Federal Officials Assessing Damage from Severe Weather in April, May

(KNSI) – Emergency management officials are in central Minnesota and elsewhere to assess the damage left by storms and tornadoes. Teams will verify damage to public infrastructure since April 22nd.

On Tuesday, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Homeland Security and Emergency Management division and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will begin their second week of preliminary damage assessments. The teams will determine if five tribal nations and 48 counties qualify for state and federal aid.

This spring, Minnesota has battled extreme weather, including snowmelt flooding, rain-induced flooding, and near-continuous series of severe thunderstorms with heavy rains, flash flooding, damaging winds, large hail, and tornadoes.

The counties getting assessed include Aitkin, Anoka, Becker, Beltrami, Benton, Big Stone, Cass, Chippewa, Chisago, Clearwater, Cook, Cottonwood, Crow Wing, Douglas, Grant, Hubbard, Isanti, Kandiyohi, Kittson, Koochiching, Lac qui Parle, Lake, Lake of the Woods, Lincoln, Lyon, Mahnomen, Marshall, McLeod, Morrison, Murray, Nobles, Norman, Otter Tail, Pennington, Polk, Pope, Red Lake, Redwood, Renville, Roseau, St. Louis, Stearns, Stevens, Swift, Todd, Traverse, Wadena, Wilkin and Yellow Medicine.

The teams will review the scope of the damage to figure out if it exceeds local and state resources. Based on initial damage assessments, officials estimate damages will exceed $27 million, nearly three times more than Minnesota’s statewide indicator for public assistance of $9.3 million.

The preliminary damage assessment is the first step in determining if Governor Tim Walz will be able to request a presidential declaration of disaster.

Additional counties and tribes could be added at a later date.

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