Amazon warehouse collapses at Gateway Commerce Center in Edwardsville. Fatalities reported

An Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville collapsed Friday night during a storm, and there were fatalities reported.

Edwardsville police said there were confirmed fatalities and authorities were contacting next of kin. The police statement did not say how many people were killed.

The Edwardsville Fire Department, St. Clair County Emergency Services and multiple other fire and rescue agencies responded to the collapse at the building on Gateway Commerce Drive in Edwardsville.

St. Clair County Emergency Management Services Director Herb Simmons told Fox2News that 50 to 100 employees were potentially trapped inside the building.

The building collapse was reported about 8:45, shortly after a tornado warning was issued. Authorities declared a mass casualty incident, though the volume and extent of any injuries is not yet known.

Edwardsville Fire Department radio broadcast indicated that portions of the building were gone. Between 100 and 200 yards of concrete exterior walls collapsed into the building, a first responder said in his broadcast.

The greatest damage appears to be on the building’s west side, where steel support pillars stand exposed with the walls having collapsed and roofing blown away. A long line of flashing emergency vehicle lights illuminated the scene. Occasional flashes of lighting lit up the background to the east.

The south side of the building appeared to remain intact. Dozens of cars had stopped along Interstate-255 near the facility to watch the rescue effort.

Severe weather moved swiftly through St. Louis and into Madison County Friday evening. Winds up to 70 mph were reported and National Weather Service radar confirmed that at least one tornado touched down between Pontoon Beach and Edwardsville.

A second line of storms moved through at about 10 p.m. with other possible tornadoes blowing into Bond and Fayette County to the east.

Fire departments from Edwardsville, St. Louis, Glen Carbon, Mitchell, Belleville, Wood River, and Mehlville are at the scene. St. Libory also is providing mutual aid with a light tower and multiple EMS crews have responded.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in a Tweet that he has contacted Edwardsville Mayor Art Risavy to offer state resources to the rescue effort. He said Illinois State Police is coordinating with local officials to “monitor the situation.”

“My prayers are with the people of Edwardsville tonight, and I’ve reached out to the mayor to provide ay needed state resources,” Pritzker’s social media post stated.

The Amazon fulfillment center opened in Edwardsville with two warehouses in 2016 with 1.5 million square feet of space that house a wide range of goods until they are shipped to the company’s mail-order customers.

About 15,000 Ameren Illinois customers were without power as of Saturday morning.

Ameren Illinois is activating its Emergency Operations Center to assess damaged caused by severe weather in the region, according to a company spokesman. The Emergency Operations Center will be staffed around-the-clock to coordinate service restoration, logistical support and communication, he said.

Ameren Illinois customers without power should call 800-755-5000 to report an outage, log onto the website at AmerenIllinois.com, or report their outage using the mobile phone app.

This story was originally published December 10, 2021 at 9:32 PM with the headline "Amazon warehouse collapses at Gateway Commerce Center in Edwardsville. Fatalities reported."