Draft:Edwardsville Amazon warehouse collapse

{{seealso|Criticism of Amazon}}

Amazon announced its intent to open two new fulfillment facilities in Edwardsville, Illinois, on June 2, 2016. Each facility would cover {{convert|700000|sqft|acre 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.{{cite web |url=https://www.king5.com/article/money/amazon-opening-two-facilities-in-illinois/281-228497628 |title=Amazon opening two facilities in Illinois |publisher=Associated Press via KING-TV|date=2 June 2016 |access-date=22 June 2025}} 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 {{convert|16|mi|km}} east of downtown St. Louis, which also hosted facilities for J.F. Electric, Spectrum Brands, and World Wide Technology by 2020.{{cite web |url=https://www.thefreightway.com/site/lakeview-commerce-center/ |title=Lakeview Commerce Center |publisher=Bi-State Development Agency/St. Louis Regional Freightway |access-date=22 June 2025 }} 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.{{cite web |title=Inside Amazon's gigantic St. Louis-area distribution center |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2017/08/24/inside-amazons-gigantic-st-louis-area-distribution.html |url-access=subscription |date=24 August 2017 |first1=Brian |last1=Feldt |publisher=St. Louis Business Journal }}

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 {{convert|594,000|sqft|acre m2}}, of which {{convert|15,000|sqft|acre m2}} was office space. DLI4 was designed by architectural firm Richard L. Bowen & Associates.{{cite web |url=https://contegracc.com/project-item/amazon-dli4/ |title=Amazon DLI4 |access-date=22 June 2025 |publisher=Contegra Construction |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250624175505/https://contegracc.com/project-item/amazon-dli4/ |archive-date=24 June 2025 |url-status=live}}

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.{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/12/technology/amazon-tornado-edwardsville.html |title=At Amazon Site, Tornado Collided With Company’s Peak Delivery Season |date=12 December 2021 |access-date=22 June 2025 |publisher=The New York Times |first1=Karen |last1=Weise |first2=Eric |last2=Berger }}

{{main|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 {{cvt|70|F|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{{nbsp}}p.m. Friday through and 3{{nbsp}}a.m. Saturday, Central Standard Time. Confidence also existed that storms produced by the system could produce tornadoes, and would be moving very quickly.{{cite web |url=https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/wx/afos/p.php?pil=AFDLSX&e=202112092050 |title=Area Forecast Discussion |date=9 December 2021 |website=Iowa Environmental Mesonet |publisher=National Weather Service St. Louis, Missouri |last1=Jaja }}

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.{{cite web |url=https://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/archive/2021/day1otlk_20211210_1200.html |title=Dec 10, 2021 0600 UTC Day 1 Convective Outlook |date=9 December 2021 |last1=Darrow |last2=Weinman |publisher=Storm Prediction Center }}

By the 10th's 2000Z outlook, issued at 5:08{{nbsp}}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.{{cite web |url=https://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/archive/2021/day1otlk_20211210_2000.html |title=Dec 10, 2021 2000 UTC Day 1 Convective Outlook |date=10 December 2021 |publisher=Storm Prediction Center |last1=Darrow }}

File:2021 Edwardsville tornado radar loop.gif

At 5:20{{nbsp}}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{{nbsp}}p.m. that night.{{cite web |url=https://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/watch/2021/ww0553.html |title= Tornado Watch 553 |date=10 December 2021 |publisher=Storm Prediction Center |last1=Grams }} 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".{{cite web |url=https://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/md/2021/md1984.html |title=Mesoscale Discussion 1984 |date=10 December 2021 |publisher=Storm Prediction Center |last1=Squitieri |last2=Grams }} At 7:02{{nbsp}}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.{{cite web |url=https://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/md/2021/md1988.html |title=Mesoscale Discussion 1988 |date=10 December 2021 |publisher=Storm Prediction Center |last1=Bentley }}

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{{nbsp}}p.m. and caused significant damage in Defiance, Missouri. Before it lifted at 8:01{{nbsp}}p.m. west of Bridgeton, Missouri, this tornado resulted in 1 death and two injuries.{{cite web |url=https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/6c870871d11c4c009294bb1a840ea9ec |title=December 10, 2021 Tornado Outbreak |first1=Lydia |last1=Jaja |first2=Tyler |last2=Stanfield |publisher=National Weather Service St. Louis, Missouri |website=ArcGIS Storymaps }} Five minutes later, at 8:06{{nbsp}}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.{{cite web |url=https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/wx/afos/p.php?pil=TORLSX&e=202112110206 |title=LSX tornado warning #245 |date=10 December 2021 |publisher=National Weather Service St. Louis, Missouri |website=Iowa Environmental Mesonet }}

At 8:06{{nbsp}}p.m. and again at 8:16{{nbsp}}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{{nbsp}}p.m.

