By Matt Sepic, KWMU
St. Louis – Mayor Francis Slay said Friday he is happy with the way St. Louisans responded to the recent storms and massive power outage.
The mayor praised police, fire and health officials for helping the disabled, and thanked Governor Matt Blunt for his quick deployment of the National Guard.
Slay said the citizen response was good too, and that's partly why there was no widespread looting. He also praised AmerenUE.
"Eighty-five percent of the people who were without power on Friday were back on Monday," Slay said. And [Ameren] did everything we asked them to do.
Slay said the only major problems were in transporting people to cooling centers and getting generators to high-rises.
He said St. Louis spent about $100,000 a day on overtime, but the city will try to get reimbursements from the state and federal governments.
About 200 Missouri National Guard members will stay in St. Louis for another week to help with debris cleanup.