According to CBS News, At least five people were killed in southeastern Missouri when a tornado struck the area before dawn Wednesday morning, officials said. Mark Winkler, director of the Cape Girardeau County Office of Emergency Management, told CBS News the deaths occurred in Bollinger County, about 50 miles south of St. Louis.
The tornado moved through the rural area between 3:30 and 4 a.m., said Sgt. Clark Parrott of the Missouri State Highway Patrol. “The damage is pretty widespread. It’s just heartbreaking to see it,” he said.
Parrott said a search and rescue operation is underway that involves multiple agencies. Crews are having to use chainsaws to cut back trees and brush to reach homes. Drone footage showed emergency crews peering into the wreckage with flashlights. The highway patrol posted an aerial photo of the damage that showed uprooted trees and homes that had been reduced to rubble.
Charles Collier, 61, said he saw a coroner’s van drive by with its lights on in Glen Allen, a village of slightly more than 100 people where he owns a storage facility.
“That was a sad, sad sight — knowing there was bodies in there,” said Collier, who wasn’t entirely relieved when he saw his facility was spared. “I was just numb, thinking about all these other people, what they’re going through.”
Josh Wells said that the tornado tore half of the roof off his Glen Allen home and pushed in his bedroom wall. Luckily, he fled beforehand with his son to his sister’s home because it has a basement.
“We all ran down and huddled against the wall and my brother-in-law made it down just seconds before we heard the roaring sound of the wind and debris crashing around us,” he said.
