Draft:Edwardsville Amazon warehouse collapse

Edwardsville Amazon warehouse collapse

The DLI4 warehouse in Edwardsville as surveyed by the National Weather Service the next morning
Time	8:29 p.m. CST (UTC—6)
Location	DLI4 warehouse in Edwardsville, Madison County, Illinois, United States
Cause	Tornado
Deaths	6
Non-fatal injuries	4

On the evening of December 10, 2021, an EF3 tornado struck an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois, a city in the Greater St. Louis area, killing six workers.

Background

Amazon announced its intent to open two new fulfillment facilities in Edwardsville, Illinois, on June 2, 2016. Each facility would cover 700,000 square feet (16 acres; 65,000 m²), with one focusing on larger items and the other on smaller items. This was predicted to contribute to the creation of 1,000 full-time jobs for the region, which Mayor of Edwardsville Hal Patton described as a "much-needed employment opportunity" for the area. The facility was located in the Lakeview Commerce Center, a Greater St. Louis commercial development site brokered by CBRE Group off of Illinois Route 111 near the I-270/I-255 interchange 16 miles (26 km) east of downtown St. Louis, which also hosted facilities for J.F. Electric, Spectrum Brands, and World Wide Technology by 2020. The Amazon facilities opened in August 2017, with the building focusing on larger items referred to as STL4 and the one for smaller items as STL6. One year later, in August 2017, the first public tour of STL4 was given to news media, "members of the community", and to federal-level politicians Dick Durbin (democratic senator from Illinois) and John Shimkus (republican representative from Illinois's 15th congressional district). At the time, both facilities combined had over 2,000 employees, over twice as much as projections made the year prior.

In 2018, Contegra Construction constructed the shell of the DLI4 building at the corporate complex, which would become an Amazon delivery warehouse. At DLI4's completion in September 2020, the warehouse took up a total of 594,000 square feet (13.6 acres; 55,200 m²), of which 15,000 square feet (0.34 acres; 1,400 m²) was office space. DLI4 was designed by architectural firm Richard L. Bowen & Associates.

Timeline

Throughout December 2021, ahead of the Christmas holiday, Amazon's DLI4 site had around 190 employees across all shifts, according to a spokesperson. A majority of the workforce employed at the site were contracted delivery drivers, and expected demand from the holiday prompted the company to increase the number of these contractors. Having less full-time delivery workers was part of an initiative at Amazon starting in 2018 to reduce the company's reliance on external carrier services. Only seven full-time employees were at DLI4 at the time of the tornado.

Initial severe weather forecasts

Main article: Tornado outbreak of December 10–11, 2021

Forecasters at the National Weather Service office in St. Louis, Missouri were tracking a potential severe weather event across parts of Missouri and southern Illinois. A forecast discussion on the afternoon of December 9 outlined that Friday, December 10, would be warm across the region, as a low-pressure system ejecting from the Rocky Mountains would bring in anomalously high dew points and temperatures that, in areas southeast of St. Louis, were forecasted to potentially exceed 70 °F (21 °C), in places where low-level cloud cover could dissipate earlier in the day. The system was forecasted to move through the St. Louis office's area of responsibility in the time frame between 02Z and 09Z Saturday, or between 8 p.m. Friday through and 3 a.m. Saturday, Central Standard Time. Confidence also existed that storms produced by the system could produce tornadoes, and would be moving very quickly.

Forecasters at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, were expecting a severe weather event to occur on the evening of December 10. An enhanced risk, the third highest risk the agency issues, was outlined across much of the middle Mississippi River valley shortly before midnight on the 9th. This included St. Louis and surrounding areas, with risks outlined for damaging wind, large hail, and tornadoes. At this time, it was expected that storms across Missouri were going to form after sunset, and would evolve into a squall line, potentially limiting the threat of supercell tornadoes, except for those forming ahead of the line earlier in the evening. It was also noted that, at the time, the HREF forecast model was inconsistent on the location and timing of where storms would form initially.

By the 10th's 2000Z outlook, issued at 5:08 p.m. Central Daylight Time, the St. Louis area remained under an enhanced risk, however, a moderate risk, the second highest risk applicable, was introduced further south. Confidence was strong that sufficient atmospheric conditions would produce strong tornadoes throughout the day across parts of the middle Mississippi and lower Ohio River valleys.

