Tornado-hit St Louis airport to re-open

Despite being hit by a tornado, Lambert-St Louis airport is to re-open

Travel Insurance News - 25/04/2011

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Despite being struck by a tornado in dramatic scenes captured on video, the airport serving the US city of St Louis is to re-open. Large parts of the Missouri airport’s terminal building were left severely damaged by the storm and the concourse area is not expected to open again for about two months.

In terrifying scenes witnessed around the world, the twister struck the airport’s terminal building, ripping of a big area of the roof, smashing windows and sending all types of debris flying through the building’s interior and across outside areas. Several people at the airport received treatment for minor injuries.

Despite the storm damage, the airport re-opened to handle a small number of arriving flights. Airport officials said regular flights could probably continue as soon as early on Sunday.

Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge, director of Lambert-St Louis International Airport, said the airport would not be the prettiest tomorrow but it would be operating. The tornado touched down as several storms swept across parts of eastern and central Missouri.

Elsewhere in the region, homes were destroyed, trees were uprooted and power lines were brought down in what has already been an eventful season of heavy storms and tornadoes across the USA. Following the storm, the airport issued a statement that said all flights had been cancelled while a full safety assessment was carried out and cleaning-up was performed.

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