23-05-2025
Longtime Academy resident reflects after tornado damages home
ST. LOUIS – A longtime resident of the Academy/Sherman Park neighborhood in north St. Louis reflects on the damage a tornado caused to the community.
Stacie Dash, 65, has been a member of the Academy/Sherman Park neighborhood for an extended period of time, sharing that she has lived in the community her whole life.
'I have lived here my whole life. I attended Clark Elementary. I graduated from Soldan High School,' Dash said. 'I have raised my family here, my children, two sons, they graduated from Soldan High School. So yes, I've been here mostly my whole life.'
Around the time the tornado entered the neighborhood, Dash remembers that everything around her became 'eerily quiet.' Dash reflects that the power to her home shut down at some point and she began to feel a sudden movement in her house, which is made out of brick and stone.
'All my windows were busting out of my house and this great gush of wind came straight through the house with debris and dirt that is just picking up and whirling all around me,' Dash said. Everything was gone.. so I come to the front of the house and I find everything from upstairs—furniture, clothing and everything just push down the steps in front of the front door.'
Donate here: Help support St. Louis storm victims
Once Dash, made it out of her home, she was left surprised to see her neighborhood significantly impacted through the damage the EF-3 tornado caused.
'I was crying while I was in the house, and when I finally came outside and said 'I thought it was, oh, poor me'. I looked over and I saw what had happened over here. I said, well, I'm blessed. I'm blessed to be alive.'
Dash admits that she cried several times after the tornado and that it was initially hard for her to talk with other people about it, but as each day passed, she became stronger.
'It used to be hard for me to talk about what happened,' Dash said. 'I cried Friday. I cried Saturday. I cried. It brought tears to my eyes immediately looking at everything. But I feel as each day goes, and I'm surviving each day, I'm becoming more stronger.'
Dash is one of many individuals impacted by the EF-3 tornado that surged through parts of St. Louis. If you would like to support the tornado recovery efforts, FOX 2, St. Louis 11, and KMOX have teamed up with the American Red Cross to help support St. Louisans devastated by last week's deadly tornado. To donate, click here.
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