At least 5 people dead in St. Louis after severe storm sweeps through city

CBS News

17-05-2025

At least five people have died Friday after severe storms, including a possible tornado, swept through St. Louis, Mayor Cara Spencer announced.
Several other people were reported injured after the Friday afternoon storms, which tore roofs off some buildings, ripped bricks off of siding and downed trees and power lines as residents were urged to take cover.
"The loss of life and the destruction is truly, truly horrendous," Spencer said. "It truly is a hard night for many, many people and many, many families in our community."
Spencer said more than 5,000 homes were damaged by the storms. The city implemented a 9 p.m. curfew in parts of St. Louis on Friday night, encouraging people to stay home as officials sweep every building in the path of the storm to search for potential victims.
"We're going to have a lot of work to do in the coming days. There is no doubt there, but tonight we are focused on saving lives and keeping people safe and allowing our community to grieve," Spencer said.
In addition to asking people to stay home, Spencer urged people to stay off their phones unless it's an emergency, as the storms have disrupted cell service in the city, and officials want to make sure people who need to call 911 can get through to get help.
At Centennial Christian Church, City of St. Louis Fire Department Battalion Chief William Pollihan told The Associated Press that three people had to be rescued after part of the church crumbled. One of those people died.
Part of Centennial Christian Church in St. Louis, Missouri, collapsed on Friday, May 16, 2025 when severe storms, including a possible tornado, swept through the city.
Michael Phillis / AP
National Weather Service radar indicated that a tornado touched down between 2:30 p.m. and 2:50 p.m. in Clayton, Missouri, in the St. Louis area. It received reports of damage, mostly downed trees, weather service meteorologist Marshall Pfahler said.
The apparent tornado touched down in the area of Forest Park, home to the St. Louis Zoo and the site of the 1904 World's Fair and Olympic Games the same year, Pfahler said.
The St. Louis Zoo posted a message on X, the messaging platform formerly known as Twitter, that it would remain closed for the rest of the day because of the weather. The post included no information on damages, a zoo spokesperson didn't immediately return a phone message seeking comment.
"We can't definitively say whether or not it was a tornado -- it likely was," Pfahler said.
Radar confirmed a tornado above Venice, Illinois, about 2:50 p.m. CDT. It could be accompanied by golf ball-size hail, the National Weather Service in St. Louis said. Venice is northeast of St. Louis, just across the Mississippi River.
The weather service described the tornado as "extremely dangerous" and moving east at 50 mph. The tornado is part of a severe weather system that spawned tornadoes in Wisconsin, downed trees, left thousands without power in the Great Lakes region and brought a punishing heat wave to Texas.
Weather forecasters warned that severe storms with hail and even hurricane-force winds also could hobble parts of Appalachia and the Midwest on Friday. Tornadoes were also a risk there.
The National Weather Service said severe weather was likely across parts of the central Appalachians and the Mid-Atlantic states. Residents in Kentucky, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, parts of Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas and Ohio should brace for intense storms that could include baseball-sized hail.
The weather service's Storm Prediction Center said that "strong, potentially long-track tornadoes and very large hail" could be expected. The threat for damaging winds in excess of 75 mph will increase into this evening as storms grow into larger clusters.
A tree lays on a house in Dorr, Mich., after a severe storm ripped across Michigan the night before, on Friday, May 16. 2025.
Neil Blake / AP
Ahead of Friday night's anticipated storm, Appalachian Power, which serves 1 million customers in West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee, said Friday it requested 1,700 additional workers from neighboring utilities along with sending its own crews from unaffected areas to assist with service restoration.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, in a post on the social media platform X, put residents on notice.
"Kentucky, there is a dangerous weather system moving through our state with a significant round this afternoon through tonight. Strong winds, hail, flooding and tornadoes are possible starting at 2 p.m. CT in Western Kentucky and reaching Louisville around 5 p.m. ET," he said.
Shelters were opening in the Paducah, Kentucky, area.
Faith Borden, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service Nashville office, said Friday that middle Tennessee could expect "all types of severe weather. Winds up to 70 mph. We're talking seriously large hail up to 3 inches, which for us is big hail."
Texas, meanwhile, faced searing heat. A heat advisory was issued for San Antonio and Austin, with temperatures at a blistering 95 degrees Fahrenheit to 105 degrees Fahrenheit. Parts of the southern East Coast, from Virginia to Florida, battled with heat in the 90s.
The National Weather Service Office for Austin/San Antonio said Friday the humidity coming in over the weekend is expected to make temperatures hotter.
"There are concerns of heat exhaustion for people that aren't taking proper precautions when they're outdoors," meteorologist Jason Runyen said. He advised those affected to take breaks and stay hydrated.
Overnight Thursday, storms accompanied by booming thunder, lightning displays and powerful winds swept through parts of Wisconsin, Illinois, northern Indiana and Michigan — leaving scores of trees down and thousands of homes without power.
Several tornadoes touched down Thursday in central Wisconsin. None of the twisters have received ratings yet, said Timm Uhlmann, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Green Bay.
"We're still gathering reports," Uhlmann said. "We're assessing some of the damage and still getting video and pictures. The damage that we have is fairly widespread. There was a lot of large hail. In Eau Claire was one report of softball-sized hail."
No injuries have been reported.
Surveys also were underway Friday of damage in Michigan to determine if any tornadoes touched down there, said Steven Freitag, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in White Lake Township, northwest of Detroit.
The storms were fueled by temperatures in the lower 80s that stretched from Illinois into Michigan and were activated by a cold front that pushed through, Freitag said.
The threat of severe weather in Chicago delayed a Beyonce concert by about two hours Thursday at Soldier Field.
Associated Press writer Haya Panjwani in Washington and Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Missouri, contributed to this story.