Lambert International ... Luck of the Draw, Not a Miracle

[John Farley]

This is from the NWS damage survey for the tornado:

"From there the tornado paralleled Interstate 70 through the community of St. Ann, then took aim directly on Lambert St. Louis International Airport. Many of the large windows in the main terminal building were blown out or damaged by flying debris and a large section of roof was peeled from Concourse C. Although the vast majority of people were evacuated to lower levels and to interior rooms before the tornado hit, 5 people were treated and released from area hospitals for injuries due to flying debris. The airport was closed due to the extensive damage.
The tornado exited Lambert St. Louis International Airport crossing near the McDonnell Boulevard/Harmon Lane intersection."

Note that it says "vast majority", not everyone. But as others have noted, in the video showing the debris being blown through Concourse C, the most badly damaged area, there were very few people still there when the tornado hit. Apparently, though, there was some unevenness in the evacuation process, per local news accounts, and there probably were some parts of the airport where people were not evacuated. And of course, also as others have noted, it is possible that not everyone evacuated as instructed.

Regarding the aircraft - as Mike Smith has noted in another thread, there does seem to have been a problem there, as the FAA apparently does not share tornado warnings with pilots or other airport/airline personnel, which does seem to explain why some flight operations were ongoing at least very close to the time when the tornado hit.

 

[Jeff Duda]

when the simple fact is they were just downright fortunate this time.

Not necessarily related to the tornado that hit Lambert, but if you look at some of the videos that came out of North Carolina from the outbreak 10 days ago, it sure seems like people are pretty lucky to survive some of the situations they put themselves into. And I also agree with Jesse that many people probably just don't pay attention to weather warnings anymore given how many false alarms people experience.

 

[Mike Moore]

I think the NWS damage survey pretty much sums up that they did save lives.

 

[Jerry Prsha]

It could also be that people saw the tornado and the damage taking place outside and moved away from the glass too...

I live in St. Louis and can't tell you "No, this didn't happen" however sitting there waiting for your plane, you can't see much from those windows in the evening or at night. I've had to walk over to the glass and shield the light just to see of my own plane was at the gate. Someone might have yelled "Tornado" that just might have been watching but there was certainly a mass exodus in the central portion of the concourse and I find it hard to believe that this many people reacted all in the same manner unless they were instructed on where to go. Perhaps I lack faith in humanity but I subscribe to the notion that people will run in circles, screaming, unless herded a certain direction. heheh

 

[joel ewing]

I'm sure all modern airports are built to withstand "high wind". Look at the speed and power of close-range jet exhaust....airports are built to withstand those type of blasts day after day.

 

[rdale]

Look at the speed and power of close-range jet exhaust....airports are built to withstand those type of blasts day after day.

Are you sure? I've never seen a plane use its engines to push away from the gate. They usually are pushed back by a tug, and then start their engines when well clear of any people/objects/buildings.

 

[Mike Moore]

They do it all day long at Detroit with the old Northwest DC-9s... it makes an unholy racket but I'm not sure they take that into account when designing the structure.

 

[Andy Jackson]

I found a video taken from concourse C. (Not the one I was looking for.) I can't hear everything clearly, but it doesn't sound like security asked anyone to shelter ahead of time. (Or at least not early enough to make much difference.)

Watch video >

That's pretty clear no warning in concourse C. I like how that one person moved when the roaring winds got closer, it shows that people aren't completely helpless or oblivious.

 

[Jake Orosi]

Even if you happen to be paying attention and happen to catch the alert, where would you go? Now assuming we're all "weather aware" we would head to an interior room like a bathroom, but lots of folks freeze up in dangerous situations... maybe they were the ones sprinting for cover at the last minute? Who knows.

I'm not so sure it was a freeze-up. I think people simply have a blind-faith expectation that large, apparently solid "buildings" just don't have the same vulnerability to tornadoes as houses and mobile homes do, no matter what they may see on the news. The ones who bother to spend any thought at all on it might reason that the airport glass is somehow special, "industrial strength" glass designed to withstand high wind.

