ST. LOUIS – The Missouri National Guard has been officially activated for St. Louis tornado recovery operations as of Saturday, according to Gov. Mike Kehoe.
The governor’s office announced Saturday afternoon that the Missouri National Guard will “activate and deploy up to 41 engineering personnel” in St. Louis “to support the key mission of debris removal and sorting to support tornado recovery operations.”
Members of the 35th Engineer Brigade are preparing to execute missions next week. Service members are scheduled to be on site by Wednesday.
“Through this deployment, the State of Missouri is further assisting the City of St. Louis in recovery efforts following the devastating May 16 storms,” said Kehoe via a news release. “We are thankful for the efforts of the men and women of the Missouri National Guard in this mission. Recovery will take time, but our state agencies remain committed to partnering with local officials to assist affected residents and businesses.”
Since Tuesday, a Missouri National Guard Liaison Officer has assisted the City of St. Louis with evaluating and advising local officials on potential appropriate missions.
The National Guard’s deployment follows the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) receiving a request for the debris removal assistance from the City of St. Louis on Friday evening.
When the Missouri National Guard teams arrive. they will be on ground will support residential debris collection sites in St. Louis, along with assistance in sorting, loading, transporting, and removal of debris from collection sites to the landfill, according to Kehoe’s Office.
National Guard support is currently planned for a two-week operating period commencing on May 28 through June 11, at which time support operations will transition to City- or SEMA-sourced long-term support solution.
On May 16, an EF-3 tornado ripped through several westside and northside St. Louis neighborhoods, killing five people, damaging around 5,000 properties and causing around $1 billion in estimated damages.