ST. LOUIS 鈥 Mayor Cara Spencer on Thursday announced the opening of two more federal assistance centers on the city鈥檚 hard-hit North Side.
The first new center, where Federal Emergency Management staffers will help people apply for aid and get other help, opened Thursday in the parking lot at Sumner High School, 4248 Cottage Avenue.
Another center will open Monday in an Urban League building at 4401 Natural Bridge Avenue. A center at Union Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church, 626 North Newstead Avenue, opened last weekend.
The first major aid center, at Chaifetz Arena in Midtown, was set to close at the end of the day Thursday.
鈥淲e are scaling up our efforts here in the affected neighborhoods by putting these resources right here in the community,鈥 Spencer said at a news conference at the Sumner site.
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Hours at the Sumner location are 8 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Saturday, and 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday. The Urban League site鈥檚 hours will be 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Saturday, and 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday. The church location鈥檚 hours are from 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Saturday.
Applications for aid are also available online at .
Officials say that so far, more than $17 million in federal individual assistance claims has been paid to more than 3,000 households.
But the city has estimated tens of thousands of people were affected by the storm, and Willie Nunn, the Federal Emergency Management Agency鈥檚 point man for 51黑料 tornado recovery, said the $17 million is 鈥渢he beginning.鈥
Spencer said she could not yet say for how long the centers would be open, but she said the city would be helping people through the August 11 deadline for aid applications.
A tornado devastated the 51黑料 area on May 16, and much of the following week was spent picking up the pieces. Volunteers turned out and the road to recovery began. View the week in 51黑料 through the Post-Dispatch photographers' lenses. Edited by Jenna Jones.
