ST LOUIS, Missouri – Five people were killed in a pre-dawn tornado that ripped through south-eastern Missouri on Wednesday, shearing off roofs, splintering trees and taking down power lines in devastated Bollinger County, officials said. 

First responders from multiple agencies combed through destroyed homes and businesses in the rural area that Missouri Governor Mike Parson said faces “a long journey ahead” toward recovery.

Five people were also injured and 87 structures damaged, with 12 of those buildings destroyed, said Missouri State Highway Patrol superintendent Eric Olson. 

Photographs on social media from Glen Allen, Missouri – a village about 177km south of St Louis – showed severely damaged houses with roofs sheared off, downed trees and power lines and debris covering roadways and yards.

“It’s just heartbreaking to see people’s homes missing roofs and their homes gone,” Missouri State Patrol Highway Sergeant Clark Parrott told Reuters after surveying the damage. “We got work ahead of us, but we will get through this.”

Storm spotters reported that the tornado touched down in the area at about 3.30am local time (4.30pm Singapore time), according to the National Weather Service. It was one of more than a dozen that were spotted in the Midwest overnight, the service said.

In Marble Hill, 5km to the east of Glen Allen, Mr Chris Huffman, 45, said he raced to his basement with his wife and two daughters after hearing tornado sirens and the power went out.

Outside, it was pitch-black and there were dark clouds, high winds and rain, and bursts of lightning over Glen Allen off to the west, where the tornado struck, Mr Huffman said.

“It was startling,” he told Reuters in a phone interview from his sandwich shop Munchies, where he was preparing food for those in need, and crews responding to the damage. “We heard the roar of everything. That’s how close it was.”

Mr Parson said the state would aid people who lost their homes, even though some sparsely populated communities would not have sustained enough damage to be eligible for public disaster relief. 

“This is going to be weeks upon months to be able to recover,” Mr Parson said, adding that President Joe Biden called to offer help and services. 

The twister struck days after violent tornadoes tore through parts of the US South and Midwest, and as far east as Delaware, killing at least 32 people.

A week before, a tornado devastated the Mississippi Delta town of Rolling Fork, destroying many of the community’s 400 homes and killing 26 people. REUTERS