ST. LOUIS, Mo (Reuters) – Some St. Louis area residents on Saturday were shuffling slowly through the rubble left by a roaring storm that spawned tornadoes Friday night which tore through the west side of the city.
They forced closure of Lambert Airport, in the city limits but about five miles northwest of downtown, and left dozens of homes destroyed.
Pictures from television helicopters showed subdivisions leveled by the Good Friday storm that hit the city early at 8:30 p.m. CDT (9:30 p.m. EDT).
Roofs were blown off, trees smashed into houses, cars were flipped over, semitrailers blown off Interstate highways, and windows shattered.
There were no reports of injuries or deaths in the residential areas, despite the wide swath of destruction in a heavily populated area about three-quarters of a mile west of the airport.
Several people were injured by flying glass at the airport when the main terminal was hit. Airport director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge said, “There are a number of things we can be thankful for. It’s a miracle there were no fatalities.”
She said five people were injured but had already been released from nearby hospitals.
The National Weather Service confirmed on Saturday that it was a tornado that hit the airport. Meteorologist Scott
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