pat Quinn. The governor on Tuesday toured the counties to the west of Saline. Damage is much worse in Williamson, Franklin and Jackson counties, where one fatality was reported. An 87-year-old Murphysboro man was killed Friday when he was knocked down the stairs during the storm.

Quinn thanked volunteers who helped in the storm's aftermath, and he called the damage "heartbreaking."

The state disaster declaration, "Means state assets are available to us for anything we need," Ninness said.

Resources could include help in picking up debris or Department of Transportation trucks to haul away trees and debris.

"There is need all over so we are working with the state on how we are going to do that," Ninness said.

Galatia is going to try and do as much as possible itself because state resources could be spread thin due to the widespread damage in Southern Illinois, Ninness said.

Saline County EMA is beginning damage assessment -- classifying structures as "destroyed," receiving "major" or "minor" damage, or "affected."