U.S. Sen. John Hawley, R-Mo., says he wants answers after reports the Federal Emergency Management Agency delayed response to the May 16 EF3 tornado that ripped through St. Louis.
In a letter to FEMA, Hawley said residents of disaster areas should receive approved federal assistance in a "timely manner.”
“St. Louis city officials have reported delays in the distribution of federal assistance,” Hawley wrote. “Some reports indicate that various aspects of the approved aid, however, have yet to arrive."
The tornado touched down near the eastern edge of Clayton before tearing through the northern parts of St. Louis. All told, it left a path of destruction roughly 23 miles long.
St. Louis estimated the tornado damaged or destroyed more than 10,000 properties, and it killed four people. It marked the first deadly tornado in the city since 1959.
In his letter, Hawley asks several questions of FEMA acting Administrator David Richardson, including:
- How much FEMA aid has been provided to St. Louis to date pursuant to the June 2025 disaster declaration? How much aid remains to be provided? Please break down this information by specific recovery program.
- How many FEMA personnel were deployed to assist with recovery efforts in St. Louis? What were their specific roles?
- Has FEMA provided door-to-door services to help affected St. Louis residents apply for assistance? If not, why not?
- Has FEMA closed disaster-recovery facilities in St. Louis at which residents can apply for financial assistance? How long were these facilities operational?
- How is FEMA working to expedite deployment of federal resources to disaster areas, both in Missouri and in other affected regions?
Previously, Hawley told St. Louis Public Radio he had talked to the FEMA administration about the slow cadence of signing disaster relief declarations in relation to the May 16 tornado.
“They are slow-walking every disaster relief declaration from across the country,” Hawley said. “This has got to stop.”
In August, Mayor Cara Spencer pointed to discrepancies between the response to the tornado in St. Louis and the response to the tornado that hit Joplin in 2011.
“In this enormous time of turmoil at the national level, you know, we were really left to do the vast majority of response here alone,” Spencer said on St. Louis on the Air. “And what that looks like is trying to figure out exactly how to do all these pieces.”
A recent Wall Street Journal article called St. Louis a “test case” for President Donald Trump’s administration's push to shift responsibility to cities and states during natural disasters. Trump said he wants local governments to shoulder more of the work that FEMA currently handles.
But months after the tornado, Spencer and other officials say the city needs FEMA to help meet the need. Late last month, FEMA closed its disaster relief centers throughout the city, and the agency declined to extend the deadline for people impacted by the tornado to apply for aid.
FEMA granted the city a win recently, however, when it approved additional funding and assistance for debris cleanup on private property.
Ward 10 Alderwoman Shameem Clark Hubbard said residents in her ward, possibly the one hit hardest, are struggling to rebuild in the wake of the tornado. She has repeatedly said the need for federal assistance in her ward is “dire.”
“People are frustrated,” she said at a bill signing Thursday. “They don't want to go to another meeting. They, quite frankly, don't need another hot dog. They need funds to rebuild.”
