A massive tornado was spotted in the Clayton area of St Louis in Missouri on Friday. The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings for several counties across Missouri and New Jersey. The warnings, effective until 3:45 PM CDT, covered southeastern Iron, southern Madison, southwestern Bollinger, northeastern Wayne, southern Crawford, and western Washington counties, impacting communities such as Marquand, Saco, Steelville, and Lodi. At least four people were killed and 10 others were injured Friday after a storm caused significant damage in the St. Louis metro area. The storm was part of a system that has millions of people across several states on alert for the potential of tornadoes, damaging wind and large hail. Illinois State Police have closed down long stretches of I-55 and I-74 in McLean County as dust storms were causing “dangerous life-threatening” driving conditions in central and east central Illinois. Also, high winds led to thousands of customers without electricity in McLean County. According to the PowerOutage.us website, almost 4,600 customers had no electricity as of 6:45 p.m. Troopers have closed I-55 from South Bloomington to McLean, I-74 from South Bloomington to Farmer City, and U.S. Route 136, from McLean to Heyworth.

