More on St. Louis Damage

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Lambert International Airport closed until further notice. There is a report of plane with passengers stranded on the tarmac that can't get to the terminal due to debris and damage to the terminal. There is an unconfirmed report that aircraft had damage due to the tornado. Reports of injuries at the airport due to two terminals losing the roof. Flights rerouted to Springfield, IL and Kansas City.

The plane on which passengers were trapped is reportedly American Airlines' flight 699 from St. Louis to Chicago. This was an MD-80. The plane was moved by the tornado and people were stuck on the plane at least two ours. There was also a 757 moved by the tornado.

10:20pm update: Post-Dispatch says Terminal C completely lost its roof. Giant traffic jams on Interstates 270 (still closed) and Interstate 70.  Passengers were reported rescued about this time.

Suggestion: If you are scheduled to fly through St. Louis Saturday and, likely Sunday, call the airline to get a reroute before the alternative flights get sold out. 


UPDATE: American Airlines is granting waivers for flights scheduled through St. Louis through April 27th. An airline survival guide for these situations here. 
Lambert Airport, screen capture, KMOV TV, St. Louis
Lambert Airport, screen capture, KMOV TV, St. Louis

KMOV TV is live streaming here.

AmerenUE reports 85,000 homes and businesses without power.
Home destroyed in St. Louis County, Missouri
Photo from St. Louis "Post-Dispatch"
There are homes destroyed, trees uprooted and powerlines down in numerous areas along the path of the storm. The worst damage seems to be along an intermittent path from New Melie through Weldon Spring through Lambert International to the suburbs on the Illinois side of the river.

Baseball to golfball-sized hail fell in parts of the area with roof damage. Photos of the large hail when it was west of St. Louis here. Note the small crater made by the hailstone in one of the photos.

Two interesting items:  There were tornadoes in the St. Louis area this past New Year's Eve. More people have been killed by tornadoes in St. Louis than any other city since records have been kept.

Comments

  1. AnonymousApril 22, 2011 at 11:44 PM

    St. Louis narrowly avoided tornadoes on Tuesday, as well. There were some just south of the metro, I believe, but the main show was to the north closer to a warm front that retreated north after sitting directly over STL for an extended time.

    ReplyDelete

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