A tornado that ripped through central St. Louis on Friday afternoon has left at least five dead, 38 injured, and an estimated 5,000 buildings damaged, officials said at a press conference Saturday morning.
Standing at the southeast corner of Delmar and Kingshighway, an intersection surrounded by blocks of downed trees, crushed cars, and mangled power lines, Mayor Cara Spencer called the devastation “tremendous” and the result of “one of the worst storms” in St. Louis history. She praised both first responders and residents for their round-the-clock efforts up to that point. The city’s initial focus, Spencer said, was saving lives, clearing the roadways, and addressing broken traffic signals. The officials estimated that the storm has left about 90,000 people without power. The damage stretches from Clayton and Forest Park to the Central West End and into the city’s North Side.
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Amid an outpouring of offers by the community to assist with the recovery, Spencer said they would soon issue centralized recommendations on how to go about that. The city has also put in place another overnight curfew between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. for the safety of both relief workers and those whose homes have been opened to the elements. Last night’s curfew encompassed police districts 5 and 6 (see map here).
Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe said the state had sent five urban search-and-rescue teams to the area and that the Missouri State Highway Patrol is on hand to help.
St. Louis Metropolitan Police Commissioner Robert Tracy said that between 2:40 and 7 p.m. yesterday, the city received more than 334 calls for service; now officers are patrolling in grid patterns.
Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson said within the first 12 hours, firefighters searched about 4,000 homes; he praised the help provided by other departments in the region, including Boone County’s, which deployed the 84 members of Missouri Task Force 1 to do “technical searches” using boom mics and cameras.
U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-Missouri) said that he has been in touch with U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and that initial damage assessments at the local and state levels will be what unlocks reimbursement by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. President Trump must also issue a federal disaster declaration, which has not happened yet.
Alderwoman Shameem Clark-Hubbard said that all eight of the neighborhoods in her 10th Ward were hit by the tornado. After traversing the area in a golf cart and witnessing the wave of destruction—which included extensive damage to the up-and-coming Delmar Makers District and the toppling of the nearby Martin Luther King Jr. statue in Fountain Park—she described her feeling as “helpless.” What’s needed now, she said, is time and money.
Asked whether she feels any frustration with the response so far, she fought back tears recounting her effort to personally call police and firefighters (because dispatch was tied up) to ask them to respond to Centennial Christian Church, where a tower had collapsed. They weren’t able to save the person who died there, through no fault of their own, she said. But the way they responded made a difference, she said, adding: “Everybody that I have called has answered.”
