'The devastation is tremendous': St. Louis reeling after tornadoes

ST. LOUIS — The city of St. Louis is under a state of emergency after two confirmed tornadoes tore through the area Friday leaving 5 dead, more than three dozen injured, 5,000 buildings damaged and power out to close to 100,000.

“The devastation is truly tremendous,” said Mayor Cara Spencer of the first fatal tornado in the city in several decades. “I would say this is one of the worst storms (in city history).”

Spencer and Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe toured some of the damage Saturday. Problems that continue are downed power lines and trees and broken traffic lights.

People are still being encouraged to remain home if at all possible and to limit cell phone usage and a 9 p.m. curfew is expected to continue in the affected areas

Spencer said that the city would announce later Saturday the resources that will be available to people who are in need of help.

Officials said that the most important first step was the use of forestry services to clear roads so that first responders could make their way to calls and that residents could make their way for vital errands.  

Ameren noted that as of 6 a.m., 84,163 businesses were without power, and notices were going out to customers updating on the work, but, in many cases, without a firm timetable for restoration.

While two tornadoes were confirmed in Friday afternoon’s severe weather, investigators with the National Weather Service would be looking to determine the paths of the tornadoes and their severity. 

Ben Herzog of the National Weather Service said “likely tornadoes with winds of at least 100 mph” were expected to be confirmed with Saturday’s investigations.

The official investigation into the strength, path, length and width of the tornadoes is being done Saturday, but Herzog said he’s very confident that there were tornadoes and likely some winds in excess of 100 mph.

Herzog said the first tornado warning was sounded in the area at 2:34 p.m. Friday and that the tornado touched down 7 to 8 minutes later. 

Problems started Friday when storms with rotation started moving into the county and then traversed through the city. The worst of the damage appeared to be in Clayton, Richmond Heights, Forest Park, Central West End and North City.

There were evacuations in Clayton for possible gas leaks, while many Forest Park attractions were closed due to damage and power issues. Central West End suffered damage to buildings, and in North City, there were people counting their blessings that things weren’t worse, as collapsed and partially-collapsed buildings indicated the human toll could have been much worse.