(CNN) -- A major airport in St. Louis remained closed Saturday morning after a severe storm and reported tornado touchdown caused significant damage, shattering windows and sending debris raining down on passengers.
Authorities shut down the Lambert-St. Louis International Airport indefinitely while officials investigate destruction left behind by a storm that struck around 8:15 p.m. Friday, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay told reporters.
Crews planned to survey the storm's impact Saturday, airport director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge told CNN affiliate KSDK.
"We're not going to operate, obviously, until we know it's safe," she said.
Four people were transported to nearby hospitals with injuries after Friday's storm, and paramedics treated others at the airport, Slay said. Officials said the injuries appeared minor.
"There was a reported sighting of a tornado. Although that has not been confirmed, that storm caused significant damage to the airport," Slay said.
Passengers were hit with flying glass and debris as winds ripped off part of the roof in the airport's C concourse, CNN affiliate KSDK reported.
"All the windows were busted. ...The airport looks like a war zone," Elizabeth Rastberger, 32, told CNN's iReport.
Rastberger said she had been waiting to pick up a friend when the storm hit. After an officer yelled "get downstairs," she took cover in a women's restroom with about 20 others.
"Kids were crying," she said. "A woman had a busted nose. Everyone was too freaked out to talk."
The reported tornado twisted metal and blew out plate-glass windows in the airport's main terminal, witnesses said.
Winds also blew off doors by a baggage-claim area, St. Louis County Police Chief Col. Tim Fitch told reporters.
"It's amazing to me that more people weren't hurt," he said.
One witness described a chaotic scene outside the terminal as officials evacuated passengers from at least one aircraft.
"The plane was rocking back and forth," said Brett Knewitz of Albuquerque, New Mexico, who was on a plane that was about to take off from the airport when the storm hit.
Initially officials did not allow evacuated passengers into the airport, he said, because of concerns that the building's roof would collapse.Once he was allowed inside, Knewitz said he saw an injured gate agent.
"She was bleeding like crazy," he said.
About 50 percent of the windows were blown out in the airport's main terminal, airport director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge said. But authorities do not believe any planes were damaged in the storm, she said.
Concourse C is used by American Airlines, AirTran and Cape Air, airport spokesman Jeff Lea said.
The National Weather Service said witnesses believe a tornado was on the ground for several miles and observed the twister from a tower at the airport.
About 500 people were inside the airport when the storm hit, KSDK reported.
The station also reported that the storm blew the steeple off a church during Good Friday services and forced authorities to close highways.
Local hospitals reported admitting patients with cuts and bruises.
Missouri's governor declared a state of emergency Friday night in response to the severe weather. In a statement, his office said tornadoes and high winds "caused significant damages to communities and facilities" across the state.
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