Apparent tornado closes St. Louis airport

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(CNN) -- Daybreak Saturday in storm-ravaged St. Louis gave workers at its closed airport an opportunity to survey significant damage from an apparent tornado that rocked and moved airplanes.

Aerial footage from CNN affiliate KSDK showed crews on terminal roofs and cranes and other equipment moved into place at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.

The airport was uncertain as to when it may be able to reopen.

"It may be an hour by hour situation," said spokesman Jeff Lea.

Major damage was evident in several communities, including Bridgeton, near the airport.

Airport officials were relieved that the severe storm Friday evening injured only a few passengers while smashing terminal windows.

A van was left hanging precariously off the edge of a parking garage. A video posted on YouTube showed strong winds pushing a Southwest Airlines plane away from a walkway and passengers moving quickly away from tall windows.

Five people were taken to hospitals for minor injuries and about a dozen others were treated at the airport for cuts and scrapes after the storm struck around 8:15 p.m. Friday, said Lea.

"It's amazing given the number of people and the amount of damage," he said.

Federal weather officials referred to the storm as a "tornadic supercell."

"The National Weather Service will be surveying the tornado damage over the weekend to determine the number and intensity of tornadoes that occurred," its St. Louis office said.

Airport director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge told KSDK "we're not going to operate, obviously, until we know it's safe."

"The storm caused significant damage to the airport," said St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay.

There were nine sightings of a possible tornado or tornadoes in St. Louis County. The KSDK camera showed extensive damage to residences and other structures near the airport.

Passengers were hit with flying glass and debris as winds ripped off part of the roof in the airport's C concourse, KSDK said.

"All the windows were busted. ... The airport looks like a war zone," Elizabeth Rastberger, 32, told CNN's iReport.

Rastberger said she had been waiting to pick up a friend when the storm hit. After an officer yelled "get downstairs," she took cover in a women's restroom with about 20 others.

"Kids were crying," she said. "A woman had a busted nose. Everyone was too freaked out to talk."

The storm twisted metal and blew out plate-glass windows in the airport's main terminal, witnesses said.

Winds also blew off doors by a baggage claim area, St. Louis County Police Chief Col. Tim Fitch told reporters.

One witness described a chaotic scene outside the terminal as officials evacuated passengers from at least one aircraft.

"The plane was rocking back and forth," said Brett Knewitz of Albuquerque, New Mexico, who was on a plane that was about to take off from the airport when the storm hit.

Initially, officials did not allow evacuated passengers into the airport, he said, because of concerns that the building's roof would collapse.Once he was allowed inside, Knewitz said he saw an injured gate agent.

"She was bleeding like crazy," he said.

About 50% of the windows were blown out in the airport's main terminal, Hamm-Niebruegge said. But authorities do not believe any planes were damaged in the storm, she said.

Concourse C is used by American Airlines, AirTran and Cape Air, said Lea.

The National Weather Service said witnesses believe a tornado was on the ground for several miles and observed the twister from a tower at the airport.

KSDK reported that the storm blew the steeple off a church during Good Friday services and forced authorities to close highways.

Local hospitals reported admitting patients with cuts and bruises.

Missouri's governor declared a state of emergency Friday night in response to the severe weather. In a statement, his office said tornadoes and high winds "caused significant damages to communities and facilities" across the state.

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