A Missouri emergency management commissioner is on leave after the St. Louis outdoor warning sirens failed to alert residents before a large tornado struck parts of the city.

St. Louis

A Missouri emergency management commissioner has been placed on leave following the failure of St. Louis's outdoor warning sirens to alert residents ahead of a large tornado that struck parts of the city. The tornado, described by local officials as a once-in-a-generation event, caused the deaths of five people as it impacted Central, West End, and North City neighborhoods.

The head of the city's emergency management agency, Sarah Russell, was placed on paid administrative leave by St. Louis Mayor Kara Spencer. The mayor stated that the staff of the emergency management agency were attending a workshop at the time the tornado warning was issued by the National Weather Service, which prevented them from activating the siren system.

A call was subsequently made to the fire department to activate the sirens. Initial reports indicate there was a lack of clear directive during this call, and the siren button at the fire department did not function correctly. Mayor Spencer announced an external investigation to determine the reasons for the siren system's failure.

In response to the incident, Mayor Spencer signed an executive order allowing the fire department to directly activate the emergency siren system in the future.



St. Louis tornado sirens fail to activate

We are starting to see a clearer picture of the damaged storms, including tornadoes, brought to the eastern part of our country this past week. CBS News learned the mayor of St. Louis placed the head of a division of public safety on leave after tornado sirens failed to activate. Five people died in that area after extreme weather moved through. Let's bring in CBS News correspondent Chanel Call, who's following the story from us from our newsroom. Chanel, what is the latest on all this? Mugo, so we're talking about such a huge disaster here. Local officials this morning calling this a once-in-a-generation tornado. You mentioned this, five people died when that storm had moved through. And one of the big questions that people are now asking is why the warning sirens did not sound off before that EF3 tornado had hit some parts of Central, West End, and North City on Friday. Now, in response to that failure, the mayor of St. Louis, Kara Spencer, who by the way has only been in office for one month, Mugo, announced last night that she is now putting the head of the city's emergency management agency, Sarah Russell, on leave. This morning, the mayor said this is what happened, the SEMA team members were at a workshop on Friday afternoon, and that's why SEMA staff could not activate that button when the tornado warning was issued by the National Weather Service. There was then a call made to the fire department, but initial reports, Mugo, now indicate that a clear directive to sound the alarm was not given. When I actually listened to that phone call, I can tell you that it didn't seem so clear about what to do. Now, on top of that, the mayor said today the siren button at the fire department wasn't actually working as it should have been. So clearly a few big systemic issues here that ultimately led to this failure. Here's more on this from the mayor. This cannot happen when a tornado is ripping through our community. Our safety depends on clear and direct communication. We did release the auto recording to the public last night. Let me be clear, SEMA exists to alert the community when severe weather is coming. This office failed to do that in the most horrific and deadly storm that our city has experienced in my lifetime. All right, so Russell, who is again the head of the city's SEMA organization, will now be placed on paid administrative leave, Mugo, pending a full external investigation, says the mayor, into exactly how and when SEMA responded on Friday, particularly why that outdoor warning siren system failed at such a critical moment. In the meantime, the mayor also has now issued an executive order essentially allowing the fire department to activate that emergency siren moving forward. All right. Should not call. Thank you.

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