PERRYVILLE, Mo. _ The tornado that roared across Perry County tore a 15-mile long path and cost 60 families "just about everything," the mayor said Wednesday.
One person was killed in the storm Tuesday night, and at least 10 others were injured. Rescuers searched 180 homes, and about 60 percent of them had moderate to major damage.
At least 30 and as many as 60 would be considered "leveled" to their foundations, Perryville Mayor Ken Baer said.
"Can you imagine? You can't even drive away because your car is gone, totaled. All you have is what is on your back," he said. "Sixty families," he added, "lost just about everything."
The path was 13 to 15 miles long. One mile of the tornado ran through the city; 12 or more miles through the county. It tracked to the Mississippi River and may have extended into Ava, Ill., although a survey crew says it may have lifted off the ground during its route.
The National Weather Service said the tornado could be an EF2 or EF3, with winds of 115 mph and higher. Its report should be out by Thursday.
The supercell that spun the tornado tracked all the way to Indiana. The storm itself was moving at about 60 mph _ the winds within the tornado easily twice that fast _ and may have been on the ground in Perry County for 10 or 15 minutes, said meteorologist Robin Smith.
The tornado killed one motorist. Police identified the victim as Travis M. Koenig, 24, of Perryville. He was driving on I-55 when the twister knocked his car over and he was thrown out. He died at the scene.
Most of the damaged homes were in the Moore Drive subdivision along Highway 61. Perryville is about 80 miles south of St. Louis.
Bill Jones arrived within minutes to a home on Highway 61 where the first floor had collapsed into the basement. A middle-aged couple was trapped.
Jones, the Perryville assistant fire chief, said crews worked around live electrical wires and used an ax and a prying tool to get to the couple.
"We moved piece by piece, chunks of wood, chunks of chairs, brick, whatever it was," he said, adding the couple was pulled to safety.
Jones said seeing the aftermath, he figured more people would be dead or seriously injured. The key, he said, is that most took cover in basements.
"It's mind-boggling, I can't believe what I'm seeing," said Hank Voelker, a lifelong resident of Perry County who heads up the emergency management agency. "It's like a bomb went off."
Heavy equipment brought in to move debris was initially delayed by felled telephone poles blocking the road.
No one was missing Wednesday afternoon, although officials were concerned by widespread debris fields.
"We thought maybe more people were in there," Voelker said. "But it's a small town so we had people on the phone calling Aunt Betty and Uncle Whoever" to make sure everyone was accounted for.
Perry County's population is about 19,000, he said.
When Diana and Paul Schroeder heard the roar Tuesday night, they took shelter in the basement of the home where they've lived since 1968.
"Halfway down the stairs, rain and trash blew in," Paul Schroeder said. The winds ripped the roof away.
On Wednesday morning, Diana Schroeder, who is 84, shuffled past muck and debris into her kitchen. She cradled a damp and creased black-and-white photo of her firstborn son and kissed it.
In the next room _ the one with a gaping hole where once there stood a wall _ nieces sorted through more of the Schroeders' belongings.
Paul Schroeder spent part of the morning searching for tools in a massive heap of debris. He suffered some scrapes on his head when the tornado struck but was otherwise unscathed.
Jerry Fulton, 54, stepped on his back porch when his cellphone sounded an alert. He saw an ominous-looking form moving up Highway 61 behind his home. A flash of lightning made it appear green.
"Mary, it's coming," he shouted to his wife.
They hustled into the basement. Their ears felt a sudden pressure. Their heads felt like they might explode.
"We felt the house rattle and shake," Mary Fulton said.
They huddled in a corner and prayed.
"I said an 'Our Father,' and a half a 'Hail Mary' and it subsided," Mary Fulton, 57, said.
The tornado lifted the middle section of their roof and slammed it back down. It demolished their shop, which housed thousands of dollars worth of siding, windows and equipment for their siding company.
A 7,000-pound siding tool was 50 yards away. The siding trailer flew to a field 200 yards away. A neighbor's home was demolished, and from their yard they can see the leveled homes of Moore Drive.
"It's hard to stomach, but things can be replaced," Jerry Fulton said.
The same storm system struck in Illinois, too, where two people were killed.
Reuters reported that a man was killed by a falling tree when a tornado struck LaSalle County, about 90 miles southwest of Chicago, and one person was killed in the rural town of Crossville in southeastern Illinois, where several homes were leveled.
In Washington, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said President Donald Trump had been monitoring the Midwestern storms.
"Three lives have already been tragically cut short. The families of those victims and also those who have had their homes and property destroyed are in the president's thoughts and prayers."
Dan Bachmann said rescue workers came to his door after the tornado passed. He and his wife, Renee Bachmann, and some neighbors had taken refuge in the basement of their home outside Perryville. They emerged to find the neighbors' mobile home destroyed and a wall of the Bachmanns' garage gone.
"We're lucky compared to what happened to others," Dan Bachmann said.
Trees and power lines were reported down and residents pitched in to help clear Highway 810 of debris.
Volunteers with the Southeast Missouri Red Cross opened a shelter for victims.
The storms left a mark across the St. Louis area, too. The largest hail from Tuesday's storm in the St. Louis region was 2 inches wide in Troy, Ill., at 5:40 p.m.
On the Missouri side, hail measuring 1.75 inches in diameter was spotted southeast of Byrnes Mill at about 5 p.m., the Weather Service said.
A second round of storms moved in early Wednesday. Winds clocked at 70 mph hit Cahokia at 2 a.m. Wednesday, and the weather service had four other reports of winds between 45 and 65 mph in St. Clair County Wednesday morning.
