Mayor Cara Spencer announced at least five people died in a severe storm Friday, including a possible tornado that swept St. Louis.
Several others were reportedly injured after a storm on Friday afternoon, causing roofs of some buildings, urging residents to be covered up and tear off bricks from siding and falling trees and power lines.
"The loss and destruction of life is really a real horror," Spencer said. "It's really a tough night for many people and many families in our community."
Spencer said the storm damaged more than 5,000 homes. The city imposed a 9 p.m. curfew in parts of St. Louis on Friday night, encouraging people to stay home as officials swept every building on the storm’s roads in search of potential victims.
"We will have a lot of work to do in the coming days. There is no doubt, but tonight we are focused on saving lives, keeping people safe and allowing our communities to feel sad."
Unless people are asked to stay at home, Spencer also urges people to stay away from their cell phones unless an emergency occurs because the storm has damaged the city’s cell service and officials want to make sure those who need to call 911 can get help.
At the Centennial Christian Church, William Pollihan, chief chief chief of the St. Louis Fire Department, told the Associated Press that three people must be rescued after part of the church collapses. One of them died.
National Weather Service said the tornado landed between 2:30 pm and 2:50 pm in the St. Louis Area, Clayton, Missouri. Meteorological Service meteorologist Marshall Pfahler said it received reports of damage, mostly trees.
Pavaler said the obvious tornado was in the Forest Park area, the location of the St. Louis Zoo and the location of the 1904 World Expo and the Olympic Games of the same year.
St. Louis Zoo posted a message on the messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that it will remain closed for the rest of the day due to weather reasons. The post does not contain information about damages and a zoo spokesperson did not immediately return a phone message seeking comments.
"We can't say clearly whether this is a tornado-probably," Pfaler said.
The radar tornado above Venice, Illinois confirmed that it was about 2:50 pm CDT. The National Weather Service of St. Louis said it could be accompanied by golf-sized hail. Venice is northeast of St. Louis, just across the Mississippi River.
The Bureau of Meteorology described the tornado as "extremely dangerous" and moved eastward at 50 mph. The tornado is part of a bad weather system that spawned tornadoes in Wisconsin, where trees fell, thousands of people left in the Great Lakes area were powered and brought a heat wave of punishment to Texas.
Weather forecasters warn that hail and even hurricane storms may also be part of Appalachian and Midwest on Friday. Tornadoes are risky, too.
The National Weather Service said that severe weather could be possible in parts of central Appalachian and parts of the Mid-Atlantic state. Residents of Kentucky, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, parts of Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas and Ohio should prepare for intense storms that may include baseball-sized hail.
The Bureau's Storm Prediction Center said it could be expected to have "strong, potential long-distance tornadoes and very large hail". As the storm becomes larger clusters, the threat of wind damage over 75 mph will increase to this evening.
The Appalachian Power, which serves 1 million customers in West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee, said Friday it requested 1,700 workers from neighboring utilities while dispatching crew members from unaffected areas to assist in the service recovery.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear caught the attention in an article on social media platform X.
He said: “There is a dangerous weather system in Kentucky, and there is a huge round this afternoon to tonight.
The shelter opens in the Paducah area, Kentucky.
Faith Borden, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Nashville office, said Friday that central Tennessee can expect “harsh weather of all types. Top speeds up to 70 mph. What we are seriously talking about is large hail as high as 3 inches, which is large hail for us.”
Meanwhile, Texas is facing a scorching heat. A thermal consultation was sent for San Antonio and Austin, with a temperature of 95 degrees Fahrenheit at 105 degrees Fahrenheit. From Virginia to part of the southern coast of Florida, fighting heat in the 90s.
The National Weather Services Office in Austin/San Antonio said Friday that the weekend humidity is expected to make temperatures higher.
“People are concerned about the exhaustion of people who have not taken appropriate precautions when they are outdoors,” said Jason Runyen, a meteorologist who advises affected people to rest and stay hydrated.
Over the night Thursday, the storm was accompanied by thunder, lightning displays and powerful winds swept through parts of Wisconsin, Illinois, northern Indiana and Michigan - leaving dozens of trees behind and tens of thousands of homes without power.
Several tornadoes landed in central Wisconsin on Thursday. The distortions have not yet received ratings, said Timm Uhlmann, a meteorologist at the Green Bay National Meteorological Service.
"We are still collecting reports," Ulman said. "We are evaluating some of the losses and still receiving videos and pictures. The damage we suffer is quite common. There is a lot of hail.
No harm has been reported.
Steven Freitag, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in White Lake town in northwestern Detroit, said Friday the damage investigation was also under investigation in Michigan to determine if any tornadoes touched there.
Freitag said temperatures in the 1980s stretched from Illinois to Michigan were stimulated by the storm and activated by the push of the cold front.
Threat of bad weather in Chicago Thursday was about two hours before Soldier Field, the Beyoncé concert was postponed.
Associated Press writer Haya Panjwani in Washington and Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Missouri contributed to the story.