{{external media

| headerimage=

| title = Video of the tornado immediately after striking DLI4

|topic = "Video shows tornado in Edwardsville, Illinois" – Danielle Henke via KSDK on YouTube

| video1 = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsBzadyNWRY

}}

Post-event assessments determined that the tornado struck DLI4 at 8:29{{nbsp}}p.m., with wind speeds estimated at {{convert|150|mph|km/h}}.{{cite DAT |sourcing=tornado damage point|event_date=10 December 2021 |event_id=Ed |lat=38.77 |lon=-90.04 }}

The tornado struck DLI4's western face, and collapsed the western wall of the warehouse onto the bathroom. The structure's roof was lofted off of the building. The eastern wall collapsed into a parking lot.{{cite web |url=https://www.bnd.com/news/local/article260784582.html |title=Here’s OSHA’s timeline from the night a tornado hit an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville |date=26 April 2022 |access-date=25 June 2025 |first1=Mike |last1=Koziatek |publisher=Belleville News-Democrat }} Approximately {{convert|150|yd|m}} of DLI4 collapsed in total.

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).{{cite report |url=https://www.spc.noaa.gov/efscale/23.html |title=Enhanced Fujita scale damage indicator Warehouse Building (WHB) |publisher=Storm Prediction Center |date=2007 }}

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.{{cite web |url=https://www.bnd.com/news/local/article260767932.html |title= OSHA releases results of investigation into Edwardsville Amazon warehouse tornado deaths |first1=Kelsey |last1=Landis |first2=Mike |last2=Koziatek |publisher=Belleville News-Democrat |date=27 April 2022 |access-date=25 June 2025 }} All of the deceased were in the building's southern bathroom.{{cite web |url=https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/local/amazon-warehouse-tornado-collapse-osha-report/63-e295d863-8031-4dc8-b1e8-c0b22a66c287 |title=OSHA report says workers killed in Amazon warehouse collapse took shelter in wrong bathroom |date=26 April 2022 |first1=Sara |last1=Machi |publisher=KSDK }}

{{external media

| headerimage=

| title = Radio communications from Edwardsville FD responding to the collapse

|topic = "Amazon Warehouse Tornado/Collapse Fire Department Audio 12/10/2021 [Illinois]" – Edwardsville Fire Department via Broadcastify and

Fireground Audio Archive on YouTube

| video1 = 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.{{cite web |url=https://www.ksdk.com/article/weather/strong-storms-possible-friday-missouri-illinois/63-76239251-65df-4481-8c2b-a1dbbb946d70 |title=Person killed in storm in Defiance; deaths confirmed at Amazon warehouse |date=9–11 December 2021 |access-date=25 June 2025 |publisher=KSDK |first1=Scott |last1=Connell |first2=Anthony |last2=Slaughter |first3=Tracy |last3=Hinson |first4=Anne |last4=Stegen }} A new tornado warning was issued at 8:33{{nbsp}}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.{{cite web |url=https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/wx/afos/p.php?pil=TORLSX&e=202112110233 |title=LSX Tornado Warning #315 |date=10 December 2021 |website=Iowa Environmental Mesonet |publisher=National Weather Service St. Louis, Missouri }}

An employee in the northern bathroom stated that they spent "at least two and a half hours" sheltering before leaving.{{cite web |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/11/business/amazon-deaths-warehouse-tornado |title= Six people killed in Illinois Amazon warehouse collapse after tornado |date=12 December 2021 |access-date=25 June 2025 |publisher=CNN News |first1=Carma |last1=Hassan }}

File:Damaged transmission lines and fallout from DLI4.jpg

Debris fallout from DLI4 was found by surveyors throughout the parent supercell's path, some being recovered "tens of miles" from the facility across the storm's "entire path", which extended through Shelby County, Illinois, {{cvt|70|mi|km}} away.

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.{{cite web |url=https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/jeff-bezos-criticized-late-response-amazon-warehouse-collapse-illinois-tornado-2021-12 |title=Jeff Bezos criticized for celebrating Blue Origin launch before addressing Amazon warehouse collapse |date=12 December 2021 |access-date=24 June 2025 |publisher=Business Insider |first1=Zahra |last1=Tayeb }}

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 {{cvt|114|mph|km/h}}, above the {{cvt|90|mph|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.{{cite web |url=https://www.stlpr.org/economy-business/2024-09-17/edwardsville-amazon-warehouse-ravaged-by-2021-tornado-that-killed-6-has-reopened |title= Edwardsville Amazon warehouse ravaged by 2021 tornado that killed 6 has reopened |publisher=St. Louis Public Radio |date=17 September 2024 |access-date=24 June 2025 |first1=Will |last1=Bauer }}

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 {{cvt|110|mph|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.{{cite web |url=https://capitolnewsillinois.com/news/task-force-recommends-tornado-shelters-in-warehouse-following-deadly-2021-storm/ |title=Task force recommends tornado shelters in warehouse following deadly 2021 storm |first1=Ben |last1=Szalinski |date=3 January 2025 |access-date=24 June 2025 |publisher=Capitol News Illinois }}

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 {{cvt|114|mph|km/h}}.{{cite web |url=https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/local/edwardsville-amazon-warehouse-reopens-3-years-after-tornado-tragedy/63-2b3a6905-401f-42ec-a47b-69573636d8a1 |title=Edwardsville Amazon warehouse reopens 3 years after tornado tragedy |date=18 September 2024 |access-date=24 June 2025 |publisher=KSDK |first1=Laura |last1=Barczewski }}

• 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

{{Reflist}}{{2021 tornado outbreaks}}

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