St. Louis officials ask FEMA to extend disaster aid deadline
ST. LOUIS - The City of St. Louis is urging FEMA to extend the deadline for federal disaster relief applications for those affected by the May 16 tornado.
As of Monday morning, the cut-off to apply for federal aid is set for Monday, Aug. 11. City leaders, including Mayor Cara Spencer, are requesting the deadline be pushed to Oct. 10 to ensure all survivors have adequate time to apply for aid.
Despite over 14,000 households applying for FEMA assistance across the region, around 700 individuals in St. Louis have yet to submit their applications.
"The goal is to give survivors more time to apply and to make sure no one gets left behind," Mayor Cara Spencer told the Post-Dispatch.
FEMA has already disbursed over $31 million in aid, with nearly $30 million allocated to St. Louis alone. However, the approval process can be challenging, as demonstrated by a business owner in Academy-Sherman Park who had to appeal after a FEMA inspector failed to verify her residency.
Three disaster recovery centers remain open in St. Louis to assist residents with their applications:
- Urban League Entrepreneurship and Women’s Business Center - 4401 Natural Bridge Ave.
- Sumner High School - 4248 Cottage Ave.
- Union Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church - 626 N. Newstead Ave.
These centers operate weekdays from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Residents can also contact FEMA directly at 1-800-621-3362 for assistance with their applications.
All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by KTVI. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by KTVI staff before being published.
