urbanSTL

Cara and Governor Kehoe will host a press conference tomorrow morning. The expectation is that the search and rescue will be completed by morning. 

Governor Kehoe issued the following statement on Friday evening:
“Claudia and I are deeply saddened to learn of the deaths and injuries caused by the tornadoes and severe storms that have affected much of the state today. Our prayers are with all those impacted.
“Thank you to the local first responders working to assist communities in St. Louis, Scott County, and across the state. The Missouri State Highway Patrol responded to assist this afternoon and our state agencies will continue to work with local partners to support the response and recovery throughout the night and for as long as it takes.
“The Missouri Task Force One Urban Search and Rescue team is deploying to the City of St. Louis to assist with search efforts.“Please avoid damage areas so that first responders can help people in need of assistance and so that public works crews can clear debris.“As we continue to monitor storm systems moving across the state tonight, please follow your local forecast closely, have several ways to receive weather warnings, and follow the advice of local officials.”

courtland wrote: ↑

May 17, 2025

Does anybody know if and when FEMA will step in?  

I wouldn't hold my breath on FEMA assistance.

I got very lucky. Just tree branches. Still no power.

That $300M in tax cuts MOLeg passed sure would help tornado victims right now.

I haven't even seen Kehoe declare a state of emergency? Even though they pretty much always declare a state of emergency for major storms.....so yea I wouldn't bet we'll get any help from FEMA.

How many Vic and Sid buildings suffered major damage? We don't need their half-assed repair work.

The Hudson building is a terrible example of their short cutting.

From everything I am reading (X, Reddit, and media) the sirens were activated. They were either intermittently non-functional or the wind, rain, debris made them difficult to hear. This apparently happens frequently with rain wrapped tornados or wind burst. It could be a combination of both. I've also learned that tornado sirens are designed to be heard by only those outdoors. A question I expect will need a clearer answer eventually. 

Well I got an update for the Moorlands neighborhood of Clayton. Where I live. So they're definitely seems to be somewhat of a track pattern based on where the damage is and isn't in my neighborhood. I live on Parkdale and my building is seemingly untouched. I live on the top floor and I didn't lose windows or the roof. But one Street north of me, the building just behind my building on Byron completely lost its roof.

It actually seems like this tornado might have touched down within feet of my apartment. Based on all the maps and graphics I'm seeing. Feeling incredibly lucky...

addxb2 wrote: ↑

May 17, 2025

From everything I am reading (X, Reddit, and media) the sirens were activated. They were either intermittently non-functional or the wind, rain, debris made them difficult to hear. This apparently happens frequently with rain wrapped tornados or wind burst. It could be a combination of both. I've also learned that tornado sirens are designed to be heard by only those outdoors. A question I expect will need a clearer answer eventually. 

This is false. They weren't activated where I live. They have been activated for every single tornado warning in any part of the city as far back as I can remember. Even occasionally when there wasn't a tornado warning.

Some were, some weren't. Reality: All of them should have been activated.

Devastating out there

Information on how to volunteer.



https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/r ... /index.cfm

Side note, Mayor Spencer is wearing the same thing she was when the storm started. Mayor Spencer pull an all-nighter? Hope so.

addxb2 wrote: ↑

May 17, 2025

From everything I am reading (X, Reddit, and media) the sirens were activated. They were either intermittently non-functional or the wind, rain, debris made them difficult to hear. This apparently happens frequently with rain wrapped tornados or wind burst. It could be a combination of both. I've also learned that tornado sirens are designed to be heard by only those outdoors. A question I expect will need a clearer answer eventually. 

Don’t think this is true. Media asked at both press conferences yesterday and neither the
Mayor or emergency response director could
say if they went off and that they’ll look into it later. What some may have heard is STL county’s system

In Debaliviere Place I heard them, but when the storm actually hit, there was no way to hear any sirens.

Only basing off of Reddit. Seemed to be a lot of different people in a variety of places in the City who said they did/didn’t hear the sirens.

Let’s pray they were activated but broken. If not, let’s pray the right wing media doesn’t figure out who is responsible for activating the outdoor alert system.

Yeah we’ll see. If you were directly in the storm, I would guess the sirens were knocked out pretty quickly based on the strength of the winds.

It happened so quickly too. Maybe 2 minutes after I got a take shelter alert on my phone, the tornado was on us.

I'm in Dogtown and heard the sirens about 5 minutes before the worst of it hit. Could've been county sirens but idk

Seemingly every tree in Ofallon park has been uprooted or snapped at the trunk..

Building damage up that way appeared to be limited to roofs, parapet walls, and chimneys for the most part. Obviously some buildings saw more damage

The area around Beaumont HS is completely destroyed.

Tornado path.

In Soulard I heard the sirens but faintly. We had some straight line winds cone through right as the warning was issued that may have made them tougher to hear. I could hear them plainly on Thursday afternoon when they were being tested.

My phone warning did not make a sound, I just glanced and saw the "take shelter" message. Of course that could have been my doing if I unknowingly disabled sound notification.

In St. Louis Hills and Lindenwood Park we could faintly hear the sirens from the County (as usual) but the City sirens never went off. Perhaps something was messed up with the programming as on Thursday they went off every half hour for several hours during the daytime. Any official claiming that they couldn't be heard due to high winds is beyond farcical.

Ebsy wrote:In St. Louis Hills and Lindenwood Park we could faintly hear the sirens from the County (as usual) but the City sirens never went off. Perhaps something was messed up with the programming as on Thursday they went off every half hour for several hours during the daytime. Any official claiming that they couldn't be heard due to high winds is beyond farcical.

It’s not farcical at all if you were in the direct path of the storm.

Debaliviere91 wrote: ↑

May 17, 2025

Ebsy wrote:In St. Louis Hills and Lindenwood Park we could faintly hear the sirens from the County (as usual) but the City sirens never went off. Perhaps something was messed up with the programming as on Thursday they went off every half hour for several hours during the daytime. Any official claiming that they couldn't be heard due to high winds is beyond farcical.

It’s not farcical at all if you were in the direct path of the storm.

Absolutely there needs to be a thorough investigation and full accountability for how this happened. We are extremely fortunate that the death/injury toll was not higher, certainly no credit to any preparations made by local/state government.

^ Agreed. I’m just optimistically looking for any evidence that the City isn’t that incompetent. I’m praying that it’ll be an appropriate explanation.

It’s waning optimism.