St. Louis moves 'fully' into recovery phase less than a week after deadly EF3 tornado
Mayor Cara Spencer on Thursday declared the city of St. Louis was "fully in recovery mode" less than a week after an EF3 tornado killed five and caused more than $1 billion in damage.
In a press conference Thursday, Spencer said she has confidence in the local response team led by Captain John Walk. Walk has been with the fire department for more than 36 years and has been assisting with the emergency response every step of the way.
Walk said his team has moved past the response phase and fully into recovery. He said that they are using the National Incident Management System, a proven system that has been used for natural disaster response for decades.
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"My message to those that are affected by it, whose lives are turned upside down, is 'We hear you, we care, and help is on the way,'" Walk said.
Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson said the standardized process will help provide a smooth process for people working on repairs and people in need of assistance.
In addition to local response teams, state and federal emergency response teams are in St. Louis surveying damage and assisting in recovery. Spencer said they are finalizing a plan for how the Missouri National Guard could help with the recovery effort.
Spencer said a major part of the response is building inspection. She said she believes it is the largest building inspection effort in the history of the state. She said the priority of that team is to provide information to keep residents and workers safe, not to remove anyone from their homes.
"Right now, we know that a lot of people are worried about the notices on buildings," she said. "We want to assure you right now that it is not our intent, nor are we going to be punishing residents in any way, shape or form, for entering your property."
Spencer said the city is in the process of clarifying the wording on notices and has brought in an additional team to clarify the messages provided following structural reviews.
Spencer said the community response has been "heroic," but they will not be able to rebuild without federal and state assistance.
"We have folks working 12-hour days every single day just to get the work done," Spencer said. "We are looking to FEMA to come and help us fund that. It's not something that the city has the financial backing to run for the long haul."
She said her office is in the process of determining how those costs might be shared between the city, state and federal government.
A spokesman from Ameren (NYSE: AEE) said there are about 2,700 workers continuing the effort to restore power to the area. He said about 9,000 customers remain without power, but the outages are localized in smaller groups.
He said the company's goal is to have power restored by Sunday evening for all the homes for which the restoration process is safe. He said crews are working with the city's building department to determine what homes and buildings can have power safely restored.
This report originally appeared on KSDK.
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