New damage totals show some 2,700 buildings around St. Louis damaged, and 100 homes destroyed, including Marcy Baker’s house.
She was spending Easter weekend in Dallas with her family when she got a call that her house had been hit. She drove home 12 hours to find her house destroyed.
“I have a 15-month-old, I’m pregnant. It’s devastating,” Baker said.
At a nearby Catholic church, the 40-foot steeple toppled during the tornado that struck in the middle of Good Friday services.
Power was knocked out to as many as 47,000 customers after the tornado. On Sunday, some 26,000 customers remained without power and officials said many could remain in the dark until Monday. No one was killed and a handful of injuries were reported.
At Lambert Airport, surveillance video captured the exact moment a 135-mile-an-hour tornado struck, ripping off the roof and sending metal flying. Officials are fixing hundreds of panes of broken glass. It could take months and millions of dollars to fully complete the clean up.
Flights were getting back to normal after the airport reopened Saturday. Airport director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge says the continuing repairs to the airport shouldn’t impact travelers.
“The majority of the windows are boarded up, still doing just a little bit of work on that but the airport itself is structurally sound,” she said.
Yet despite all this, victims are counting their blessings. There were no reported deaths as a result of the tornado.
“It’s a miracle out of all the devastation. There were absolutely no fatalities, and very few injuries,” said Terry Hayes.
Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio
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