Onset of severe weather

The supercell that produced both the Defiance, Missouri, and Edwardsville, Illinois, tornadoes, throughout the latter's lifespan

At 5:20 p.m., forecasters at the Storm Prediction Center issued a tornado watch for much of Missouri and parts of Illinois, including Madison County. This watch was effective until 11:00 p.m. that night. Seven minutes later, in a mesoscale discussion, forecasters discussed the conditions over the region in greater detail. By this time, storms recently initiated over southwestern Missouri, in the vicinity of Springfield. As atmospheric conditions across the region degraded later on that evening, the threat for severe weather would increase. This discussion specifically outlined an area of eastern Missouri where it was expected that mature storms could interact with an area of supporting atmospheric conditions, producing the region's "best chance for tornadoes". At 7:02 p.m., another such discussion detailed how a line of storms was present over central Missouri, some exhibiting features of embedded supercell thunderstorms. One of these storms, with the coldest cloud tops of the line, was directly heading towards St. Louis. This storm was outlined as responsible for an elevated threat of tornadoes and other severe weather, given atmospheric parameters at the time.

That evening, multiple strong tornadoes struck the St. Louis National Weather Service office's area of responsibility. Of these, three were caused by a single supercell. The first of these, rated EF3, touched down at 7:35 p.m. and caused significant damage in Defiance, Missouri. Before it lifted at 8:01 p.m. west of Bridgeton, Missouri, this tornado resulted in 1 death and two injuries. Five minutes later, at 8:06 p.m., a tornado warning was issued for Edwardsville and surrounding areas, as forecasters tracked what was believed to be an ongoing strong tornado in Bridgeton, Missouri.

At 8:06 p.m. and again at 8:16 p.m., the Edwardsville Amazon facilities would receive notice of imminent severe weather through a web application. When the warning was received by DLI4's manager, they alongside an assistant began traversing the warehouse on foot to let other workers know about the storm, and to gather at the site's northern bathroom, which was the site's designated shelter for severe weather. A later investigation determined that a megaphone, which was meant to coordinate such information, was "locked in a cage and not accessible", and that the instructions to "take shelter in the restroom" led to confusion on whether the northern or southern bathroom of DLI4 was the designated shelter.

The tornado that would strike the DLI4 warehouse, which was spawned by the same parent supercell thunderstorm as the EF3 tornado in Defiance, Missouri, first touched down to the west of the I-270/I-255 interchange at 8:27 p.m.

Collapse

Video of the tornado immediately after striking DLI4
"Video shows tornado in Edwardsville, Illinois" – Danielle Henke via KSDK on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsBzadyNWRY

Post-event assessments determined that the tornado struck DLI4 at 8:29 p.m., with wind speeds estimated at 150 miles per hour (240 km/h). The tornado struck DLI4's western face, and collapsed the western wall of the warehouse onto the bathroom. The inward failure of the west-facing walls of DLI4 was the first of multiple structural failures across the warehouse as the tornado moved through, including other walls and a large part of the roof. The eastern wall collapsed into a parking lot. Approximately 150 yards (140 m) of DLI4 collapsed in total. After this, the tornado moved through DLI4's rear parking lot, from where cars were scattered east of the warehouse. In addition, multiple high-tension transmission towers and overhead power lines were destroyed.

The tornado damage survey carried out by the St. Louis National Weather Office determined the EF3 rating from the degree of damage 7, described as "[t]otal destruction of large section of building or entire building", inflicted onto damage indicator 23, Warehouse Building (WHB). DLI4 was struck at the tornado's peak intensity. Throughout the rest of Edwardsville, damage primarily occurred to trees, power infrastructure, and roofs, with a mobile home being destroyed; however, damage was relatively minor and only rated up to EF1. The tornado lifted at 8:32 p.m., only being on the ground for 6 minutes; later on, the supercell would produce another long-lived EF2 tornado that struck the community of Bingham and Ramsey State Park.

Fatalities

Two of the deceased and the sole non-fatal injury were delivery contractors for Xseed Delivery of Bolingbrook, Illinois. One was a contractor for AB&C D.A.D Inc. of Belleville, Illinois. One was a contractor for Boxify Logistics in St. Louis, Missouri. One was a contractor for real-estate firm CBRE Group who had been assigned to the Edwardsville facility; the only death not inflicted to an outside delivery contractor. All of the deceased were in the building's southern bathroom.

Name	Age	Residence	Additional notes	Reference
Deandre S. Morrow	28	St. Louis, Missouri	At a press event after the collapse, Morrow's mother Deon stated that Deandre took the day off but was called in to work on December 10.
Kevin D. Dickey	62	Carlyle, Illinois
Clayton Lynn Cope	29	Alton, Illinois	In a phone conversation with his parents shortly before the tornado struck, Cope stated he "needed to tell someone" upon being informed of the imminent danger. Cope's body was recovered at around 4:30 a.m. on December 11.
Etheria S. Hebb	34	St. Louis, Missouri	Hebb, a mother of a 1-year-old, spent the minutes before the tornado conversing in a bathroom shelter with Jaeira Hargrove, a coworker, who was also Hebb's cousin. When the tornado struck, both Hebb and Hargrove were thrown to the floor, and Hebb was unresponsive after the storm passed.
Larry E. Virden	46	Collinsville, Illinois	Virden attempted to restock his delivery vehicle at DLI4 during the tornado warning, and according to a text message conversation six minutes before the tornado, was not allowed to leave "because of the weather condition". A family member's attempts to use the IPhone's ability to geolocate Virden was unsuccessful following the tornado.
Austin J. McEwen	26	Edwardsville, Illinois

