‘We are underfunded’: Weeks before tornado, emergency management head warned St Louis leaders CEMA needed money

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) - After tornado sirens failed to activate in St. Louis, a tornado tore through North City, destroying thousands of homes and claiming five lives.

But a few weeks earlier, the head of the city’s emergency management department had warned city leaders that the department needed help.

Following the siren failure, Commissioner of Emergency Management Sara Russell is now on leave. But just weeks ago, they were at City Hall saying the department needed money.

“Typically, you don’t see funding go up until you’ve had an incident and a big incident and a life cost incident,” said Russell to the Budget Committee back on May 6.

Russell’s May 6 statement proved prophetic — just 13 days before the devastating North City tornado — as they asked the Board of Aldermen for an increase in next year’s funding. They added that they were still assisting with the 2022 flood recovery at the time.

“Having more budget and more staff to execute that process would have made it a lot easier,” said Russell.

Russell cited a Washington University study showing that cities like Chicago and Kansas City spend 1.5 to 2 percent of their public safety budgets on emergency management. In St. Louis, the department received just $451,000 — about 0.2 percent — more than seven times less than some comparable cities.

“Absolutely apparent from day one that we are underfunded, understaffed, under-resourced here,” said Mayor Cara Spencer.

Spencer said Thursday that it’s clear there was a lack of an emergency system in the city when the twister devastated North City and the Central West End last week.

The chair of the Budget Committee, Alderman Rasheen Aldridge, agrees.

“I was shocked that CEMA did not make up at least one percent of the public safety budget,” Aldridge said.

Aldridge said he was already planning to increase the department’s budget before the storm. But there are hurdles, as the city must boost police funding next year due to state control.

“We’re short in every department, refuse, streets, health department. We have to make sure we do it in a smart way,” said Aldridge.

As for the storm response, Aldridge said he’s looking to potentially unlock Rams settlement funds for short-term help in North City. He hopes the city will eventually be reimbursed by the federal government.

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