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ST. LOUIS — Federal officials will begin Wednesday to assess damage in tornado-ravaged neighborhoods on the city’s north side.

But it’s not clear if or when help will be available.

Federal Emergency Management Agency staffers will also tour parts of St. Louis County and five other counties damaged by Friday’s storms, said FEMA spokesperson Ryan Lowry-Lee. They’ll document the destruction with pictures and assess damage to uninsured buildings.

Once the assessment is complete, ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Gov. Mike Kehoe will ask President Donald Trump to declare the tornado destruction a “,â€� a government term that means state and local officials can’t fully address the destruction without federal help.

“Local first responders, officials, businesses and volunteer groups are working around the clock to recover,� Kehoe said in a news release Monday. “But the task before us is tremendously large and recovery will not be easy.�

If Trump approves Kehoe’s request, the federal government could unlock money for recovery, including assistance for homeowners and renters whose property was uninsured.

Republican U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley urged the government to act quickly.

“We need to get the federal government mobilized,� Hawley said. “All federal resources that can be brought to bear here should be.�

“We need to act quickly,� he added.

In the meantime, Kehoe has asked Trump to release up to $5 million in immediate funding for the state’s emergency response and debris removal.

But only a major disaster declaration would help individual homeowners and renters.

FEMA doesn’t have a timeline for the process, Lowry-Lee said.

It can take weeks for FEMA to declare a major disaster after a governor asks for help. ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ officials are for storms and tornadoes in mid-March that struck ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, killing 13 people and damaging homes, businesses and public property.

Five tornadoes touched down in the St. Louis area in the March storm; two people in the region died as a result.

In early April, the governor asked Trump to release federal money to help with recovery from those storms. The state’s request hadn’t been approved as of Monday afternoon, said Gabriel Picard, a spokesperson for Kehoe.

Hawley said Monday he’s not happy ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ is still waiting on that request.

State Rep. Marty Joe Murray Jr., a Democrat who represents neighborhoods hit by Friday’s tornado, said he’s not sure what relief will be available this time. He said a rumor was circulating that FEMA was taking applications. But that’s not true, he said.

“We’re not at that point yet,� said Murray, who hopes the state and federal government as well as businesses help individuals as much as they can.

“The scale of this is very significant,� Murray said. “When you have a storm that runs through that community, it’s going to take more than just one person.�

The tornado that tore across the St. Louis area Friday reached EF3 intensity and a mile in width, the National Weather Service’s local forecast office said after completing a damage survey over the weekend.

After developing quickly and touching down in Clayton, it tracked for nearly 23 miles, crossing the Mississippi River and dissipating near Edwardsville.

It grew to be a mile wide as it tore across northern parts of St. Louis at 55 mph, the weather service said, producing wind speeds as high as 152 mph. On the Illinois side of the river, it went through Granite City and Pontoon Beach before lifting alongside the campus of SIU Edwardsville.

The storm killed five people and injured 38, said St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer.

As of Monday, 30,000 customers in St. Louis were still without power, according to Launders Wince, Ameren’s regional operations director. It could be Friday before power is restored to them. And some properties are too badly damaged to have power restored, Wince said.

The weather service said “further analysis will be done to determine whether this was one single tornado or multiple tornadoes,� because “it is possible that more than one tornadic circulation was involved.�

A separate damage survey in the Ozarks confirmed the presence of another tornado that tracked through the small town of Des Arc, in Iron County. That tornado was rated EF2, with maximum winds of up to 115 mph, the NWS said. It damaged some of the same buildings that were struck by another tornado on March 14, the agency said.

FEMA will also assess damage in southeast ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ counties including Cape Girardeau, Iron, New Madrid, Scott, Stoddard and Wayne.

Bryce Gray and Joe Holleman of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.