St. Louis airport just hit by tornado

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Richard

Jane, this a great idea! Maybe four little pigs¹ could represent the four FRC divisions?

Division emcees/game annonucers might encourage a little friendly fund raising competition?

-------------
¹ named Archy, Maddie, Gal, and Newt?

Permissions would probably need to be obtained...

Jane

[Sayrah]

Piggy bank packed.

Sarah

Oink, Oink...

[Bethie42]

Does anyone know about the safety or emergency plans in place at the Dome? I'm guessing my parents aren't the only ones who are worried about what would happen if another tornado should hit. I.e, is there likely to be a basement or other safe area nearby?

Right now the weather forecast is looking pretty decent, but I know that can change at any time....

Thanks!

[kendra21093]

Oh my, good luck to all the teams flying

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by Sayrah

Oink, Oink...

BOOM!

[catsylve]

Reading your thoughts about the people of St. Louis reinforces for us what we know FIRST is really about. My husband is a letter carrier in Maryland Heights. He came home just apalled at what had happened to the neighborhood he has delivered to for years. And some of the others were much worse, having been completely leveled.

[KathieK]

As of 7am Eastern time this morning, Sunday, American Airlines reports that they have not cancelled flights YET for Monday or Tuesday. The reservations person suggested calling back later in the day for an update.

[Bill_B]

Originally Posted by Richard

Jane, this a great idea! Maybe four little pigs¹ could represent the four FRC divisions?

Division emcees/game annonucers might encourage a little friendly fund raising competition?

-------------
¹ named Archy, Maddie, Gal, and Newt?

Archy, Maddie, Leo, and Newt

Why not let FLL and FTC in on the fund raising? We could add Bodies Forward as we Get Over it in Logo Motion.

[treffk]

Originally Posted by Bethie42

Does anyone know about the safety or emergency plans in place at the Dome? I'm guessing my parents aren't the only ones who are worried about what would happen if another tornado should hit. I.e, is there likely to be a basement or other safe area nearby?

Right now the weather forecast is looking pretty decent, but I know that can change at any time....

Thanks!

It is a large public area so they will have a safe area for guests. I do not know what they are but I'm sure that all FIRST personnel will be briefed on them and if you ask they will be glad to explain them too you.

This is what came off of the St. Louis Rams website "Edward Jones Dome Guest Service Hosts are trained to handle evacuation procedures. During pre-game, a video will be shown on the scoreboard detailing the evacuation procedure. Should an evacuation become necessary, please make sure you are aware of the exits nearest your seat and be prepared to follow the instructions of the Guest Service Hosts." I pulled that one because on America's Center and Edward Jone's websites they do not have it listed.

From my experience (I live in tornado alley, my town was decimated by a tornado in 2003) if you hear the sirens, get to the lowest, least surrounded by windows area (volunteers should be directing teams and guests to the proper tornado shelter). My guess is it will be a conference room or possibly locker rooms or a large concrete hallway.

[JohnFogarty]

Alright GForce says Franklin is in on this!

[Aidan F. Browne]

And now for some good news!

It looks like they are meeting their goal... STL seems to be flowing again... (other than AA, which announced no flights for today)

[flyingcrayons]

lol @ ewr getting just a 1 star on time rating. frankly, im surprised newark got any stars for on-timeness. its gotten much better in the past couple of years, but its still pretty horrific as to getting planes out on time.

st. louis seems to be meeting their 70% capacity goal, so hopefully they will reach 100% capacity by the middle of this week..

good luck to everyone traveling! stay safe

[Bryan Herbst]

Originally Posted by Bethie42

Does anyone know about the safety or emergency plans in place at the Dome? I'm guessing my parents aren't the only ones who are worried about what would happen if another tornado should hit. I.e, is there likely to be a basement or other safe area nearby?

Right now the weather forecast is looking pretty decent, but I know that can change at any time....

Thanks!

I don't know specifics for the Edward Jones dome, but the venue is required by law to have emergency procedures in place and must have staff on hand who are trained in these procedures.

Typically in venues such as this, people will be herded into bathrooms, locker rooms, and other such sheltered areas. I was in a football stadium last summer when a huge storm struck, and we were all moved into the bathrooms.

[Karibou]

This has nothing to do with safety procedures, but the FIRSTweets twitter account has provided an update:

STL says: "We will be ready to welcome FIRST to town do all to make sure recent events don't impact the success of the event. "

[kjohnson]

News from @flystl from the last 4 hours:

Cape Air will operate out of the D Concourse at Gates D8 and D10. Cape Air anticipates resuming flights Tuesday morning @flystl-Call ahead.

American Airlines will resume operations on the D Concourse Monday morning. AA will operate out of Gates D2, D4 and D6 @flystl.

Terminal 1, Terminal 2, Concourses A and B are fully operational @flystl. Frontier is located @ B10 and Air Tran is now operating on B12

Metrolink service has resumed to Lambert Airport @flystl

Lambert anticipates about a 60% flight schedule today @flystl. Travelers are urged to contact their airline for the latest flight info

Lambert Airport-Terminal 2 @flystl-flights resume and concessions are open. Call the airline for the latest flight schedule #flystl

Lambert Airport Terminal 1- A and B Concourses now open. Concessions are also open on the A and B concourses