A wave of tornadoes that ripped through the Midwest and the American South killed at least 70 people and injured even more on Friday.
At least six people were killed and more remain missing after an Amazon fulfillment and distribution center in Edwardsville, Illinois was torn apart by a tornado. The facility was badly damaged and partially collapsed in what authorities said was a “mass casualty event.”
At least 24 tornadoes ripped across five states, the American Red Cross said in a tweet. “We’re working to make sure everyone has a safe place to stay, food, relief supplies and emotional support.”
DEVELOPING: This is a view of the Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, where you can see the scope of damage and also search and rescue response. We’ve learned around 100 people were trapped inside. pic.twitter.com/ToxT1L8cch
— Susan El Khoury (@SusanElKhoury)
It is believed 100 workers were at the Illinois Amazon facility at the time the tornado hit; many were trapped inside. A 29-year-old maintenance worker, Clayton Cope, died in the disaster as did five more employees. At least 50 were hurt; dozens were missing.
Governor Pritzker confirms six people have died in the collapse of a Amazon warehouse pic.twitter.com/4x0xjyGCja
— Acyn (@Acyn)
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said in a statement Saturday night on Twitter that he was “heartbroken” over the tragedy.
“The news from Edwardsville is tragic,” he said at around 9 pm. “We’re heartbroken over the loss of our teammates there, and our thoughts and prayers are with their families and loved ones.
“All of Edwardsville should know that the Amazon team is committed to supporting them and will be by their side through this crisis. We extend our fullest gratitude to all the incredible first responders who have worked so tirelessly at the site.”
Numerous employees had tweeted bitterly that Amazon had “several hours’ lead time” and should have closed down their facility in view of the impending danger, or that the building should have had a tornado shelter at least.
Leslie Campbell, an Amazon employee in Kentucky, where at least 70 have so far been confirmed dead, tweeted that the tornado “hit 2 miles from my house and I physically couldn’t get to work for my shift. The ERC team told me that they had no record of tornadoes in Kentucky and couldn’t help me with not getting attendance time reduced for today.”
Just a small amount of the damage. My house plus many others are still without power but that pales in comparison to the loss of life and homes that others have gone through. In the grand scheme of today, my family and I were lucky pic.twitter.com/6TsMkflMni
— ʟᴇꜱʟɪᴇ ᴄᴀᴍᴘʙᴇʟʟ (@LCampbell_35)
In addition to Illinois and Kentucky, severe tornadoes struck in Arkansas, Tennessee Missouri and Mississippi. The storms destroyed homes, factories and at least one nursing home.
Powerful tornadoes demolished a candle factory and the fire and police stations in a small town in Kentucky, tore through a nursing home in neighboring Missouri, and killed at least two workers at an Amazon warehouse outside St. Louis https://t.co/9Xl5tI6DkH pic.twitter.com/alzyO6n0Gj
— Reuters (@Reuters)
