ST. LOUIS – One week since a deadly EF-3 tornado struck St. Louis, killing five and injuring dozens, city officials have pointed to failures in the emergency siren system and human error in warning residents of dangerous conditions.
On Wednesday, St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer placed Sarah Russell, the Commissioner of the City Emergency Management Agency (CEMA), on leave as the city launched an internal investigation into the agency’s tornado response.
More than a year earlier, a 2024 audit had already outlined concerns about staffing shortages at CEMA and vulnerabilities in the city’s emergency alert system, two issues with renewed attention in the wake of Friday’s tornado.
The audit found there to be “a deficiency in the separation of duty in employee’s responsibilities, which hiring new staff would eliminate.” Auditors also found that in some areas, emergency sirens “cannot be heard or the frequency is low and the warning is not able to be understood.”
On staffing, the audit noted that CEMA only has three employees that help in implementing a five-step emergency management plan. It also noted that the City of Memphis, Tennessee has six emergency management “specialists” while St. Louis CEMA only has one.
On sirens, the audit noted that CEMA installed and introduced its current warning sirens in July 1999, a total of 60 across the City of St. Louis. Auditors recommended budgeting funds to provide for a new siren warning system for “everyone in the City of St. Louis to hear and understand the warnings given.”
Mayor Spencer, when questioned about the audit during a Thursday news conference, acknowledged long-standing issues with CEMA funding and emphasized the city’s response efforts following the tornado.
“What I can say is we are taking steps right now, moving forward, absolutely,” said Spencer. “I can’t speak to that specific report. But I have been aware that we have underfunded CEMA for a long number of years. This is not new. This has been going on for some time. And it was clear to us immediately in the aftermath that we needed additional resources. And we mobilized immediately to do that, to bring in additional resources, and I am incredibly proud and incredibly confident in the team we have in place today.”
The audit also found CEMA does not have a policy and procedure manual that includes detailed content on job title and responsibilities, while ensuring training processes are well identified.