Three months since St. Louis tornado: How long will cleanup take?

ST. LOUIS - Saturday marks three months since a devastating EF-3 tornado ripped through St. Louis.

The May 16 tornado caused five deaths, an estimated $1.6 billion in damages and left behind more than one million tons of debris in the City of St. Louis, much of its on private properties in the city’s westside and northside neighborhoods.

Cleanup efforts have been ongoing and nonstop since the tornado. Organizations such as the United Way of St. Louis and AmeriCorps were among the first to assist with debris removal. The Missouri National Guard was also activated for cleanup from late-May to mid-June.

More recently, a federal disaster declaration was approved for the May 16 tornado, making individual assistance available through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, though not specifically services for debris cleanup.

Meanwhile, the City of St. Louis is still trying to determine how much additional federal support it can secure for cleanup efforts, and also, how much longer mass cleanup efforts will take.

On July 11, St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer sent a letter to state officials requesting assistance from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for large-scale debris removal efforts. The request has support from the entire Missouri congressional delegation and has been forwarded to FEMA for a final decision.

In the letter, Spencer notes that cleanup could take round six to eight months with help from USACE. But without the help, the process could take up to three times as long, potentially 18 months.

"The City does not have the staff to manage this scale's contracts and debris operations," Spencer wrote the letter. The current request calls for USACE handling debris removal on private property and assessing individual cleanup needs, followed by contracted services. It also outlines potential USACE assistance in demolition, debris removal, brick recycling, asbestos testing, debris separation and mobilizing crews.

During a news conference Friday, Spencer expressed hope that USACE would eventually provide assistance, though noted the city if also preparing for a "Plan B" if necessary.

"We are working on Plan B, on what that looks like to be able to that internally," said Spencer. "We've had a lot of meetings this week about what that could look like. It's not ideal. It could take several years for us to be able to do, but we are committed to doing the hard work of not only removing debris from the community, but really setting the stage to be able to rebuild."

"Proper debris removal is critical to be able to rebuild north St. Louis and the area impacted by the tornado. We have to not only get the debris from on top of the soil off, but we have to be able to remove basement structures so that you can go ahead and rebuild. This is a huge lift. We recognize that, but we are committed to doing the work to make sure we can rebuild the part of our city impacted by the tornado."

In June, the city also signed a contract with Spirtas Worldwide to bolster its tornado debris removal apparatus. Spencer acknowledged the city has faced challenges and changes with that contract.

"Spirtas recognized that was work, I think, that was outside of what they were capable of doing under the contract," said Spencer. A very unfortunate and unforeseen result. We are very disappointed in this because we had full confidence that we were going to be able to get that enormous debris out of our community."

Looking ahead, the city is searching for regional partners to help with debris removal, and a news request for proposals has already generated strong interest from organizations looking to step up.

At the moment, it remains unclear how soon the request for federal USACE assistance might be approved or when federal crews could begin helping with debris cleanup.