Victoria Cooper, 36, hugs a volunteer near her wrecked car on Natural Bridge Avenue on Saturday in north St. Louis. She and her 15-year-old son Pa'den McCulley were in the car when the storm hit. Cooper said they climbed out through the broken windshield and took shelter in a nearby Boost Mobile.
St. Louis residents are beginning to recover after an EF3 tornado tore through central and northern parts of the city, damaging thousands of homes and killing five people.
Shirley Everett, 88, was sitting just inside the front window of her home on Red Bud Avenue in north St. Louis when the sky suddenly turned dark.
"I heard a real loud wind, a loud noise, and then the windows started shaking and rattling," she said. "I knew there was a disaster going on."
Dozens of volunteers from across the city gathered in north St. Louis — especially along Red Bud Avenue — to help clear bricks, tree limbs and shattered glass.
Jes Star, 32, from Tower Grove East, said the historic significance of north city and the devastation compelled her to help however she could.
"I woke up this morning and was like, 'That was incredibly close to where I live,'" she said, adding it was lucky her neighborhood was spared. "It is not luck that this part of the city will not receive as much support and services than other parts."
Rasheen Aldridge, alderman for the 14th Ward, echoed those concerns as he joined cleanup efforts in the neighborhood alongside other elected officials.
"It literally had looked like a bomb had just went off. Blocks and blocks of homes that are just gone," he said. "It's heartbreaking. ... The rebuild is not going to happen overnight."
For Everett, seeing neighbors and strangers come together to help her community has made the world's difference to her.
"It's so sweet that people care about each other," she said, holding back tears as she watched volunteers work. "We need to get together more because north St. Louis has been neglected so long."
See photos of the cleanup efforts by St. Louis Public Radio visuals editor Brian Munoz and Woodscreek's Kyle Pyatt below:
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public Radio
Large trees were knocked down — along with the sidewalk — after an EF3 tornado ripped through the city.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public Radio
Marco Turner picks up bricks and debris on Saturday after a tornado ripped through north St. Louis the evening before.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public Radio
A pile of red bricks sits in a pile near a crumbling home after a tornado ripped through north St. Louis.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public Radio
Brick buildings lay crumbled on Saturday after an EF3 tornado ripped through the city on Friday afternoon, killing at least five and damaging thousands of homes in north St. Louis.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public Radio
Joseph Marshall, 63, pauses while speaking about a tree limb piercing his home’s wall on Saturday in north St. Louis. An EF3 tornado ripped through the city on Friday afternoon, killing at least five and damaging thousands of homes.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public Radio
St. Louis Board of Aldermen President Megan Green, left, helps pick up debris alongside Jay Nelson, Green’s chief of staff, on Saturday in north St. Louis.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public Radio
Sam Mosley, of Jennings, grills hot dogs and burgers on Saturday in north St. Louis. Mosley and a group of volunteers prepared free food for area residents who suffered the impacts of a storm that ripped through the city on Friday.
Kyle Pyatt
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Special to St. Louis Public Radio
Thousands of north St. Louis homes are damaged on Saturday, the day after an EF3 tornado ripped through the city.
Kyle Pyatt
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Special to St. Louis Public Radio
Thousands of north St. Louis homes are damaged on Saturday, the day after an EF3 tornado ripped through the city.
Kyle Pyatt
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Special to St. Louis Public Radio
Thousands of north St. Louis homes are damaged on Saturday, the day after an EF3 tornado ripped through the city.
Kyle Pyatt
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Special to St. Louis Public Radio
A truck trailer is flipped on its side at the corner of Natural Bridge Avenue and North Newstead Avenue on Saturday after an EF3 tornado ripped through north St. Louis the day prior.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public Radio
Dolly Baskin assesses damage down Penrose Street while standing in front of her north St. Louis home on Saturday.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public Radio
Dolly Baskin assesses damage to her former bedroom on Saturday in north St. Louis. Storms and a tornado swept through a large part of the city’s center the prior day, damaging thousands of homes and leaving at least five people dead.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public Radio
A picture is one of the lone things left on Dolly Baskin’s walls on Saturday in north St. Louis.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public Radio
Dolly Baskin stands where her bedroom used to be in her north St. Louis home on Saturday. A storm the day before blew the roof off and ripped off the back of her home.
Kyle Pyatt
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Special to St. Louis Public Radio
A man peeks out of a door frame as thousands of north St. Louis homes are damaged on Saturday, the day after an EF3 tornado ripped through the city.
Kyle Pyatt
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Special to St. Louis Public Radio
Thousands of north St. Louis homes are damaged on Saturday, the day after an EF3 tornado ripped through the city.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public Radio
St. Louis Parks worker Ronald Love, 38, helps clear out fall trees from O’Fallon Park on Saturday in north St. Louis.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public Radio
Alex Cadigan, of Affton, left, helps Sam Campbell haul a large tree limb in north St. Louis on Saturday — the day after an EF3 tornado ripped through central and northern St. Louis.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public Radio
Joey Meinert, 32, of St. Louis’ Carondelet neighborhood, helps cut up wood from fallen trees on Saturday in north St. Louis.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public Radio
Isaiah Davis, 8, has his photo taken while posing on a fallen tree by his mother, Felicia Brooks-Davis, both of Benton Park, on Saturday in north St. Louis.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public Radio
Debra El, of downtown St. Louis, rejoices after volunteers are able to get roof lining off the road on Saturday in north St. Louis.
Kyle Pyatt
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Special to St. Louis Public Radio
Two people take in the damage in the Fountain Park neighborhood on Saturday. The area was hit hard by a tornado the day before.
Kyle Pyatt
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Special to St. Louis Public Radio
Two people repair a roof in the Fountain Park neighborhood of St. Louis on Saturday, the day after a powerful tornado hit the region.
Kyle Pyatt
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Special to St. Louis Public Radio
Two homes show significant damage in the Fountain Park neighborhood on Saturday, the day after a powerful tornado ripped through St. Louis.
Kyle Pyatt
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Special to St. Louis Public Radio
People walk in Fountain Park Saturday, the day after a powerful tornado toppled trees and damaged nearby buildings.
Kyle Pyatt
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Special to St. Louis Public Radio
Volunteers with a tent of supplies set up in Fountain Park Saturday, where a powerful tornado toppled trees and damaged nearby homes and buildings.
Kyle Pyatt
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Special to St. Louis Public Radio
Major damage at Centennial Christian Church near Fountain Park in St. Louis was visible Saturday after a powerful tornado hit the area.
Kyle Pyatt
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Special to St. Louis Public Radio
Major damage at Centennial Christian Church near Fountain Park in St. Louis was visible Saturday after a powerful tornado hit the area.
Kyle Pyatt
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Special to St. Louis Public Radio
The destroyed steeple of Centennial Christian Church in the Fountain Park neighborhood of St. Louis frames the city's skyline on Saturday.
