Saturday 11 December 2021
Emergency crews in the US are responding to reports of workers trapped inside an Amazon warehouse after its roof collapsed from storm damage.Footage from TV stations in St. Louis, Illinois showed dozens of emergency vehicles at the Amazon centre near the city of Edwardsville, about 25 miles west of St. Louis.
It wasn’t immediately clear if or how many people were hurt, but the Collinsville Illinois Emergency Management Agency on Facebook called it a “mass casualty incident.”
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One official told KTVI-TV that up to 100 people were believed to be in the building, working the night shift, at the time of the collapse.
Television news footage from the scene showed buses taking people away from the building, and at least one person was seen being carried to a medical helicopter on a gurney.
The Belleville News-Democrat reported that the Amazon fulfillment center in Edwardsville opened with two warehouses in 2016, with 1.5 million square feet of space. The warehouses are used to store items until they are shipped to customers.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the damage to the Amazon warehouse was caused by straight-line storms or a tornado, but a large tornado was reported in the Edwardsville area at about the time the building was damaged. The National Weather Service office near St. Louis issued reports of “radar-confirmed tornadoes” in the Edwardsville area.
In fact, workers at the weather service office themselves had to take shelter as another tornado passed near their office in Weldon Spring, Missouri, about 30 miles west of St. Louis.
That twister was suspected of destroying several homes in the Missouri towns of New Melle and Defiance, leaving at least three people injured, one of them hospitalised with serious injuries. Rescue crews worked into the night sifting through damage to make sure there were not additional injuries.
The collapse came as a strong thunderstorm, and possibly a tornado, ripped through the St. Louis area. Winds of up to 70 mph were reported in parts of St. Charles and St. Louis counties in Missouri.
In rural St. Charles County, Missouri, one person died and two others were injured when buildings collapsed near the town of Defiance. The National Weather Service office in suburban St. Louis confirmed the death, but no further information was immediately available.
Bethany Dawson
Sat, December 11, 2021
Emergency vehicles surround the site of an Amazon distribution warehouse with a collapsed roof, after storms hit the area of Edwardsville, Illinois, U.S. December 10, 2021.REUTERS/Lawrence Bryant
An Amazon warehouse in Collinsville, Illinois, has collapsed.
At least 2 deaths have been confirmed.
The collapse is due to severe weather hitting the state of Illinois as well as surrounding states.
At least two workers have died after an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois collapsed due to severe weather, police confirm.
A wall the length of a football field and the roof above it collapsed in the warehouse at 8:33 pm.
Speaking at live press conference at 5:45 am CST, Edwardsville Police chief Michael Fillback confirmed that there have been "at least 2" deaths, 1 hospitalization, 3o workers transferred to the Pontoon Beach police station, and a number unaccounted for.
The department describes the scene as an "active search and recovery".
Describing the warehouse, the Fillback says it is an "utter disaster" with a portion of the building "completely destroyed."
Photos taken from a drone flying above the building show emergency services working through masses of debris.
Delivery vehicles with the Amazon Prime logo sit parked at a damaged Amazon.com, Inc warehouse as emergency crews respond after a tornado passed through Edwardsville, Illinois, U.S., December 10, 2021 in this still image taken from drone video obtained on December 11, 2021.
More than 11 emergency service departments from surrounding areas are attending the scene.
A few hours after the event, writing on their Facebook, the Collinsville Emergency Management Agency stated that "subjects were trapped inside" and described the event as a "mass casualty incident."
"Please be patient with us. Our fire personnel is doing everything they can to reunite everyone with their loved ones," Fillback said on KMOV-TV.
Insider spoke to a man whose brother-in-law — an Amazon worker at the Edwardsville warehouse — is currently one of those unaccounted for.
Kevin, who wishes only to go by his first name, describes rushing to the warehouse after picking up his sister and niece, and getting to the warehouse as fast as the speed-limit let him.
"When we arrived to the area, all roads leading to the location was blocked by emergency services. We sat on the highway for 3 hours waiting to get to go to the location and pick him up to take him home" he told Insider.
They then hurried to the Pontoon Beach police dept when he heard of other employees being taken there.
"We had sat here for an hour desperately calling hospitals and police departments in the area trying to locate him, then his boss had gotten a hold of my sister to tell her that he was unaccounted for.
We kept blowing his phone up hoping for a answer from him. We've called him over 100 times. No luck."
Kevin, his sister, and his neice are now waiting to hear any news.
FOX2 spoke to the stepson of an Amazon worker who was missing.
"Our mother is basically hysterical at this point, trying to find out what's going on. She's really worried. We're worried too. At this point, I'm starting to get pretty scared that he got hurt or worse." said Connor Jones.
Reuters spoke to Sarah Bierman who was waiting at the warehouse for her husband, an Amazon employee at the site.
She told a reporter that she hasn't heard from him since the collapse.
"I just heard through the news and we live in Edwardsville; we lost power. So I decided to come down here to see what was going on, and I had no idea the building looked that bad. And I'm just; I'm worried sick." she said.
The collapse is due to tornadoes and severe storms surging through five states, including Arkansas, Illinois, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missouri.
Two maps highlighting the damaged Amazon warehouse, one showing it in the context of the wider Midwest, and one in the context of IllinoisInsider/Google Maps
Governor JB Pritzker of Illinois tweeted that "[his] prayers are with the people of Edwardsville tonight, and I've reached out to the mayor to provide any needed state resources."
When KMOV reached out to Amazon for comment, spokesperson Richard Rocha offered the following statement: "The safety and well-being of our employees and partners is our top priority right now. We're assessing the situation and will share additional information when it's available."
Workers Trapped After Illinois Amazon
Warehouse Collapses In Severe Weather
At least one person has reportedly died inside an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois, after a roof and other parts of the building collapsed and up to 100 workers became trapped as violent storms, including a tornado, ripped through the region on Friday night.
Dozens of other people were trapped and at least 50 feared dead after tornadoes hit a candle factory in Mayfield, Kentucky, and a nursing home in Monette, Arkansas, where at least one person was killed.
At least three storm-related deaths were also confirmed in Tennessee.
Law enforcement authorities called the Amazon warehouse incident a “mass casualty event,” according to reporter Jenna Rae at KMOV-TV in St. Louis.
Up to 100 people were believed to be inside the building, working the night shift during the holiday rush, at the time of the collapse.
Rae reported late Friday that about two dozen workers were transported from the facility on Madison County Transit buses. A medical evacuation helicopter arrived on the scene shortly afterward, and excavators were still removing debris as the search and rescue operation continued early Saturday.
The National Weather Service said radar had confirmed a tornado just east of Edwardsville, which is outside of St. Louis, around the time the Amazon Fulfillment Center was damaged.
Meteorologist James Spann of ABC’s Birmingham, Alabama, affiliate WBMA tweeted footage of the tornado that struck the Amazon facility:
Severe storm warnings and tornado watches had been posted throughout the region on Friday.
In Tennessee, at least three deaths have been attributed to the weather.
In Arkansas, at least one person was killed, five people were seriously injured and around 20 were trapped by a possible tornado at the Monette Manor nursing home, according to The Associated Press. All have since been accounted for.
Dozens were also trapped and feared dead after a tornado struck a candle factory in Mayfield, Kentucky.
“There were about 110 people in it at the time that the tornado hit it,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) said at a news conference early Saturday. “We believe we’ll lose at least dozens of those individuals. It’s very hard, really tough, and we’re praying for each and every one of those families.”
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
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