ST. LOUIS—Saint Louis leaders say the city is in recovery mode from last week’s tornado and yesterday’s siren tests were successful. FEMA began assessing the damage on Wednesday, but Mayor Cara Spencer hopes that home and property owners help expedite that process.

“I want to encourage residents to document damage - this is a very important component here through photos and videos,” said Spencer. “Make a list of all your damaged items. It’s important if you have an insurance carrier to contact them as soon as possible to share with them the information you’ve thus far gathered.

For those without insurance, it’s still important to document the loss to show FEMA for support but that could take time.

“Do I have concerns about FEMA? Yes, defunding the areas of federal government that we so badly need to make our communities function well is a huge huge problem when it comes to this,” said Spencer.

Currently, the city has condemned structures throughout the impacted zone. Spencer said no punishment will come to anyone who that enters their own property regardless of condemnation status.

To help protect property owners’ belongings, the curfew remains in effect from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. in police districts five and six. 

Ameren reports they’ve repaired 90% of its damaged infrastructure and hopes to restore the remaining 9,000 customers without power by the end of Sunday.

Saint Louis leaders are using a national incident management system that’s been around for decades.

“It goes back to the 70s, when, large forest fires were being fought with hundreds and hundreds of firefighters. That's kind of a national model now for large scale incidents. And that's what we're using,” said Capt. John Walk, interim City Emergency Management Agency director. “We break up into different groups that handle different components out of it. That's the only way we can do it and still maintain our sanity while we're trying to deal with this large scale incident.”

These various groups handle debris clearing, logistics, operations, finances and seven other components.

He added they’ve received donations to distribute and are working towards acquiring equipment needed for more debris clearing.

“My message, to those that are affected by it, whose lives are turned upside down. We hear you. We hear you. We care and help is on the way.”

For those that have been affected, there are shelters like Bethlehem Lutheran Church, donation drives like the one held Thursday at Delmar Divine and each day another group stepping up to support St. Louis.