10 tornadoes touch down in St. Louis area Thursday

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOV) - Clean-up efforts are underway after nine tornadoes and severe storms left behind a trail of damage. Three touched down in St. Louis County, three others touched down in Illinois, two in Franklin County and two in Phelps County.

An EF-0 tornado touched down in Kirkwood Thursday evening and went Northeast until Warson Woods. It was a brief tornado and tree damage was reported in the area. Kirkwood resident Charlie Jackson recalls being home with family when the storm strolled through his neighborhood.

“I was home, we were watching TV and my mom was cooking on the stove and next thing I know I hear a big thud,” Jackson remembered. “So next thing you know I grab my flip-flops .. come running outside to find out a tree has been completely uprooted. It was a pretty scary situation because my dad and sister were still out. I didn’t want the tree hitting them on the way in.”

He is thankful that none of his family was hurt.

Trees were also torn down in other areas throughout St. Louis County. In University City, News 4 crews spotted a tree that fell down on a truck parked on the street, shattering the windshield and damaging the roof. The National Weather Service (NWS) will survey areas with tornado damage Friday. Surveyors headed to Breese in Clinton County, Illinois to see if a tornado touched down before traveling in the opposite direction to western Franklin County.

Friday morning, the NWS reported an EF-1 tornado touched down near Jamestown Road just north of Breese in Clinton County, Illinois, damaging farms, and grain bins/silos. Although the survey team is still ongoing, a Franklin County survey team found two tornadoes hit the area. An EF-0 tornado also touched down just south of I-64 near Okawville, Ill. The tornado damaged farm outbuildings and wheat fields. A brief EF- 0 tornado was recorded around 4:16 p.m. along Anaconda Road just roughly one mile southwest of St. Clair in Franklin County. The path length was 2.6 miles with a maximum width of 50 yards and crossed Interstate 44.

Seven minutes later, an EF-1 tornado hit just south of the Bourbeuse River around 4:23 p.m. Thursday. With 100mph max. winds, the tornado knocked down trees along its 1.3-mile path. It lifted between Little Creek Road and Highway CC. Officials reported Route CC just south of Route 50 collapsed due to flash flooding. MoDOT has been working to make repairs overnight.

Friday, NWS determined that a tornado briefly touched down just north of Olive near Fee Fee in unincorporated St. Louis County near Creve Coeur. The tornado damaged trees (falling tree limbs damaged homes) and snapped power lines before it lifted just west of Parkway North High School. The tornado touched down at 5:06 p.m. Around the same time, a brief EF-0tornado touched down in Frontenac and lifted near Chaminade High School.

An eighth tornado, an EF-0, was confirmed Friday afternoon in Lebanon, Illinois. Shortly after, a ninth tornado, an EF-1, was confirmed to have touched down in Phelps County, about five miles west of Beulah. Another EF-1 tornado was confirmed about seven miles south of Rolla.

Crews are still surveying damage across the area to evaluate if more tornadoes touched down.

Ameren reported about 11,000 customers were without power in the St. Louis region around 9 p.m. Thursday. As of Friday morning, there are over 4,000 people without power in Missouri.

Three cars were submerged as flash floods surged over Interstate 55 near Loughborough in south St. Louis City. The fire department said the occupants self-evacuated and no injuries were reported. The interstate was shut down as crews helped drivers and water cleared off the highway.

Crews from the Missouri Sewer District responded to several flooded areas including Bevo Mill for water gushing onto a road, flooding it as seen in this video. MSD officials said the storm didn’t cause any failure to the pumps but the flooding happened due to the amount of rainwater plus debris blocking storm drains. MSD said they received over 80 phone calls.

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