Posted on 07/19/2006 7:53:21 PM PDT by silentknight
Early reports:
Repost from other forum
folks, streaming of news coverage from damage in stl at kmov.com,
AmerenUE reports OVER 340,000 people out in metro St. Louis ALONE, 3 building collapses in the city, roof off parts of Lambert Airport, power out in one terminal, BUT the cardinals game is still on.
EDIT::: Debris from collapsed building on the Eads Bridge across the mississippi, Metrolink train service is DOWN, Mayor slay mentions this as one of the worst storms to hit the metro st. louis area in a long time.
Compost Dispatch of some value this evening:
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/916EBEC69E47CAD5862571B1000A7CE6?OpenDocument
powerful storm system pounded the St. Louis area early this evening, packing wind gusts that pelted people in cars with debris, toppled street lights and snapped branches.
At least 400,000 households lost power. Meteorologists with the National Weather Service said high winds, lightning and thunderstorms smacked most of the St. Louis metro area from St. Charles County east to Madison County.
"We didn't have much warning," said St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay in a news conference. Commenting on reaction from one emergency official he spoke to, "this is one of the worst storms he could remember to hit the city."
St. Louis Police Chief Joe Mokwa reported three collapsed buildings in the region and one injury that had been reported -- a woman who was 8 months pregnant. Advertisement
The storm moved quickly north of St. Louis County, but turned south. Meteorologists said the storm was unusual because "the gust front" blew through the area first, tipping over tractor trailers and shattering car windows, toppling trees and power lines and pushing dust and debris throughout the area.
The Cardinals game against the Atlanta Braves was delayed by the storm. At least four people were taken from the stadium in ambulances with unknown injuries and windows were blown out of the press box.
Mokwa said MetroLink was shut down, mostly because of the electrical problems, but also because of a tree down across the tracks at the Saint Louis University stop. Metro buses were being brought in to ferry Cardinals fans from Busch Stadium who had arrived at the stadium by train.
The storm hit shortly after 7 p.m., and electricity was out to about 402,500 customers in the St. Louis area, according to Ameren's web site.
Authorities reported widespread incidents of toppled trees and downed power lines.
At the Missouri Botanical Garden, hundreds of people who had been attending the Whittaker Music Festival free concert were moved to shelters at the Schoenfeld Auditorium.
Damage from shattered glass was reported in the Linnean House, one of the nation's oldest conservatories. Trees were reported down at the garden and in the neighborhoods around it.
Blowing dust and debris and then torrents of rain limited visibility on area roads.
The westbound lanes of Highway 370 were shut down because of at least two overturned mobile homes, according to the Missouri highway patrol.
Said Luthor Lowe of Little Rock, Ark., in town for the National College Democrats Convention at Saint Louis University wondered, "Does this always happen in St. Louis?"
Near Lambert Field, strong winds ripped off the roof of a MetroLink station and dumped it across several lanes of Interstate 70 near Lambert Field.
A building near the Eads Bridge collapsed onto the bridge, trapping a driver for some time.The bridge was closed, Mokwa said, because of the debris. The eastbound lanes of Interstate 270 near the Chain of Rocks Bridge were closed as emergency crews responded to tractor trailers that had flipped over, authorities said.
In parts of South St. Louis, trees and limbs almost covered the pavement for whole blocks in the area south of Meramec Street. South of Interstate 55 and in the area around Carondelet Park, motorists had to weave around limbs and thick branches.
In St. Charles, tree limbs were down. The area was hit by power outages and the Rascals baseball game was cancelled.
Witnesses reported a driver trapped inside a car at Morgan Ford and Arsenal streets in St. Louis.
In Bellefountaine Neighbors, hundred-year-old trees were thrown down, said resident Stephanie Russell, an employee at Saint Louis University.
"We had to use four-wheel drive low just to get up the street," Russell said. "It was everything from water to debris to branches 5 feet to 20 feet long."
Russell said she eventually got to her driveway, but a fallen branch blocked her progress and then another fell behind the car.
"We can't get in or out," she said, as neighbors worked to remove branches from the road. "I've never seen anything like it."
Power went out during the Bridgeton City Council meeting, but the council continued its deliberations. By 8:30 p.m., the storm had left the north county area. Planes were landing and taking off at Lambert Field.
In North St. Louis County, the storm caused a gas leak in the 10000 block of Lord Drive. Authorities were evacuating the block, according to St. Louis County police.
