ST. LOUIS – The trail of damage from a likely tornado that tore through an area of St. Louis near Forest Park prompted city leaders to ask residents to avoid damaged areas.
Five lives were lost, according to city officials.
“It truly is a hard night for many people and many families is our community,” said Mayor Cara Spencer of the City of St. Louis.
In addition to a curfew for an area north of Forest Park, the city is also asking residents to avoid unnecessary cell phone use in the damaged areas.
“Please stay home,” said Spencer. “Stay off the phones. We’re struggling to keep the lines open. We’re having cell phone issues, particularly in the areas most impacted.”
Sarah Russell, the city’s EMA commissioner, is also asking residents to be careful if they head out Saturday morning.
“If you come across any downlines, treat those as though they are alive. If you do smell gas, report either of those incidents to the appropriate utilities,” said Russell.
Search and rescue teams from throughout the St. Louis area are searching buildings for any trapped residents.
“We have 17 search teams in place that are searching a coordinated grid, if you will, that’s reporting back to a command post so we can track everything that they do,” said Chief Dennis Jenkerson, St. Louis Fire Department.
He said he expected those searches to be completed by Saturday morning. The city estimates that at least 5,000 homes were damaged.
City leaders said it was too soon to provide an assessment of how the city’s outdoor siren system performed on Friday.
Some residents told FOX 2 they did not hear the sirens.