CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Governor Pritzker said he’ll wait for the investigations, but the deadly tornado that tore through downstate Edwardsville may be a sign that officials must rethink building safety.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is looking into how a weekend tornado collapsed an Amazon distribution facility in Edwardsville, killing half a dozen people inside.
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In Chicago, Governor Pritzker said state officials must be guided by the findings.
"We are relying upon not only the local investigation, but the OSHA investigation to look at issues around whether there's structural challenges with the way those warehouses, and that particular one, was built," Governor Pritzker said. "People have said they were built to code. If they were, and I've talked to legislators about this, we need to look at whether the code needs to be strengthened."
He said we know storms have been getting more severe in recent years, and if building codes need to be strengthened because of climate change, then so be it.
"I think we are all quite aware that storms are getting more severe, that climate change is affecting businesses and homes and individuals all across the nation, not to mention here in Illinois; and so, if we need to strengthen those codes because of climate change, we should go do that," Pritzker said.
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