MAGA disaster response sluggish.
St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer told MSNBC on Monday that FEMA had yet to assist after the city was ravaged by a tornado days prior.
The tornado first touched down in St. Louis on Friday. The storm — reportedly 20 miles in length at its strongest — killed at least five people in St. Louis County at the time of writing. Spencer reported during a press conference that 38 people had been injured, and that number was expected to increase as recovery efforts continued.
Friday’s tornado was one of many that affected the region over the weekend, with Kentucky also being hit by storms. At the time of writing, dozens of the dead had already been found.
It can take weeks for FEMA to declare a major disaster after a governor asks for help. Missouri officials are still waiting on federal assistance for storms and tornadoes in mid-March that struck Missouri, killing 13 people and damaging homes, businesses and public property.
Five tornadoes touched down during those storms in the St. Louis area, and two people in the region died as a result of them.
The governor in early April asked Trump to release federal money to help with recovery from those storms. The state’s request hadn’t been approved as of Monday afternoon, said Gabriel Picard, a spokesperson for Kehoe.