Chairmaine Manse and Anna Hollands, customers at the St. Louis Bread Co. at Manchester and Interstate 270 were taken by surprise by the storm.
"It came up as a strong wind, knocking over umbrellas and tables. It got dark and all hell broke loose," said Hollands, who lives in nearby Normandy. "I'm willing to go, but I'm not willing to chance it."
In Ladue, Elfriede Olney worried about her 16-year-old grandson making it to school Thursday. At least two oak trees -- one about 3 feet in diameter and one more at 50 feet tall -- fell in their front yard.
"It's a total disaster area in the front," Olney said. "The driveways are blocked. I've never seen anything like this."
You OK???
My folks are in St. Ann. I called my dad to check up on them -- he was just getting ready to turn in to his street and found that there was a big tree across it. He and a couple neighbors were taking matters into their own hands and not waiting for the clean-up crews. Sounds like that might take a while!!
The lightning was SPECTACULAR!! As the storm was leaving, the lightning was happening above the clouds and just scattering and rolling all across the sky -- it was gorgeous!!
We had a thunderstorm about that time, nothing really unusual though.
> Damage from shattered glass was reported in the Linnean House, one of the nation's oldest conservatories.
Hope they don't use this as an excuse to tear it down the way they did Henry Shaw's Desert House.
0740 PM TORNADO ST. LOUIS 38.64N 90.24W
07/19/2006 ST. LOUIS CITY MO TRAINED SPOTTER
TORNADO SPOTTED AT JEFFERSON BARRACKS AND TELGRAPH ROAD
WITH TREES BEING THROWN INTO POWER LINES.
0740 PM TSTM WND DMG ST. LOUIS 38.64N 90.24W
07/19/2006 ST. LOUIS CITY MO BROADCAST MEDIA
*** 1 INJ *** PARTIAL BUILDING COLLAPSE IN SOULARD AT
LINCOLN AND SIDNEY STREETS
> COLLAPSE IN SOULARD
Probably a really old brick building.
LOL... I grew up in St. Ann, heck I might even know you!
1/3 of all homes in the City of St Louis are without power. Temps tomorrow near 100.
That's about 1/3rd of the St. Louis area.
Said Luthor Lowe of Little Rock, Ark., in town for the National College Democrats Convention at Saint Louis University wondered, "Does this always happen in St. Louis?"
Typical Democrat cluelessness.
That is the New Madrid!
Wait...
I think you know what's coming....
It's the inevitible question.....
What high school did you go to?
LOL!!
Actually, we lived in the Creve Coeur area. The home where we lived was taken out with the new Page extension and so they moved to the St. Ann area -- between NW Plaza and McDonnell Park. :o)
Geesh- it's been a while since I ws up there and I am sad to hear that it's gone
Check in when you can.
MARK BUMP
The New Madrid fault zone produced the largest earthquake in the history of the US. In 1811-12, I believe it was.
It pays to have a generator and gasoline in storage. It's become a way of life for me.
>> Hope they don't use this as an excuse to tear it down the way they did Henry Shaw's Desert House.
> Geesh- it's been a while since I ws up there and I am sad to hear that it's gone
It's been gone for ten years or more. Nothing was built to replace it. A rare stupid move by a great institution.
Derecho is a bow echo then, ok.
I need to look up the lit on those, I've never understood the mechanism properly. Looks like a radar version of a bird's eye view of a downburst, but sustains too long for that.
Yes, downbursts and microbursts and bow echos are ugly things. Trees overgrow with time, and poor construction accumulates, and buildings deteriorate, until what I call a "limiting wind" comes through, and knocks down everything within the limits of it's velocity, leaving most remaining tested to that speed, but not to a higher speed.
60 mph seems to be a lower limit for this type of thing, so the longer an area goes without 60 mph plus winds, the more the damage when that level winds does come through.
If an area goes a long time without such levels of severity, and then an 80 mph wind comes along, look out.
On top of this are eddies, gust currents, and in areas with terrain or commercial building restrictions to boudndary layer (ground) flow, you get funnel effects which stack on top of all the above.
Hoping St. Lou comes through ok, downed buildings indicate significant winds, with the early "fog of war" possibly restricting reports of even greater damage.
This system has a huge amount of potential energy, so folks east of St. Lou need to keep their eyes open tomorrow, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, etc.
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