2011 St. Louis tornado

2011 St. Louis tornado, also called the Good Friday Tornado, was a storm that struck the St. Louis metropolitan area on April 22, 2011. The tornado, rated EF4 at its strongest point with winds exceeding 165 mph, was the strongest to hit St. Louis County or City since January 1967. In its 22-mile track across the St. Louis metropolitan area, the tornado damaged about 200 homes; left thousands without power; and damaged the main terminal of Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, closing it for nearly 24 hours.

Utility effects

More than 54,000 customers of the utility company, Ameren, were left without power after the storm; more than 47,000 in Missouri and about 7,000 in Illinois.

By 5:40am on April 24, 21,667 customers were still without power in Missouri and 131 in Illinois.

On April 24, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported more than 2,700 buildings severely damaged in St. Louis County, including 900 in Bridgeton, 450 in Berkeley and 1,170 in Maryland Heights.

The tornado may also have hit New Melle in St. Charles County, about 30 miles west of the airport.

The tornado killed no one and injured relatively few.

Tornado strikes the airport

The tornado hit the airport, Missouri's largest, about 8:10 p.m. Three aircraft were on the tarmac with passengers aboard. Numerous passengers and other people were in the airport's terminals.

Lambert Airport released surveillance video showing debris swirling inside the airport. It was reported that an aircraft was moved away from its jetway by the storm, with passengers still on-board.One plane from Southwest Airlines was damaged when the wind pushed a conveyor belt used for loading baggage into it. American Airlines said that four of its planes were damaged, two of them significantly. One was buffeted by 80 MPH crosswinds while taxiing in from a landing when the tornado hit and the other has possible damage to its landing gear. The tornado was rated an EF2 storm when it struck the airport.

The airport was closed by the FAA at 08:54 p.m., and reopened at temporarily reduced capacity on April 23. It was expected to be at 70% capacity on April 24.