An apparent tornado wreaked havoc and destruction on St. Louis’ Lambert Airport Friday evening, tearing off portions of the terminal’s roof and leaving debris strewn about the tarmac. Amazingly, only a few people suffered minor injuries, according to local media reports.
(Image via CNN)
The twister touched down at about 8:30pm local time, smashing through many of the iconic terminal’s huge panes of glass and tossing cars around in the parking lot. A van was seen hanging off the edge of a multi-level parking structure and steel, insulation and glass were scattered inside and outside of the main terminal building. Lights in the control tower appeared to be out.
No planes were damaged according to airport officials, but all flights in and out were either canceled or diverted and the airport remained closed until further notice.
American Airlines, the airport’s second largest carrier, was allowing travelers scheduled to fly to or from St. Louis between Friday and Wednesday to change their flights without penalties. The airport’s largest tenant, Southwest Airlines, was still assessing damage Friday night, according to their Twitter account.
