ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ

ST. LOUIS — City officials are making another push to extend the deadline for tornado-stricken residents to apply for federal recovery aid, warning that the current Tuesday cutoff risks leaving out many households most in need.

In a letter Friday to federal officials, Mayor Cara Spencer said hundreds of new applications are still arriving each week and that late filers are often have lower incomes and are uninsured. She asked for 30 more days to reach more residents.

“We must not allow an arbitrary deadline to stand in the way of equitable recovery,� she wrote.

It’s the city’s second bid for more time for aid applications, which unlocked tens of thousands of dollars for families hit by the May 16 storm, many of whom lack private insurance to help them rebuild.

The city’s first extension request this summer sought to push the original Aug. 11 deadline 60 days into early October. The Federal Emergency Management Agency instead , moving the cutoff to Tuesday. Since then, city officials have been tracking sign-ups and building the case for another push.

The fate of the latest request was not clear Monday. Officials in the mayor’s office said they had received no response, and a FEMA spokesperson had no additional information.

The aid program in question is designed to help people get back on their feet in the wake of a disaster. People applying can receive up to $770 for immediate needs, plus up to $43,600 for housing assistance, which can pay for temporary lodging and basic home repairs, as well as up to $43,600 more for other needs including medical bills, replacement of damaged vehicles and funeral expenses.

Typically, residents are initially given , but extensions are common. FEMA approved 30 extra days after the July 2022 floods here and has granted longer extensions at least twice since then for flooding in Vermont and wildfires in Hawaii.

Since applications opened in June for residents of St. Louis, St. Louis County and Scott County, about 8,200 applications have been approved, and nearly $39 million in aid has been authorized, according to . Nearly all of the money has gone to St. Louis residents.

But city officials say there’s more to be done. While the pace of new registrations has slowed since June and July, more than 600 people signed up in the first two weeks of August, they said. Foot traffic at two assistance centers in north St. Louis has topped 100 people per day since Aug. 9.

“This sends a strong signal that residents are still learning about and finally asking for much-needed help,� Spencer wrote in her letter.

Moreover, Spencer said, the residents applying now are more vulnerable and harder to reach than early filers: Since July 16, nearly three-quarters of filers have been uninsured, and almost as many reported incomes of less than half of the region’s median.

Many of the city’s aldermen signed a separate letter Saturday backing Spencer’s request. In recent days, they and their staffers have been calling through lists of residents who haven’t applied for aid and finding many who are either unaware of FEMA aid or unsure how to get it.

The letter says the outreach campaign has already boosted applications.

“We are confident that with an additional 30 days, we can reach even more survivors who may otherwise go unassisted,� the letter said.