Missouri National Guard, FEMA assist in tornado recovery
The Missouri National Guard has deployed up to 41 members from the 35th Engineer Brigade to assist with debris removal across the city. They will be working daily from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. at four designated drop sites, providing much-needed support to city crews until June 11.
The cleanup operation is concentrated around Delmar and Kingshighway, an area within a mile radius of where three of the five tornado victims were killed. This location has been a focal point for police, city and state officials, and disaster relief groups since the tornado hit.
Sheriff pleads the Fifth repeatedly over questions about mysterious death
FEMA teams arrived in St. Louis on Tuesday night and are set to begin public damage assessments on Wednesday morning. Their focus will be on evaluating roads, public buildings such as schools, and other infrastructure.
Reports from FEMA are expected to be submitted to state officials by Friday, which will be used to request additional federal disaster relief.
The combined efforts of the Missouri National Guard and FEMA aim to expedite the recovery process in St. Louis, addressing both immediate cleanup needs and long-term infrastructure assessments.
All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by KTVI. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by KTVI staff before being published.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Russia's Shahed-136 Drones Are Laying Anti-Tank Mines
Russia is now apparently using the Shahed-family drones to lay anti-tank mines, echoing a tactic used by Ukrainian multi-rotor 'bomber' drones, though with very different advantages. Though it's unclear how widely this new use for the Shahed is being employed, it represents yet another challenge to Ukraine from a drone that has terrorized the country for years now. A new video emerged on social media showing at least one of the delta-winged uncrewed aircraft dropping PTM-3 anti-tank mines from canisters attached underneath the Shahed's blended flying-wing-like fuselage. Each canister contains one mine, released by a small explosive charge, which is visible in the video. At least two Ukrainian vehicles appear to have struck the mines. Russian drones dropping anti-tank mines on roads. — Clash Report (@clashreport) August 10, 2025 'Today on our channel is the premiere of the latest drone tactics against ground-moving targets,' wrote the Russian NGP-Razvedka military Telegram channel, which posted the video on Sunday. 'Some time ago, the enemy posted anxious messages claiming that under the wing of the Geranium [the Russian name for Shaheds] were found cassettes with mines, suspended with unknown purposes. The malicious NgP soldiers were testing some technologies, but silently.' 'The Geranium conducts remote mining of enemy supply routes in real time, resulting in one transport unit going down, while another with shredded infantry manages to escape, though not very far in such a state,' NGP-Razvedka claimed in an explanation of what is seen in the video. 'The guidance system will be refined, the tactics of use expanded, and the logistics of the Nazis will be turned into a complete nightmare. The range of the Geranium is over 1,000 km (621 miles), do you get what that means?' The use of Shaheds to drop mines was first revealed last week by the National Police of Ukraine (NPU) after one of the drones was shot down in the Sumy region. 'This method allows the enemy to remotely mine roads, agricultural lands, and more,' NPU explained on its Telegram channel. 'The PTM-3 mine, small in size, in a plastic casing, has a magnetic detonator and reacts to machinery that is nearby or passing by.' The NPU post included four images of the system recovered from the recovered Shahed, which you can see below. The police urged 'citizens to be vigilant and careful! This especially applies to drivers of any machinery working in the fields, as well as those moving along field roads where visibility of the road surface is limited due to grass vegetation.' NPU also warned anyone finding one of these mines to contact authorities immediately. 'This also applies to enemy UAVs detected that did not explode upon falling,' NPU added. 'In addition to a powerful warhead, they may also contain mine traps or sensors that can trigger an explosion if tampered with.' The PTM-3 is a Soviet-era scatterable anti-tank mine that can be deployed either by hand, vehicle, artillery, or helicopter, according to the U.S. Army. The mine's case 'is configured to produce a shaped charge effect on five sides,' the Army noted. 'Once deployed, the mine arms itself after 60 seconds. The mine uses a magnetic influence fuze that detonates the mine when a vehicle passes over it. It is also reported to have an anti-handling device that is sensitive to movement.' Using Shaheds to drop mines is the latest development of the Iranian-designed weapon that first appeared on the battlefield for Russia in September 2022. They have been frequently improved on since and have become by far Russia's main standoff weapons, used to cause widespread damage across Ukraine. In addition to adding new capabilities like jet engines and new tactics for evading Ukrainian air defenses, Russia is drastically increasing the number of the drones it is producing. As we have previously noted, while Russia initially relied on Iran to supply its Shaheds, it now produces its own at the rate of 2,000 per month with plans to nearly triple that in the not-too-distant future. It is by far the primary method by which Russia launches long-range strikes into Ukraine. Another major concern is the infusion of AI into the Shahed-136 airframe, which is already underway. This will have massive repercussions, which we discussed in great detail a year and a half ago in this previous feature. Not only do we not know how frequently Russia is using Shaheds to drop mines, it is also unclear how many of the systems they have and if the concept is still in a highly experimental state. It is possible that these operate near the front lines, with a human in the loop controlling them. Standard Shahed-136s operate autonomously on autopilot and fly to a fixed target area before diving toward it and detonating. By using man-in-the-loop control, it would provide more agile use of the drones for mining roadways near the front and higher sortie rates. The need for two-way communications to control the drone would be the big limiting factor when it comes to its range and, to some extent, its survivability. On the other hand, the Shahed could be following a planned route on autopilot, dropping the mines as programmed. This would be a very concerning development as the drones could mine roadways hundreds of miles deep into Ukraine, where no mines would be expected. Again, we discussed the worry that