Tornado hits Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville. Six people killed
Here’s coverage of the aftermath storms that struck the metro-east in December 2021
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Edwardsville
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with information that the Amazon warehouse struck by a tornado had one designated area for workers to “shelter in place.”
Managers at the Edwardsville Amazon warehouse where a tornado struck Friday night and killed six workers had begun the “shelter in place” procedure before the twister hit the building, an Amazon spokeswoman said Sunday.
“I think their quick action really helped save a lot of lives,” said Kelly Nantel, director of national media relations for Amazon.
“Our site management team really jumped into action, began to ask folks to shelter in place, really moving people around very quickly,” she said during an interview at a checkpoint in front of the damaged building near the intersection of Interstate 270 and Illinois 255 in Madison County.
Nantel said tornado sirens were heard shortly after 8 p.m. Friday and the tornado struck the building at 8:27 p.m.
She did not release the number of workers who were present when the tornado struck and said Edwardsville Police Chief Michael Fillback and his officers were investigating that.
“We just haven’t been giving out any of those kinds of details, trying to be really sensitive to the work he and his team are doing,” Nantel said of Fillback.
Nantel said employees were inside and outside the 1.1 million-square-foot building when the tornado sirens went off.
The building is where drivers who operate the blue-gray Amazon delivery trucks pick up packages for delivery to homes. It’s called the “last mile” building since it’s the final stop before completing an order.
Local authorities previously have said that Amazon didn’t have a count of how many employees were at the building because of a “shift change” when the tornado hit, but Nantel said that there was not a shift change. Instead, she said, it was a case of several employees finishing their delivery routes and returning to the warehouse where their personal vehicles were parked.
“There are people coming and going because the drivers are all beginning to wrap up their routes,” she said. “There’s just a lot of activity at that point.”
“When the warning came out just after 8, they began to implement our shelter in place procedures, which is part of our emergency response procedures,” Nantel said of the managers.
The procedure calls for workers to go to a “designated” area.
“They’re marked in all of our facilities, they have shelter in place locations,” Nantel said. “And we train our people. Within their first days, they get trained on emergency preparedness and what that means and what’s expected of them in an event.
“And then we drill periodically throughout the year, as well. I think those things helped, obviously contribute to people knowing where to go and getting there.”
The warehouse, which has 190 employees and opened in July 2020, doesn’t have a basement but has one designated place for employees to go, she said.
“You want to be away from windows and a place that structurally has integrity, just like we would in our homes,” she said.
“It was a tragic, tragic night. Our Amazon family is wounded but we really know that a lot of lives were saved because people followed the process.”
A crushed car is towed away from the Amazon distribution warehouse in Edwardsville that was partially leveled by a tornado Friday night. Mike Koziatek mkoziatek@bnd.com
Message to workers, families
When asked about the employees and their families, Nantel said, “We want to take care of the families of those who lost their lives. We want to make sure that we provide them the assistance they need.”
“We want to make sure that we care for them and that we help address whatever needs that they have,” Nantel said. “This is a really devastating time for them and for our family of employees and partners who knew them well.
“Their health and well being is one of top priorities right now.”
Nantel said Amazon asked Gov. J.B. Pritzker what kind of assistance the company could provide and he suggested a donation to the Edwardsville Community Foundation.
In response, Nantel said Amazon donated $1 million to the organization on Saturday.
