Missouri officials are calling on the federal government for help after a tornado tore through St. Louis last week, killing five people and damaging thousands of structures throughout the region.
Two other people were killed in Scott County in southeastern Missouri.
“We need partners at the national level, at the federal level, to step up and help — and this is not just true for St. Louis,” city Mayor Cara Spencer told MSNBC on Monday. “Cities across the nation, when they are experiencing disasters such as this, this is what the federal government is for.”
Spencer said she is pleading with the Federal Emergency Management Agency for help.
“FEMA has not been on the ground,” she added. “We do not have confirmed assistance from FEMA at this point.”
Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe made a similar plea.
"Local first responders, officials, businesses, and volunteer groups are working around the clock to recover, but the task before us is tremendously large and recovery will not be easy," Kehoe said Monday in a press release.
"A federal Emergency Declaration will provide an immediate infusion of needed funds while the joint preliminary damage assessments will allow the normal federal Major Disaster Declaration process to move forward."
The governor said such assistance could immediately unlock $5 million in federal funding.
"After a thorough assessment, FEMA will approve a disaster declaration request if the assessment shows the event’s damage exceeds the state, local governments, and voluntary organizations’ capacity to respond. Just like all declaration requests, this decision is based on policy, not politics,” a FEMA spokesperson told The Independent.
“FEMA is working with state and local officials to conduct Preliminary Damage Assessments in the areas impacted by the recent tornadoes and severe weather,” the spokesperson added. “Once completed, the collected information will be turned to the state(s) for evaluation and for the Governor’s consideration to submit or not, a request for a disaster declaration.”
The tornado, part of a series of deadly storms across the region, was an EF3 that generated winds between 136 and 165 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
Surveying the damage, north St. Louis resident Dolly Baskin said her neighborhood was nearly unrecognizable.
“Most of my life I lived here on the north side, and I've never experienced a tornado in St. Louis at all, never,” she told St. Louis Public Radio.
“I had to park down the street because I couldn't get through,” she said. “I jumped out and I ran down here and when I got here and walked in, I just fell to my knees and cried.”
The Trump administration has said it plans to eliminate FEMA and have states take the lead on disaster recovery.
On the campaign, Donald Trump and JD Vance made inaccurate claims about FEMA, including that it diverted money from hurricane survivors to migrants, and that the agency didn’t respond in the days after Hurricane Helene.
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