The Canaries
This page is my attempt to collect the voices of St. Louisans affected by the May 16, 2025 tornado. It is continuously updated. Please email me any that I’ve missed: cityreformstl [at] gmail.com
“So many canaries, singing loudly and boldly to warn us.
This isn’t good enough.
Lives are at stake.
Our city’s future is not guaranteed.
Yet, even though the regular people aren’t hiding from the pain and trauma, the power holders and decision makers are. Excuse after excuse after excuse. Delay after delay after delay.
St. Louis may never be the same after the tornado, but, yet, some things never change.”
—DRC, So many canaries, November 17, 2025
Public Comment:
Dr. LJ Punch’s (10th ward resident and co-founder/director of 314Oasis), January 28, 2026, St. Louis City Board of Aldermen Budget and Public Employees Committee meeting (video):
“I am extremely worried that this moment represents a actively worsening humanitarian crisis at a scale that no one is really describing, no one is really addressing, and no one is really talking about. People are experiencing a level of loss and pain like I have never seen. I frequently describe the path of the tornado like a bullet injury that tore through St. Louis’s heart itself.”
January 6, 2026 St. Louis City Board of Aldermen Budget and Public Employees Committee meeting (video)
Reports:
The People’s Response Impact Report, The People’s Response/Action STL, August 2025
Media:
Frustrated residents rally in south St. Louis to support north city tornado victims, St. Louis Public Radio, February 12, 2026
Tornado victims lose hope as St. Louis programs deny relief to hundreds, St. Louis Public Radio, February 6, 2026
Some tornado-impacted residents in St. Louis are unhoused, others are living without heat, St. Louis Public Radio, February 3, 2026
How one man fed St. Louis from a street corner after the tornado, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Sunday, January 11, 2026
The St. Louis tornado took my family home. We’re not giving up on the neighborhood., Daje Shelton in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, December 21, 2025
Requiem for Ernest Curry, who weathered the tornado but perished in the aftermath, St. Louis Public Radio and River City Journalism Fund, December 3, 2025
Photos: 6 months after tornado, residents determined to rebuild, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 15, 2025
North St. Louis still rebuilding — one block at a time, The St. Louis American, November 13, 2025
FEMA to pay for crisis counseling for Missouri tornado victims, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 11, 2025
A St. Louis program to help displaced tenants and tornado victims has yet to take applications, St. Louis Public Radio, November 6, 2025
Hundreds of St. Louis houses hit by May tornado were vacant. That will hurt recovery. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 24, 2025
A house, a life, a struggle to rebuild after the St. Louis tornado, St. Louis Public Radio and River City Journalism Fund, October 3, 2025
FEMA Is Paralyzed. Disaster-Torn Communities Are Paying the Price, Wall Street Journal, September 30, 2025
North St. Louis residents face uneven tornado debris cleanup 3 weeks into new city plan, St. Louis Public Radio, September 24, 2025
North St. Louis restaurants struggle months after tornado. ‘I just keep going’, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 8, 2025
Community members are still picking up tornado debris in north St. Louis where the city isn’t, St. Louis Public Radio, September 4, 2025
St. Louis needs a communal response to the tornado and to learn from Katrina, The St. Louis American, August 31, 2025
Walking the tornado’s path 100 days later reveals a divided St. Louis, St. Louis Public Radio, August 25, 2025
3 months after tornado, St. Louis residents face a harsh reality. ‘Not going to be rebuilt.’, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 17, 2025
Demographer warns St. Louis could face early consequences of America’s falling birth rate, St. Louis Public Radio, August 13, 2025