Many St. Louis roofs still uncovered and unsecured nearly 1 week after tornado
ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) - Hundreds of homes in the path of Friday’s tornado are still in dire need of emergency repairs.
Jake Wheeler, whose family owns properties near Fountain Park, noticed that many of the homes north of Delmar, in particular, hadn’t been touched, even days after the storm.
“It’s sad and terrifying to see what everyone is going through,” Wheeler said.
Even more troubling, he said, was that many families were staying inside their homes, even with damage to their roofs.
Wheeler, an HVAC specialist by trade, felt he owned enough equipment and tools to get started helping. He’d also had some roofing experience at previous jobs.
For the past several days, with the help of volunteers and donated materials, he has been seeking out houses in need of emergency repairs, setting to work with tarps, nails and tar on as many homes as he can tackle.
“What’s driving me is keeping people in their homes,” he said.
One such house on Thursday was Roosevelt Fletcher’s. Fletcher, 85, had been struggling with his insurance company and unable to find help to clear off the debris left by his ripped up roof.
“My home might as well be a barrel at this point,” Fletcher said, adding that he was afraid to go inside.
Wheeler had met Fletcher while working on a neighboring home.
“I don’t know anything about roofs,” said Fletcher. “The insurance company, they want me to find someone to come out and do this, but I don’t know who to find or anything.”
Wheeler and his volunteers, many of them he had met through social media or mutual friends, built enough structure to hold down Fletcher’s tarp and tarred it over to seal it.
Wheeler said he was glad to see so many people willing to help him and his cause. But he also questioned why there were not other groups doing the same work on the north side.
“I’m not seeing the cavalry,” he said. “I’m not seeing help down here. We’re a week in, and we’re doing our best, but it’s not enough. We need more help.”
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