By Molly Claire Goddard
1:29pm PDT, May 20, 2025
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St. Louis is begging the federal government for help.
After a devastating tornado hit the city on Friday, May 16, killing five people and causing immense damage, officials are pleading with
Donald Trump and FEMA to help them get back on their feet.
Keep reading for the details…
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St. Louis Mayor
Cara Spencer claimed her city has not received the aid from
FEMA that they need in the days following the disaster.
"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," she told MSNBC on Monday, May 19. "Cities across the nation, when they are experiencing disasters such as this, this is what the federal government is for."
"FEMA has not been on the ground," she claimed. "We do not have confirmed assistance from FEMA at this point."
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Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe also alleged the federal government has yet to come in to offer their assistance.
"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," he said in a Monday, May 19, 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."
Kehoe claimed the city's clean-up will take $5 million in federal funding.
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According to the National Weather Service, the tornado brought heavy winds of between 136 and 165 mph.
"Most of my life I lived here on the north side and I've never experienced a tornado in St. Louis at all, never," resident Dolly Baskin told St. Louis Public Radio. "I had to park down the street because I couldn't get through. I jumped out and I ran down here and when I got here and walked in, I just fell to my knees and cried."
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While out on the campaign trail in 2024, Donald Trump said he wanted to
get rid of FEMA and transition to a system in which states are responsible for rescuing themselves following disasters.
"President Trump has been very clear that he believes that the way that FEMA exists today should not continue," Homeland Security Secretary
Kristi Noem said during a recent Congressional
hearing. "He wants to make sure that those reforms are happening where states are empowered to do the response and trained and equipped and then the federal government would come in and support them and financially be there when they need them on their worst day."
