© Robert Cohen / St. Louis Post DispatchRhett Butler took a machete to his neighbor's tree as he worked to remove branches from his home in the 2800 block of Madison Avenue in Granite City.
The brief and swift-moving storm packed winds up of to 70 mph, hail, sleet and lightning. Across the region, roofs were peeled off, tree limbs and power lines downed and signs twisted and toppled.
The National Weather Service had several unconfirmed reports of funnel clouds, including at 11:14 p.m. five miles northeast of Gray Summit; at 11:27 p.m. near Concord Village, causing power flashes; and at 11:34 p.m., near St. Louis' Lafayette Square neighborhood.
The Weather Service was sending people out to survey the damage and confirm the tornadoes, said meteorologist Gary Schmocker.
At Anderson Hospital in Maryville, spokeswoman Natalie Head said six people hurt in the storm were treated. No serious injuries were reported elsewhere.
The storm knocked out power initially to more than 43,000 customers in Missouri and more than 34,000, Ameren said. At 6:30 p.m., about 9,300 Missouri customers were still without power, the utility said. In Illinois, about 2,000 Ameren customers were without power Monday evening.
In Richmond Heights, police closed Big Bend Boulevard between Wise Avenue and Clayton Road after high winds toppled a half-dozen utility poles. The poles were leaning over the street, dangling power lines. One pole had snapped. Police on Monday were trying to keep onlookers away in case the rising tension from the lines caused more to snap before utility crews could replace them, said Richmond Heights Police Chief Rick Vilcek.
"It's gonna take a while for the cleanup," he said. "Hopefully folks will be patient."
Officials hoped to reopen Big Bend late Monday, but there was a chance it would be closed until this morning's rush hour.
In Washington, Mo., downed utility poles and trees forced the closure of Highway 47.
In the Metro East, Granite City had a path of damage, from the southwest to northeast, said Fire Chief Tim Connolly.
"It's just a straight line through Granite City, that's about three houses wide and maybe four miles long," Connolly said. "It's all very moderate damage. One building collapsed at the edge of town where it started. Roofs were blown off. Sheds blown away, roofs peeled away."
Garry Earls, St. Louis County's chief operating officer, said emergency sirens were activated twice Sunday night. But because new sirens being installed by the county are not yet connected to the alert system, several people would not have heard them.
Earls said his office received about a half-dozen calls Monday from county residents complaining that they did not hear a siren. "We're kind of half and half, one foot in the boat and one on the dock," Earls said. "We're halfway through installing the new siren system. But it's not operational yet. It still has to be tested and each siren has to be up and running."
Earls has said he expects the new sirens to be in place by late April.
Robert Kelly, David Carson, Marlon A. Walker and Patrick M. O'Connell, all of the Post-Dispatch, contributed to this report.
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