At least 5 dead after severe storm, including possible tornado, batters St. Louis, mayor says

ST. LOUIS — At least five people died and authorities were searching building to building for people trapped or hurt after a severe storm, including a possible tornado, swept through St. Louis on Friday afternoon.

The storm tore roofs off buildings, blew out windows, ripped bricks off siding and yanked up trees and power lines. Mayor Cara Spencer said more than 5,000 homes were affected and that about 100,000 customers remained without electricity on Friday night.

“This is truly, truly devastating,” Spencer said. The city was in the process of declaring an emergency, she added, and an overnight curfew Friday had been put into place in the neighborhoods with the most damage.

The number of people injured was not immediately known. Barnes-Jewish Hospital received 20 to 30 patients with storm-related injuries, with some in serious condition and most expected to be discharged by Friday night, according to hospital spokesperson Laura High.

St. Louis Children’s Hospital received 15 patients, two of whom were expected to remain into the weekend, she said.

National Weather Service radar indicated that a tornado touched down between 2:30 p.m. and 2:50 p.m. in Clayton, Mo., in the St. Louis area. The apparent tornado touched down near Forest Park, home to the Saint Louis Zoo and the site of the 1904 World’s Fair and Olympic Games that year.

One person died and two others were rescued from Centennial Christian Church after part of the building crumbled, St. Louis Fire Department Battalion Chief William Pollihan told the Associated Press.

Stacy Clark said his mother-in-law, Patricia Penelton, died in the church. He described her as an active church volunteer who had many roles, including serving in the choir.

“Pray for our church,” Centennial Christian posted on its Facebook page.

Jeffrey Simmons Sr., who lives across the street from the church, heard an alert on his phone and then the lights went out.

“And next thing you know, a lot of noise, heavy wind,” he said. He and his brother went into the basement. Later, he realized it was worse than he thought: “Everything was tore up.”

Downed trees and stoplights caused traffic gridlock during the Friday afternoon commute, and officials urged people to stay home if possible.

The upper stories of the Harlem Tap Room’s brick building were demolished when the storm came through, leaving piles of bricks around the outside. About 20 people were inside, but they huddled in the back of the building and none were hurt, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

John Randle, a 19-year-old University of Missouri-St. Louis student, said he and his girlfriend were at the St. Louis Art Museum and got hustled into the basement with about 150 other people.

He said that they could hear tree branches and hail hitting the windows and that he went up a flight of stairs to the main entrance for about 10 seconds.

“You could see the doors flying open, tree branches flying by and people running,” he said. “A lot of people were caught outside.”

Christy Childs, a spokesperson for the Saint Louis Zoo, said in a text that the zoo would remain closed Saturday because of downed trees and other damage. Childs said all animals were safe and that there were no reports of significant injuries to staff, guests or animals.

“We can’t definitively say whether or not it was a tornado — it likely was,” National Weather Service meteorologist Marshall Pfahler said.

The storms were 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.

Appalachia and Midwest face danger

Weather forecasters warned that severe storms with possible tornadoes, hail and hurricane-force winds could hobble parts of Appalachia and the Midwest into Friday night.

The weather service warned of a rare tornado emergency around Marion, Ill., on Friday evening, saying a tornado had been confirmed and that it was life-threatening. Reports of damage and injuries weren’t immediately known.

A dust storm warning was issued around the Chicago area Friday night. The weather service said a wall of dust extended along a 100-mile line from southwest of Chicago to northern Indiana that severely reduced visibility.

The National Weather Service said residents in Kentucky, southern Indiana, southern Illinois and 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.

Before Friday night’s anticipated storm, Appalachian Power, which serves 1 million customers in West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee, said that it requested 1,700 additional workers from neighboring utilities to assist its own crews from unaffected areas to assist with service restoration.

Faith Borden, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service’s 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 hit by heat wave

Texas, meanwhile, faced searing heat. A heat advisory was issued for the San Antonio and Austin areas, with temperatures reaching 95 to 105 degrees. Parts of the southern East Coast, from Virginia to Florida, endured temperatures in the 90s.

The National Weather Service office for Austin-San Antonio said Friday that the humidity coming in over the weekend was expected to make temperatures feel 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 downed 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 whether 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.

By Friday evening, customers in Michigan were slowly seeing power return, but more than 200,000 remained without. An estimated 60,000 customers were without power in Indiana, and 27,000 were without electricity in Illinois and Kentucky.

The threat of severe weather in Chicago delayed a Beyoncé concert by about two hours Thursday at Soldier Field.

Phillis, Williams and Hanna write for the Associated Press. AP writer Haya Panjwani in Washington and Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City contributed to this report.