At least six tornadoes may have touched down across the St. Louis region Friday evening, according to early radar data and damage reports.
The National Weather Service (NWS) has not confirmed final tornado counts, which will follow ongoing storm surveys in the coming days.
One mobile home was crushed in O’Fallon and Lebanon, Illinois, and multiple houses suffered severe hail damage along Highway 61 near Scott Troy Road. The destroyed mobile home was located in the Parkview Trailer Park.
Storm survey teams will continue to assess debris patterns and radar data to determine the exact number and strength of tornadoes. An official report from the NWS is expected within the next few days.
“A lot of downed power lines in the area,” said 5 On Your Side’s Meteorologist Tracy Hinson. “Some areas were spared, other areas had very strong storms come through with gusts between 70 and 80 miles per hour.”
Hard hit areas visited by 5 On Your Side’s crews in Florissant, Arnold and Villa Ridge among other spots.
Downed power lines and outages have made travel in some of those areas very dangerous.
In Florissant, one of the hardest-hit areas, one woman saw a fire start and spread due to fallen branches onto power lines and the strong winds.
“I came outside because I was taking my grandkids home and I saw a flame and thought, ‘that’s a lot of smoke’ and then the wind blew and then a whole bunch of fires just went… and the houses started catching fire one by one.
I had to go back inside and get my mom and everybody out of the house and then we went next door and started knocking on doors telling everyone they had to get out.”
