TORNADO HITS NURSING HOME; 2 DEAD
Amazon warehouse roof collapses amid storms in Midwest
At least two people were killed Friday night when a reported tornado ripped through an Arkansas nursing home, and emergency crews in southern Illinois were also responding to reports of injuries at an Amazon warehouse after a roof collapsed amid storms there.
Craighead County Judge Marvin Day told KAIT-TV that at least five others were injured and 20 people were trapped after the tornado struck the Monette Manor area in northeast Arkansas. A call by The Associated Press to the county office wasn’t immediately returned.
“We know there are other people there; we just don’t know the extent of their injuries,” Day said, adding that other residential buildings in the area had also been damaged. “It’s just really heartbreaking,” he said.
The TV station reported that emergency crews from Trumann and police and firefighters from Jonesboro were headed to the area to assist. The nursing home has about 90 beds.
Footage from St. Louis TV stations showed dozens of emergency vehicles at the Amazon center near Edwardsville, Ill., about 25 miles west of St. Louis. It wasn’t immediately clear if or how many people were hurt, but the Collinsville, Ill., Emergency Management Agency on Facebook called it a “mass casualty incident.” One official told KTVI-TV that up to 100 people were believed to be in the building, working the night shift, at the time of the collapse.
The collapse came as a strong thunderstorm, and possibly a tornado, ripped through the St. Louis area. Winds of up to 70 mph were reported in parts of St. Charles and St. Louis counties in Missouri. At least three St. Charles County residents were hospitalized and several homes in the area near Augusta, Mo., were damaged.
The storms in Illinois and Arkansas were among several places in the Midwest that reported tornadoes spotted or on the ground.
Weather forecasters warned Friday that a powerful cold front colliding with record warmth over the central and eastern part of the Lower 48 states was expected to ignite dangerous thunderstorms in the Midwest and Tennessee Valley overnight. The National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center forecast “a few strong tornadoes, damaging gusts, and large hail.”