FEMA slow-walks tornado relief but moved swiftly to fund county’s police boat 

As the eight months since the May 16 tornado have made apparent, money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency entails plenty of hoops to jump through. Unless, that is, you’re using FEMA dollars to buy a boat.  

In October, FEMA approved tens of millions of dollars for debris removal in the tornado area. But, four months later, none of that money has actually gone out the door. The money was allocated to the state, to then be jointly administered with the city. But under the second Trump administration, municipalities across the county have griped about delays and extra layers of bureaucracy in FEMA aid. Last September, the Wall Street Journal, using St. Louis as a case study, wrote about “crucial contracts and grants” tied up in new layers of bureaucracy even as 400 FEMA staff were reassigned to work for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The New York Times reported last week that $17 billion in federal disaster funds for states were getting an “extra layer of review” by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. 

In St. Louis, leaders of the recovery effort have had to seek clarity on what sort of costs are eligible for FEMA reimbursement, lest they expend funds in ways that turn out not to be covered. And even then the process is achingly slow. Aldermanic President Megan Green says a second FEMA program aimed at helping individuals didn’t start reimbursing the city until very recently.

“Every month we can hear the community getting more and more frustrated by the lack of movement, and some of that is that our own local processes are too cumbersome, but a lot because we are constantly waiting on other levels of government to act,” says Aldermanic President Megan Green. “I mean, we are just starting to get reimbursement of FEMA expenditures that we made back in May and June. And up until a few weeks ago, we had only received $100,000 back in reimbursement FEMA out of, I think, $26 million that this city had requested reimbursement for. That slows down recovery because we want to get that money back in so that we can redeploy it out to the community and it just feels like we’re constantly waiting.” 

Adding to the slow pace is the fact that the city needs more clarity from FEMA as to what tornado damaged buildings are eligible to be demolished with funds from the federal agency. In December, Mayor Cara Spencer and the city’s chief recovery officer, Julian Nicks, sent a letter asking that FEMA provide details on the matter. The letter notes that federal funds are available to demolish “private property home[s]” but is seeking clarity as to whether or not FEMA will also fund the demolishing of damaged churches, small commercial buildings or vacant properties. The letter also indicates that FEMA has not made it entirely clear what their definition is of “private property home” is in the first place.

All of that is a big contrast with other St. Louis-bound money from FEMA, specifically the $401,903 in FEMA funds that the St. Louis County Police Department used to buy a 28-foot boat. That amount was only a fraction of what’s been allocated for debris relief, but it materialized much more quickly.

A police department spokesperson tells SLM that the funds for the dual outboard motor maritime vessel were applied for in mid-August 2025 and received in late September. The boat money, like the funds available to the city for tornado clean-up, also required a 25 percent match, which for the police came in the form of $134,000 in private donations. The boat itself is currently being manufactured.

In paperwork associated with receiving the boat funds, Police Chief Kenneth Gregory said the boat would be used to patrol the Port of St. Louis “to conduct physical checks of critical infrastructure, including bridges, power plants, industrial areas, national parks, and other densely populated areas, to safeguard river borne commerce.”

The Port of St. Louis is the nation’s second busiest inland port, handling tens of millions of tons of cargo every year. The boat money was available to the city as part of FEMA’s Port Security Grant Program.

Alderman Rasheen Aldridge saw parts of his 14th Ward in the city get hard hit by the tornado. He took exception to the fact that the FEMA boat money had been delivered so quickly several months after the tornado while his constituents were already waiting for their relief. 

“That’s nuts, for one, that the priority of FEMA is reimbursing a boat when we have people put out of their homes by the tornado,” he says.

“Outside of debris recovery, it’s been a slow response from FEMA for people to get back whole. The response has been slow, and the amount has not been what’s needed.”