urbanSTL

How do they send the CEMA texts?

Someone is getting fired

Why the ***** was a workshop scheduled for Friday afternoon when it was known there was a severe storm coming at the start of the week

This explanation is still really unclear. Surely there is never a situation where no one is in the CEMA Center, irregardless of whether a storm is in the forecast?

I'm in North Hampton. I heard the county sirens go off in the distance but didn't hear the ones in the city. Then I lost power for over 48 hours. The City of St. Louis is small, so if the county sirens go off, the city should set them off too.

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I was in Grand Center and heard NO SIRENS. I was outside too.

The emergency alerts and the texts are great, but can't be completely relied upon. Plenty of the poor and elderly don't have phones, or people just aren't by their phone. The sirens are another important layer to getting the message out.

I would love to see a two tiered siren system implemented eventually, with two distinct different sounds. One plays while a potentially dangerous storm approaches (maybe 30min-1hr before) to get people weather aware. Then, if needed, a scarier siren can go off during a legit tornado warning to tell people to fund shelter immediately.

dbInSouthCity wrote:Someone is getting fired

Why the ***** was a workshop scheduled for Friday afternoon when it was known there was a severe storm coming at the start of the week

My guess is that Cara Spencer and team have known this since the hours immediately following the disaster. I think they’ve made the right call to delay answering that question until the ground response game was operational AND risk of new storms has passed. The answer may very well lead to calls for the immediate dismissal of Sarah Russell. Even if Sarah did make a mistake, they were/are still the best professional to implement ground response.

If the City is at fault, expect moleg to come back to session with takeover on their mind. I don’t mean just CEMA either.

When they first said "we don't know" two days ago, it was obvious that the answer was no.

For the state's part, Kehoe has declined to declare a state of emergency. Which is deplorable.

I can't even begin to imagine the outrage that would be taking place if the city- under Jones- failed to turn the tornado sirens on while we were getting hit with the biggest tornado in 100 years and then pretended like they didn't know.

Auggie wrote:When they first said "we don't know" two days ago, it was obvious that the answer was no.

For the state's part, Kehoe has declined to declare a state of emergency. Which is deplorable.

I can't even begin to imagine the outrage that would be taking place if the city- under Jones- failed to turn the tornado sirens on while we were getting hit with the biggest tornado in 100 years and then pretended like they didn't know.

Have you been reading commentary on social media? There’s tons of outrage about the sirens and if the speculation proves to be true, there are going to be serious consequences. Just as there would’ve been under Jones.

Joplin was rebuilt. We should demand no less. And they didn't have Rams money. That doesn't let the state and feds off the hook.

At this point, no Mayor administration deserves heat for the lack of alert system. CEMA owns that all alone. Unless there are significant deficiencies in quality of CEMA leadership, then blame falls to appointee… Jones appointed one month into her term. On paper, Sarah is very qualified, so I don’t see a reason to claim that. Good and qualified people make mistakes.

Mayors deserve critique for their response. From a distance, Cara has done a good job. Way more than I would expect from Brandon Johnson in Chicago. We’d be looking to JBP.

addxb2 wrote: ↑

May 19, 2025

At this point, no Mayor administration deserves heat for the lack of alert system. CEMA owns that all alone. Unless there are significant deficiencies in quality of CEMA leadership, then blame falls to appointee… Jones appointed one month into her term. On paper, Sarah is very qualified, so I don’t see a reason to claim that. Good and qualified people make mistakes.

Mayors deserve critique for their response. From a distance, Cara has done a good job. Way more than I would expect from Brandon Johnson in Chicago. We’d be looking to JB.

Spencer doesn't have the state to lean on for support, so she has no other option than to do well on her own. In normal states/countries, the local government and state/provincial government works together. But we are in Missouri, so the state actually probably is delighted that $1B in damage was done to STL.

I don't think Spencer or any city administration should be blamed for the tornado sirens lapse either, but that's a position I've always held. What she can and should be blamed for is lying for the last couple of days, though. My point is that you'd have a handful of people on here, who have largely disappeared since the beginning of April, who would be ripping Jones over the coals for the sirens not going off if she was mayor.

Auggie wrote:

addxb2 wrote: ↑

May 19, 2025

At this point, no Mayor administration deserves heat for the lack of alert system. CEMA owns that all alone. Unless there are significant deficiencies in quality of CEMA leadership, then blame falls to appointee… Jones appointed one month into her term. On paper, Sarah is very qualified, so I don’t see a reason to claim that. Good and qualified people make mistakes.

Mayors deserve critique for their response. From a distance, Cara has done a good job. Way more than I would expect from Brandon Johnson in Chicago. We’d be looking to JB.

Spencer doesn't have the state to lean on for support, so she has no other option than to do well on her own. In normal states/countries, the local government and state/provincial government works together. But we are in Missouri, so the state actually probably is delighted that $1B in damage was done to STL.

I don't think Spencer or any city administration should be blamed for the tornado sirens lapse either, but that's a position I've always held. What she can and should be blamed for is lying for the last couple of days, though. My point is that you'd have a handful of people on here, who have largely disappeared since the beginning of April, who would be ripping Jones over the coals for the sirens not going off if she was mayor.

Cara hasn’t lied. I’ve watched every press conference. She’s asked for patience and prioritization on life saving recovery. That’s the only right answer. She said they are completing an internal investigation which will return an answer less than four days after the disaster. That’s a pretty good turnaround.

i don't think she's lied, definitely hasn't said everything she knows but that's not lying directly. 

https://governor.mo.gov/press-releases/ ... -tornadoes

Kehoe sent in request to Feds 

quincunx wrote: ↑

May 19, 2025

Joplin was rebuilt. We should demand no less. AN they didn't have Rams money. That doesn't let the state and feds off the hook.

Apologies for being cynical but let the fraud begin!
We'll go through a "STL Strong" phase and the money will pour in. Let's revisit this in 5 years. Added to calendar.

dweebe wrote: ↑

May 19, 2025

Like everything else I'm sure St. Louis will do recovery worse than other places. But the politicians/powers that be will praise themselves for greatness.

We always screw everything up.

What is probably going to happen is everything on and south of Delmar in a year or maybe less would look as it was before may 16th. ( Not counting the new trees that would be needed to be planted. West end Academy, and Visitation park will most likely continue their slow revival. Sadly and cynically I imagine most of the affected (poor) residents in fountain park. The Ville ect.. would be probably end up leaving the city, the damaged houses razed, with the land  vacant for a decade or so, and redeveloped  into a mixed use develop area similar to what is built on the north end of Lafayette square. Basically the storm will accelerate trends that were already happening.

Stl Mag - View St. Louis tornado’s destruction in this before-and-after aerial map


https://www.stlmag.com/news/view-st-lou ... erial-map/

Cara Spencer on CNBC.

addxb2 wrote: ↑

May 19, 2025

Cara Spencer on CNBC.

*MSNBC

Human error.

Absolutely pathetic. Yeah the protocols that worked just fine in 2021 to May 2025, developed by the current CEMA leader weren’t clear. What a ***** country. And she’s lying. The media is already a step ahead on why the button wasn’t pushed