The tornado hit areas of the South and Midwest on Friday, ripped through an Amazon warehouse in Illinois and partially broke a roof, leaving people trapped inside.
Southern Illinois Fire Events confirmed a ‘mass casualty incident’ and said more than 20 emergency responders were at the scene.
Jenna Rae of Illinois tweeted, “About a third of warehouse has been torn down and damaged by direct winds or tornadoes. KMOV station.
A woman said that she was talking to a family member inside the godown when the storm broke out.
Ayesha White told KMOV, ‘He was on the phone with me while this was happening.’
‘The tornado was hitting the back of the building, trucks were coming, I told him to jump off the truck and fall down.
‘We saw the building going up, stuff hitting the cars, I told him I was on my way.’
and across the region, Friday night was passing parts of the tornado Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky —What a hurricane chaser said was the first quad-state tornado in US history.
By 2 p.m. CST it was a whirlwind period.
Two people died at a nursing home in Monet, Arkansas Neck, and residents of small towns in the north east of the state were ordered to shelter in place.
Staff at the scene said the nursing home partially collapsed, injuring five others and leaving 20 people trapped.
An Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois, pictured Friday night, whose roof was broken after a tornado swept through the area
Photos posted on social media in Arkansas show touching Friday night tornadoes
Footage on social media from across the region showed towers of storm clouds spreading across the plains.
Hurricane chasers photographed tornadoes along I-55 near Carruthersville, Missouri.
Videos thrown at his side show several cm folded on the road.
Observers estimated the tornado at four or five on the Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale.
Wind speeds between 136 and 165mph are found in EF4 tornadoes and 200mpg in EF5 tornadoes.
Chris Jackson, a professional hurricane chaser, said he had seen tractor trailers being lifted off the ground and blown into the air in Steele, Missouri.
He tweeted, ‘A second tractor trailer was picked up and dumped on I-55 near exit 17.
‘Talked to the bus driver. There are some minor cuts but that’s okay.
Jackson said emergency responders were arriving in the area, their lights flashing as they rushed to help people.
He said the power was down along I-69 between Troy and Mayfield, Kentucky.
According to Brett Adair of Live Storms Media, around Mayfield – 80 miles northeast of Carruthersville – there was ‘absolute devastation’.
Craig Sissi, a meteorologist and researcher at Mississippi State University, said the debris of the Mayfield tornado was swept 30,000 feet into the air, and described the storm as “the most intense ever recorded”.
He said it was an “extremely violent tornado” for Princeton, Kentucky.
‘The community is being given a tough competition. And we won’t know how bad it is until morning. We have to think and pray for those affected,’ he tweeted.