It is part of The Disaster Economy, a Grist series exploring the often chaotic, lucrative world of disaster response and recovery. When a mile-wide tornado hit St. Louis on May 16, DeAmon White hopped in his car and rushed home. Damage to DeAmon White’s home from an EF-3 tornado in St. Louis, Missouri on May 16, 2025. DeAmon and Bobbie considered themselves lucky: A neighbor of theirs had his leg impaled by a pole that flew through his window. “Vultures” is what Bobbie and DeAmon called the speculators.