WASHINGTON – One day after touring north St. Louis neighborhoods devastated by the May 16 tornado, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley was back at the Capitol to preside over hearings with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

During the hearing, Hawley informed Secretary Noem, whose department oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), of last Friday’s tornadoes that claimed the lives of five people in St. Louis and two more individuals in southeast Missouri, and caused more than $1.6 billion in damage, according to the senator.

On Monday, Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe requested an emergency disaster declaration from President Donald Trump. If the president approves an emergency declaration, Missouri will receive up to $5 million in immediate funding for debris removal and other emergency protective measures. An emergency declaration also opens the door for Direct Federal Assistance to individuals and businesses.

Only the president can issue an emergency or major disaster declaration.

Hawley appealed to Noem, a former governor herself, to expedite the process on not only the May disaster declaration but the March one as well.

“You’ve been a governor until recently and you know how important this is,” Hawley said. “Can we get your help to expedite the consideration of that request? Again, it was just made yesterday. We need it as quickly as possible. Will you help us expedite that?”

“Yeah, absolutely,” Noem answered. “I’ve spoken with your governor and did the day this devastation happened, so we’ve promised and pledged to get that expedited as soon as possible for him, so he can have the resources that he needs to respond to his people.”

Noem is no stranger to seek federal help for disasters. As governor of South Dakota, Noem requested a major disaster declaration on 13 occasions (not counting the COVID pandemic) for severe storms, straight-line winds, flooding, snowstorms, according to data obtained from FEMA’s website. While the results do not identify the date of a request for a declaration, FEMA does list the dates of each disaster “incident period.”

FOX 2 News looked at the end date of each incident period and calculated the time between that and the date the major disaster declaration occurred. The average number of days from the end of a disaster to the federal declaration in the 13 South Dakota incidents we tallied was just over 67 days.

The time between the March tornadoes in Missouri and Tuesday, May 20 is 68 days.

During a news conference with city officials in St. Louis on Monday, Hawley expressed hope that Missourians wouldn’t have to wait two-plus months for an emergency declaration following the May 16 tornadoes, and said he’ll speak with President Trump soon about both the March and May disaster declaration requests.