Amazon worker ‘who tried to warn colleagues’ is first victim named after more than 70 killed by tornadoes

Clayton Cope, 29, wanted to warn his coworkers the storm was coming

A collapsed roof is seen at an Amazon distribution center after a tornado hits Edwardsville, in Illinois, U.S. December 11, 2021 (REUTERS)

An employee at an Amazon warehouse in Illinois is among the first people identified of the at least 70 people killed by a cluster tornadoes that tore through six US states overnight.

Clayton Cope, 29, a maintenance worker, was among at least six confirmed dead at an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois, where the tornadoes nearly leveled parts of the facility belonging to the online retailer.

Carla Cope, Clayton’s mother, told The Daily Beast on Saturday that she had warned her son to “get to shelter,” but that he wanted to warn his colleagues of what was coming first.

“He just said he needed to tell someone that [the tornado] was coming,” she said. “He had a big heart and he was a very sweet man.”

A friend described Mr Cope to the paper as a “’one of one’ kind of person,” who would “take the shirt off his back for anyone...buy anyone a drink at the bar.

The 29-year-old cope was also a Navy veteran, having served as an aviation electronics technician for six years before leaving the service with a collection of medals and starting at Amazon earlier this year.

The maintenance worker enjoyed fishing and riding his Harley motorbike, according to his mother.

The facility where he worked, not far from St. Louis, Missouri, suffered immense damage during the tornado cluster.

“About half of it’s missing, it’s gone,” Mark Mayfield of the Edwardsville Fire Department said on Saturday.

Six people total died at the facility, another one was injured, and 45 were rescued from the building, where 150 yards of the building had collapsed in on itself.

“We’ve been closely monitoring the terrible situation in Edwardsville, and are heartbroken over the loss of our team members. Our thoughts are with their families at this difficult time,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in a statement on Saturday. “As this situation continues to evolve, I want our Edwardsville community to know we are working closely with local officials and first responders to support them. My deepest sympathies are with the Amazon community and all impacted.”

At least 30 tornadoes hit across six states, including Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, and Kentucky, where tornados touched down for more than 200 miles, and the extreme weather may have killed up to 100 people across 10 or more counties.

“This has been the most devastating tornado event in our state’s history,” Kentucky governor Andy Beshear said at a news conference.