Shaheds will become a far more dynamic threat deep in Ukraine in our past piece linked here. With this in mind, the video we are seeing could be early combat trials footage from man-in-the-loop nearby mining operations. If not, it would require an autopiloted Shahed to return to friendly territory for the video to be physically recovered from the drone or it would have to uploaded opportunistically via cellular networks while deep over Ukraine. We just don't know the current or planned concept of operations for these mining-optimized Shaheds at this time. Meanwhile, Shaheds aren't the only drones Russia is using to deliver PTM-3s. Moscow is now starting to use the mines as warheads for its Lancet line of loitering munitions, according to the Ukrainian Militarnyi media outlet. However, instead of being dropped by Lancets, they are getting installed as the drone's primary kinetic device. With a total weight of 4.9 kg, the PTM-3s pack a stronger punch than the standard KZ-6 warhead, Militarnyi noted. The site offered no information about how widely the PTM-3s are being used in this manner. Moscow is far behind in using bomber drones to drop mines in this manner, one drone expert claims. 'Using a Geran-2 (Shahed) long-range strike UAV to drop just two PTM-3 anti-tank landmines on frontline roads reflects the pathetic failure of Russia to develop a heavy-lift drone fleet,' an open-source expert using the Grandpa Roy X account stated on the social media platform. 'Ukraine has used its large heavy drone fleet to precision place many thousands of PTM-3s.' Using a Geran-2 (Shahed) long-range strike UAV to drop just two PTM-3 anti-tank landmines on frontline roads reflects the pathetic failure of Russia to develop a heavy lift drone has used its large heavy drone fleet to precision place many thousands of PTM-3s.1/ — Roy (@GrandpaRoy2) August 11, 2025 With the increasing numbers of Shaheds being produced and plentiful PTM-3s, widespread use of these weapons would pose additional danger to a Ukrainian logistics system already under tremendous pressure from Moscow's ubiquitous attack drones. If the drones are able to scatter these mines virtually anywhere in Ukraine, taking advantage of their long-range, than that could prove to be a terrible problem for Ukrainian military personnel and civilians alike. Contact the author: howard@ Solve the daily Crossword
The Hill
a day ago
- The Hill
Democrats press Noem to drop disaster funding approval policy
Two Democratic Senators sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Friday urging her to end a policy requiring her personal sign-off on grants of more than $100,000. 'We write to convey our deep concerns about the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) policy requiring the Secretary's personal approval of all expenditures exceeding $100,000, including those for disaster-related costs,' wrote Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.). 'This directive, as currently implemented, creates dangerous delays and undermines the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) effectiveness, placing lives at unnecessary risk,' they continued. This comes after reports that FEMA's response to the devastating Texas floods in June may have been delayed by Noem's policy. The letter said this resulted in call centers being 'understaffed in the crucial early days of the disaster, leaving thousands of survivors without answers or assistance.' The senators argue $100,000 is an extremely low threshold given the scale of FEMA's work. Disaster recovery often requires millions of dollars in resources to be mobilized in hours. These extra bureaucratic steps, according to the letter, also hinder the agency's ability to coordinate with other local agencies. 'These failures are not isolated missteps, but foreseeable outcomes of a policy that centralizes decision-making at the expense of speed and flexibility,' wrote the senators. Noem last month denied the policy had slowed federal response efforts in Texas, saying it was an 'accountability measure' in an interview with NBC News's 'Meet the Press.' 'So those claims are false,' she told NBC News's Kristen Welker about the reports. 'They're from people who won't put their name behind those claims. And those call centers were fully staffed and responsive. And this is the fastest, I believe, in years, maybe decades, that FEMA has been deployed to help individuals in this type of situation.' Murray and Peters set an Aug. 31 deadline for Noem to respond to several questions in the letter. Among the questions: 'What metrics, if any, are being used to evaluate whether the Secretary review policy improves accountability or financial stewardship without compromising emergency response?' and 'Has DHS conducted or commissioned any after-action reviews to assess how the Secretary's review policy affected the response to the Central Texas floods or other disasters? If so, please share those findings.'
New York Times
a day ago
- New York Times
In Lahaina, ‘Dignified' Havens for Wildfire Survivors
Hot dry winds from a nearby ocean hurricane swirled across Lahaina, Hawaii, on Aug. 8, 2023, downing power lines that ignited dry grass. The brush fire on the island of Maui would become a wind-lashed inferno destroying much of the history-drenched town where Hawaiian kings and queens once presided, and whalers and missionaries clashed — a place beloved by visitors and residents at the edge of the Pacific. The fire, which grew at terrifying speed, took the lives of 102 people. It destroyed 2,200 buildings and displaced 8,000 in a town of 13,000. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and local officials moved displaced people to hotel rooms in unharmed resorts, but many remain without adequate shelter. Last November, five-truck convoys began arriving in town from the port of Kahului across the island, each carrying long boxes shrouded in white fabric. Cranes dropped them into place atop concrete footings on a sloping 34-acre site uphill of devastated blocks along the ocean. The shrouds were removed, revealing modest homes painted in bright hues — the answer to many prayers. These Lahaina houses, which are modular and assembled in a factory, are the latest attempt by FEMA to address a longtime need to upgrade temporary emergency housing from travel trailers that quickly deteriorate when lived in for months or years. Disasters are becoming more frequent and more destructive with, at this writing, some 33 large fires raging across the United States, including the Dragon Bravo fire at the Grand Canyon and the Gifford fire in California. Smoke from Canadian wildfires drifts across the Great Lakes and the Northeast. With high costs slowing rebuilding, states and cities have demanded sturdier stock that can serve for years, or even become permanent housing. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