Immediate response

Radio communications from Edwardsville FD responding to the collapse
"Amazon Warehouse Tornado/Collapse Fire Department Audio 12/10/2021 [Illinois]" – Edwardsville Fire Department via Broadcastify and Fireground Audio Archive on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVZZJRGV6bg

After DLI4 was struck by the tornado, debris lofted by the tornado formed a tornado debris signature, allowing forecasters to detect the tornado using the WSR-88D weather radar operated by the St. Louis National Weather Office. A new tornado warning was issued at 8:33 p.m. for Madison and Bond counties in Illinois. Notably, this warning employed particularly dangerous situation terminology, stating that "a confirmed large and extremely dangerous tornado" could be verified from radar data over Edwardsville.

The first call informing emergency management to the situation at DLI4 came at around 8:35 p.m. Emergency personnel would arrive at the scene within 6 minutes. At 8:41 p.m., also six minutes after the first call, operators received a 911 call from inside the southern bathroom, where two women were trapped with a third, deceased woman, likely Etheria Hebb, who was unresponsive and "bent in half" by rubble.

At about 9:17 p.m., requests were received by emergency personnel in St. Louis County, Missouri to assist in the commercial building collapse. By this time, KSDK estimated 30 to 40 emergency vehicles were at the warehouse assisting the "major emergency response".

An employee in the northern bathroom stated that they spent "at least two and a half hours" sheltering before leaving.

Aftermath

See also: Criticism of Amazon

Debris fallout from the DLI4 Amazon facility was noted throughout the tornado's path.

Debris fallout from DLI4 was found by surveyors throughout the parent supercell's path, "tens of miles" from the facility across the storm's "entire path", which extended through Shelby County, Illinois, 70 mi (110 km) away.

Reaction from Amazon

The day after the collapse, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos attended the Blue Origin NS-19 launch while search-and-rescue operations for DLI4 were ongoing. Several hours after posting a celebratory Instagram photo with the NS-19 crew following the launch, Bezos released a statement on Twitter on the Edwardsville warehouse collapse, with several users of the site reacting negatively to Bezos, who owns Blue Origin and had been in Texas at the time, publicly prioritizing the launch over addressing the situation in Edwardsville.

Reconstruction of DLI4

One year after the tornado struck, the exterior of DLI4 was nearly completed. Following efforts to restore the facility's interior, DLI4 fully reopened on September 4, 2024, which was exactly 1,000 days after the tornado. The rebuilt warehouse was built with walls specified to withstand wind gusts of 114 mph (183 km/h), above the 90 mph (140 km/h) specifications of the previous construction. However, St. Louis Public Radio noted that neither the rebuilt DLI4 warehouse, nor any other building in the Lakeview Commerce Center, had storm shelters at the time of reopening.

Legislative impact

In January 2023, the Warehouse Safety Standards Task Force, a state-level legislative effort led by Illinois lawmakers, was established to investigate safety standards at warehouses across the state, following the OSHA investigation into Amazon's handling of the tornado. The task force heard arguments from various organizations, which pointed out that while most tornadoes are weaker than the Edwardsville tornado and do not produce wind gusts above 110 mph (180 km/h), warehouses are vulnerable to such storms and should either be built to withstand stronger winds or be constructed with shelters. In addition, Greg Bryant of the Masonry Structural Coalition brought up the violent 2004 Roanoke tornado, which destroyed a manufacturing plant in the state, but proper sheltering procedures led to no fatalities.

Among the task force's recommendations were instating a requirement for site-specific plans for emergencies, employers to better prepare for tornadoes, and for the Illinois General Assembly to regularly provide funding for the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System, an intergovernmental set of mutual aid agreements for fire departments.

After the tornado, the city of Edwardsville amended its city code, requiring buildings to withstand wind gusts of 114 mph (183 km/h).

See also

• Baltimore Amazon warehouse collapse, another collapse caused by an EF1 tornado in 2018
• 2021 Western Kentucky tornado, an EF4 tornado that struck a factory near Mayfield, Kentucky later that night
• Belvidere Apollo Theatre collapse, another tornado-related structural collapse in Illinois less than two years later
• St. Louis tornado history