Additional funding necessary for disaster relief in Missouri, Hawley says

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, is asking a Senate subcommittee to pass additional recovery funding for St. Louis after a tornado took five lives and devastated hundreds of homes in the area in May 2025.

“There’s still a lot of cleanup to be done in St. Louis,” Hawley told Heartlander News in an interview Thursday. “There’s still so many people who have been affected, devastated really by the tornadoes there, and, of course, we’ve had terrible storms and flooding all around the state since then. All of those folks all over the state need relief and I’m absolutely dedicated to seeing that they get it.”

The Federal Emergency Management Agency granted St. Louis $2.9 million earlier this month for recovery after the EF3 tornado and promised to sustain disaster case management until June 2027, as Heartlander News previously reported. Full rehabilitation and recovery, however, could cost as much as $1.5 billion, according to Missouri officials, per a press release from Hawley.

After the tornado’s devastation, President Donald Trump approved a “major disaster declaration” for the city, the release explains. FEMA typically funds these repairs for two years following such a declaration but did not allocate funds in May 2025. Instead, St. Louis relied on $3 million from interest on the Rams settlement fund, with predictions of the dollars running dry by August 2026, Heartlander News reported.

FEMA’s funds, expected to begin Aug. 1, will be administered through The United Way of Greater St. Louis in partnership with the Salvation Army, Catholic Charities, LifeWise and HOPE. More than 1,500 residents have already applied, according to previous reports.

Because of the additional funds needed, Hawley is asking the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development to re-establish a program that would supply federal aid and resources to Missourians after weather disasters.

“As it relates to St. Louis, to get that additional funding to help with cleanup and the other resources that need to flow to the city, Congress needs to pass a disaster relief bill,” he said. “I’ve written to the relevant chairs of the committees. I’ve told my leadership. I’ve proposed the language.”

The Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery program – which would include the legislation he mentioned – has previously provided supplies for housing, infrastructure and economic revitalization, but the funds ceased in 2024, according to the release.

“We need to get legislation passed that will send this additional relief to St. Louis, and in the meantime, everywhere else in the state,” Hawley said. “Southeast Missouri, of course, recently just devastated by flooding. We need to get those folks relief as well.”

(Image credit: Heartlander News/Stuart McMillian)