Some tornado-impacted residents in St. Louis have been living in vacant buildings, and others are still living in unrepaired homes because they have been unable to apply for city, state or federal assistance.
It’s been nearly nine months since an EF3 tornado ripped through portions of the St. Louis area and displaced hundreds of people, causing over $1 billion in damage.
Now that winter is here, chilling temperatures have left many seeking shelter.
A week ago, city leaders activated an emergency Code Blue plan, making more than 1,000 shelter beds available as temperatures dropped to 25 degrees and below. Warming buses were also provided to help unhoused individuals keep warm in below-freezing temperatures.
But Dr. L.J. Punch, a St. Louis-based surgeon, activist and humanitarian, said an “invisible” group of people the city hadn’t considered is unhoused tornado victims and those living without heat in tornado-impacted homes.
“Yes, they're trying,” Punch said. “They’re doing what they can. But to me, most of that stuff is really only working (for) people who, at baseline, could manage themselves in shelters, who were previously unhoused and knew how to survive the winter.”
When thinking about the impact of the tornado on St. Louis residents, Punch categorizes them into four cohorts: property owners, renters, those with informal living arrangements and the unhoused. Punch helped organize a community-led humanitarian group, 314 Oasis, that has assisted tornado victims in north St. Louis since last May.
Punch said that last month, the organization provided nearly 2,000 meals and around 1,000 personal items, including hand warmers, gloves, hats and hygiene kits, and 50 heaters.
The organization has taken people to and from shelters, provided hotel stays, and completed house calls for individuals with broken pipes.
Punch said hundreds of blankets have also been provided, and that the organization has helped fix at least 10 furnaces and provided utility assistance to tornado victims living in homes in disrepair that don’t have heat.
“There’s two reasons why people don't have heat,” Punch said. “Either there's a problem with their utilities — and I can't tell you how many people are coming to us for help with gas and electric bills, or their furnace is literally not working. (Or) they're in a home that doesn't have centralized heat.”
They said the city’s initial focus on debris removal over immediate humanitarian needs has exacerbated the crisis, leading to increased health issues and trauma.
“Many people are profoundly suffering because of a combination of rising utility prices at baseline, affordable housing stock crisis at baseline, the tornado and the city's inadequate preparation for the winter and then the severity of this last storm — all those things are colliding for a perfect situation for people to experience harm.”
314 Oasis received $87,000 from the city through its fiscal sponsor, the Incarnate Word Foundation, for tornado relief work last summer. The group also received $200,000 from the city through United Way for “Interim Hub Operations,” for tornado relief, as noted in the city’s budget.
And that money is gone now.
Punch said the group hasn’t received any funding for this year and is currently negotiating a contract for HUB operations.
“We've had to operate without that assurance nor access to those operating funds since Jan. 1,” Punch said. “This, we believe, is one of the many reasons why residents are not accessing resources and are experiencing a sense of abandonment and neglect.”
Unhoused tornado victims
Other tornado-impacted residents don’t have anywhere to stay.
Last Friday, Larry Rice, pastor of the New Life Evangelistic Center, and several volunteers stood on Garfield Avenue in the Greater Ville handing out gloves and personal hygiene kits to over a dozen individuals.
These were people who either had a home or lived in an apartment before the tornado. Now, they were living in an abandoned building on Garfield Street and bouncing from shelter to shelter. Several people carried logs into the vacant building to feed a fire inside a makeshift room.
“I need housing,” said 43-year-old Tiffany Bennett, standing outside the building and bundled in a coat. “I want to go back to work, you know, be financially stable, more mentally and emotionally stable as well. … This is not a peace of mind.”
Bennett has been staying in the abandoned building on Garfield Avenue and at various shelters since her O’Fallon home was destroyed in the tornado. She said the roof of her home was severely damaged and an electrical fire was sparked that caused the house to burn. She has two children, 18 and 16, who have been staying with relatives.
She said she hadn’t applied for any city housing programs because her personal documents were lost in the storm, but she recently reacquired some. She said she’s looking to get a job.
“(I lost) my marriage license, birth certificates, kids’ birth certificates, IDs, pictures, clothing, my husband’s ashes,” Bennett said. “I have resumes. I'm a CNA. All I need to do is just get recertified.”
“I need housing. I want to go back to work, you know, be financially stable, more mentally and emotionally stable as well. … This is not a peace of mind.”
— Tiffany Bennett, 43, tornado victim
Kimberly Lee had also been staying at the abandoned building and in shelters. She said that her home in the Ville was badly damaged by the tornado and that she’s lived in a tent and also with friends.
Lee, 43, said she missed the deadline to apply for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency because she, too, lost her ID card and other personal documents in the storm.
“Everything got destroyed from the water,” Lee said. “And the little stuff we did have, people came in there and took it.”
She said the city could do a better job of providing information to people who don’t regularly have internet access.
“As far as them giving somebody correct, you know, data on when (the city) can assist,” Lee said, “as far as having places where we probably can go to get a hot meal.”
Chris Aaron Rice, a pastor at the New Life Evangelistic Center and Larry Rice’s grandson, noted that many tornado victims have needs the city hasn’t been prioritizing, like transportation and ID replacements. And this often leads to homelessness, he said.
He stood on Garfield Avenue in 16-degree weather last Friday, giving out hand warmers and gloves. He said the center provides 300,000 lunches weekly and over 1,000 bus tickets. The center operates independently without federal, state or local dollars, he said.
“I think that the tornado reminded all of us just how close so many people are to really not having a home, not having a safe place to be,” Rice said.
“All of these resources that the city talks about can be outside the reach of people who really need them, because they don’t understand how the system works. They don’t have somebody who can help walk them through that system. They’re missing one form of documentation or another, and they just fall through the cracks.”
Rice said they need volunteers and donations for hygiene kits, food and clothing.
“Deodorant (and) feminine hygiene products are a big need here out on the streets,” Rice said. “(Including) wipes, hand warmers and socks and gloves and hats and scarves — those kinds of things are constantly in need.”
For more information on how to give or volunteer at the New Life Evangelistic Center, visit it online. To receive assistance, visit the resource page. Individuals in need of assistance can also contact 314 Oasis at 314-492-0041 or visit its website.
