Authorities say

Mayor Cara Spencer declared dead at a press conference. She said two dead were killed in northern cities, with vortex reported.

Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson said bad weather hit the city about 20 square feet. Search and rescue operations were still underway Friday night with the help of the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the first responders in the surrounding counties.

He told KSDK, a NBC branch in St. Louis: "Go to save as many people as possible and save lives."

The tornado was reportedly a tornado moving eastward in a city near a forest park, said Marshall Pfahler, a meteorologist at the National Meteorological Service.

Its power level is unlikely until Saturday when observers of weather service were able to arrive at the scene and measure the damage, tracks and other elements of the vortex.

KSDK reports that this could be one of two tornadoes landed in the area on Friday. The National Weather Service confirmed it is working to confirm the second reported tornado in the region.

A spokesman for St. Louis Children's Hospital said it had suffered 10 weather-related injuries, one of which was in critical condition. Others reported fair conditions. The spokesman said parents were reunited with at least some of the patients.

KSDK reports that a man was rescued from the ruins of the house after an hour-long operation. On Friday, one of the two possible tornados or severe weather-related effective winds are most likely to be destroyed, the station said.

"He did a great job considering the collapse of the building," an official said.

The man sought shelter at home and ended up being trapped inside, probably in a storage room, KSDK said.

The area's coverage includes an image of a stripped Harlem faucet room, the historic bar on the north side of the city, in the same location for 80 years.

A witness in the bar told KSDK that the warnings from fellow members and the agency’s flashing lights reached the back of the building before his move and the flashing lights of others reached the back of the building, which he said was likely to save lives.

St. Louis City officials and police asked the public to respond to the impact of the storm on Friday, including some reported but unconfirmed injuries.

Utility spire energy, which has 1.7 million customers in the area, said it had "severe damage" to the home. The damaged video shows brick walls and down trees and power cords in the area.

Nearby Clayton said its town hall was closed due to responses to bad weather.

The worst weather seems to have passed St. Louis late in the afternoon, although federal forecasters say Saturday's thunderstorm return could be after a wet night.

Vortex is a product of a fast-moving low-pressure system that starts at its location, located in parts of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Missouri, a region where tornadoes stop until 10 p.m.

The cool winter storm is clashing with the heat waves in the southwest, creating eruptions of unstable air and thunderstorm activity.

In Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois on Thursday, bad weather, including 11 unconfirmed tornadoes, according to reports from the Weather Bureau and NBC News Forecasters.

The Beyoncé concert at Chicago Open-air Soldiers Field was postponed due to weather. Audience video shows a violent downpour before the show.