I'd be curious about the results of a poll asking how many people (among those who respond to tornado warnings) automatically take shelter in the basement with their radios when a warning is issued no matter what, and how many will first go outside to try and identify the tornado's track and will not take shelter unless they're convinced the tornado is about to hit their house, even if they can clearly see the tornado close by.

Consider these videos. Why aren't these people taking shelter despite the clearly imminent threat?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jCeExfWzoo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvpxO1dB82w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6DeBiHl5qE

 

[John Farley]

I'd have to agree, no warning at the location where Todd posted the video from. Concourse C is very long; entirely possible that some parts of it got warned and others didn't - which may explain why some like this one show lots of people around and others do not. Obviously the warning process was uneven at best, judging from this video.

Edit: Just saw a post on Facebook saying they had been announcing the warning for a half hour. So it could be that either the warning was announced but some people didn't hear it among all the announcements as noted above, or that they did not respond to it. Seems, though, like an effective plan would involve having airport staff urging people to move to secure areas; I believe that did happen in some parts of the airport, but no evidence of it here.

 

[joel ewing]

Haven't you ever stood outside a gate and gotten blasted by a jet's exhaust, RDale? If you haven't.....dude, you haven't lived. We better get you out, more often.

 

[joel ewing]

Maam, does this qualify me for an upgrade to first class??

 

[rdale]

Haven't you ever stood outside a gate and gotten blasted by a jet's exhaust

I can't think of too many times where they let me out of the terminal to walk on the tarmac Did it once with a KC-135 tanker back in my ROTC days, but I don't think they usually aim them towards the windows...

 

[Jake Orosi]

Haven't you ever stood outside a gate and gotten blasted by a jet's exhaust, RDale? If you haven't.....dude, you haven't lived. We better get you out, more often.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbZUsMt28-0

 

[Mike Peregrine]

Since none of us were there, I asked a few questions from one of the passengers actually present in the airport. He wrote back a terrific response.

We flew in from Detroit about 45 minutes before the tornado. The Pilot taxied the plane to the terminal rather fast, faster than I had ever been taxied before. In retrospect, I believe the Pilot know something was coming...

There was absolutely no warning from anyone while we were waiting in the terminal. We could see that our connecting flight to Vegas was delayed, but that was all. There were many people looking out of the windows at the rain.

There was no warnings on any loud speakers at all. Once I saw the Southwest Jet move from the gate, I grabbed my camera and all we heard was on the clip.

We are very shocked that there were weather warnings and no official from the Airport advised anybody. There was someone in the restroom that was really ticked because nobody even checked.

It was like we were all sheep, just following the crowds, doing what we heard somebody say, cause there was nobody in charge.

We found out there was a tornado by people getting texts and phone calls. We are from Canada so we had no idea, nor did our family back home.

We were eventually told to go back through security. We all lined up then were told the airport was closed, so we were directed to the Southwest counter to re-schedule flights.

We were told we could not get our checked luggage, yet it was by the belt on the floor. We grabbed our luggage and left for a hotel.

Overall, there were no warnings at all, and no real security once the tornado hit. Anyone could have taken our luggage.

I suspect this was likely the case in many parts - if not the entirety - of the airport. As he mentioned, it is shocking with warnings issued so far in advance, virtually nothing was done to protect anyone in the airport or waiting in planes on the tarmac outside.

Of all places, an airport that has thousands of passengers should have a contingency plan. Simply believing that your building is well built and capable of withstanding a tornado is NOT a contingency plan.

For years, we've talked about the potential for disaster when it comes to crowded areas ... airports, sporting events, stadiums, etc. I really think this example is a good case in point that cities in high risk parts of the country (like St. Louis) can do better, and simply must do better in coming up with evac plans during periods of severe weather.