St. Louis storm picks up, tosses beer tent; 1 killed, 100 hurt

A sudden, severe storm that swept through St. Louis on Saturday collapsed a large sports bar tent outside Busch Stadium, leaving one person dead and more than 100 injured.

The person who died apparently suffered a heart attack, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Seventeen of those injured were taken to a hospital, including the man who had the heart attack; four people sustained critical injuries, the paper said.

The tent had been set up as a beer garden next to Kilroy’s Sports Bar, and a few hundred fans had gathered there to celebrate the St. Louis Cardinals’ win over the Milwaukee Brewers earlier in the day, the Associated Press reported.

The incident happened about 3:50 p.m., about an hour after the baseball game had ended. A sudden gust lifted the tent, sending metal poles flying; afterward the tent lay collapsed against nearby railroad trestles, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Authorities with the St. Louis Department of Public Safety did not respond to requests for comments Saturday afternoon.

But meteorologist Jayson Gosselin with the National Weather Service told the Los Angeles Times that a tornado warning was in effect at the time and that strong winds had been moving through the area all day.

The storms produced winds stronger than 50 mph in the St. Louis area and quarter-sized hail, according to the National Weather Service.

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dalina.castellanos@latimes.com