I grappled with whether I should take or post any photographs of the tornado damage that struck St. Louis on May 16, 2025, which a reader noted will now be indelibly linked with the anniversary of the founding of this website on the same day. Is it ethical to photograph destruction, and in particular people’s houses who are now homeless? I went back and forth for the two weeks in between the day of the tornado and the Saturday morning when I finally decided to do so.
I decided to do it for two major reasons. First of all, the national news coverage of the tornado has been abysmal. I mean downright scandalously terrible. Five people dead and somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 buildings damaged or destroyed. Let that sink in. And we managed to maybe make it into the national news for one day. As another reader noted, a substantial portion of my readers are former St. Louisans who now live elsewhere in the country, and I felt like I needed to convey to the rest of the nation just how absolutely horrible this disaster has been.
I mean it’s terrible. And that brings me to my second motivation. While there has been in my opinion excellent local news coverage, the scale of the destruction is really beyond words. While the Fountain Park neighborhood and the Central West End have gotten a lot of news coverage and you can find aid groups set up distributing supplies to those who need it, I want people in the St. Louis region to realize that The Ville, Greater Ville and neighborhoods north of Natural Bridge Avenue have been absolutely devastated, as well. So I hope I can inspire people to donate and volunteer and help out in any way they can.
I found myself in the Greater Ville last week, and I’m telling you, it is just absolutely soul-crushing to see entire streets where every single building is damaged. It is going to take a long time for these neighborhoods to recover, and no, they didn’t already look like this. I should know. I’ve walked these streets and photographed them for years, and the tornado hit the heart of North St. Louis. I estimate that easily 10,000 or more people could have been living in houses destroyed or damaged on May 16.
So please, if you can, do your research and donate to reliable non-profits who will be needing your generosity as they help the people of St. Louis for much of the next year, if not longer.
Thank you for doing this. You are documenting for the present and the future and that helps the people in the communities that were hit and also the greater community. I’m a freelance journalist, former newspaper reporter (first job was The Riverfront Times, where I wrote about The Ville neighborhood) and Mizzou journalism school grad who happened to be traveling to my hometown from my home in Maine when the tornado was hitting along or near streets where where I have friends and family who live, go to school and work, and which I have traveled so often in my life (I grew up in Richmond Heights near the Clayton border and went to Rosati-Kain High School in the Central West End, where I worked and had many friends; my earliest memories are visiting my grandmother in a highrise there, and throughout his long life my dad loved visiting his old neighborhood in the West End north of Delmar with one of his kids in tow). I took many photos when I was in the area post-tornado with a friend or family in the West End or on the North Side after volunteering with recovery aid. For me, as a journalist (mainly a writer, but I’ve taken photos for my work, and photography is a passion we share) , it felt like my duty — and of course it was my instinct. You’ve done a great job, don’t feel guilty and please record the recovery we are hoping and praying for!
Something else (I had a long comment earlier): my sister and a close friend lives in condos on Waterman Blvd. in Debaliviere Place (between Union and Debaliviere), which was hit hard as the storm gained intensity (Fountain Park is northeast of their condos as the bird flies, so, yes, a straight shot). From what I saw every building (or virtually every building) on their block of Waterman was damaged; one structure near them (newer) was open dollhouse style, a street over on Pershing part of the top floor of an apartment building was blown off (glass walled community room, also newer construction, you’ve probably seen the shocking video), and a couple of the buildings were not habitable a few weeks after the storm (thankfully my sister and friend had no or minimal damage to their units). But because the buildings are not maintained as well overall on the north side the devastation was much worse there. Thus I think it would be great if the city started a loan and grant tuckpointing program for those on low or moderate incomes as that would help prevent severe damage from future tornadoes. I’m trying to plan a seed about this idea so wanted to mention it here!
You are clearly the singularly most qualified person to record this history, unpleasant as it is. I urge you to photograph as much as possible. It will help today and for generations to come.
Again, Chris, thank you for all you do for St Louis.
Thanks for this crucial focus, Chris! Academy Neighborhood devastated as well!
Despite extensive local coverage, few maps or even wide angle aerial drone shots have been displayed showing the devastation was across one third of entire city, Until that is repeatedly emphasized the recovery effort will not be adequately addressed.
I happened to be in St. Louis when the tornado struck helping my brother with the aftermath of our mother passing in January. Thank you for documenting the cruel destruction of so many neighborhoods. I too was surprise and rather disgusted by the poor national news media reporting. How many times does an F3 tornado strike at the heart of a major city? There are so many disasters going on and certain politicians that are taking the oxygen out of the room, I guess the frequently lazy press in this country has reached a level of exhaustion. We gave a contribution to the Urban League as they seem to be doing a better job helping those effected than the state or federal government, which are mostly late or missing in action. I fear that many of these neighborhoods are not going to recover due to the fact many residents were too poor to afford insurance. Even those with insurance often encounter difficulties getting any help without a hassle. It’s a crisis on top of a crisis. Let’s hope the new mayor can make things as right as possible and keep speculators out and provide enough assistance to allow people to repair and rebuild.
OK, so it’s not just me that noticed that the national news coverage was terrible?
Chris,
Absolutely, Most of the news media in this country is only interested in what they can sensationalize. Case in point:
I live about 35 miles south of Los Angeles. If you’ve seen most of the coverage of the protests you’d think the whole city was aflame. In fact, the area effected is minuscule and is composed of a few blocks of overwhelmingly peaceful protesters. This in a city that is 500 sq. miles with a population of 3.8 million. The American news media often short changes the middle part of the country and spends most of it’s time reporting on the latest dictatorial antics of the maniac in DC. As far as world news is concerned I depend on The Guardian which is a British publication as well as BBC or Sky News. Failure to report such calamities as this EF3 tornado destroying or heavily damaging 5000 buildings in a large city is a travesty. Of course if this happened in New York or Atlanta where the major corporate news media is located, you’d never hear the end of it. You can bet that such failures contribute to the slow and ineffective responses from government.
Thank you for the excellent photos of a city I love. I lived there for two years, fifty years ago, on North Florissant Avenue, on the near north side. I was a VISTA/AmeriCorps social worker with my husband. I returned to visit the neighborhood over the years, and in many ways, I would like to live in the City again. The substantial brick apartment building we lived in is now a ruin, but when I lived there, each apartment had a stained-glass window in the living room, hardwood floors, and was comfortable in winter thanks to central heating by a natural gas furnace. It was well-built working-class housing. Sadly, housing like that could not be sustained within our economic and social systems. Thank you again for your work documenting a great city.