Lawmakers digging into Amazon Warehouse severe weather incident

Posted on February 14, 2022
“Tornadoes are much more frequent and impactful than are commonly understood,” said Marc Levitan. (Photo Courtesy of REUTERS, Drone Base.)

By Dave Dahl

An Illinois House committee is delving into the Amazon warehouse disaster in Edwardsville in December. 

You have to follow the science, says Marc Levitan of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. “Tornadoes are much more frequent and impactful than are commonly understood,” he told members of the Illinois House Labor and Commerce Committee.. “According to NOAA, the U.S. experiences more than 1,250 tornadoes per year, and those are how many are reported. There are many more in rural areas that do not get reported.”

And Illinois AFL CIO president Tim Drea points a finger toward the big employers. “Some of this is the lack of a union workforce at Amazon and other facilities like Amazon. The low wages and few benefits create a situation where there is high turnover, and training is not done as well as it should,” he said.

Six people died in the warehouse collapse.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected].

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