Preliminary estimate for cost of storms: $100 million
Local governments and insurance companies are busy tallying the cost of weekend storms that battered the Twin Cities metro area. One very preliminary estimate: $100 million, KARE 11 reports.
(Just for comparison, if that figure proves anywhere near accurate, it would still be dwarfed by any number of U.S. disasters from last year, when there were 11 weather disasters that cost more than $1 billion. The 1998 St. Peter tornado caused $300 million in damage; the flooding last year in Duluth did $100 million in damage.)
Federal aid is not likely to funnel to Minnesota after the weekend storms, KARE 11 reports.
Meanwhile, cleanup continues. About 7,000 residents remained without power Tuesday night, Xcel Energy reported, down from more than 500,000 at the outage peak.
Some Minneapolis residents are now blaming recently laid concrete sidewalk slabs for the loss of their beloved boulevard shade trees that fell in the storms, the Star Tribune reports. They suspect workers cut tree roots in their recent efforts to lay the concrete, making the trees more vulnerable, the newspaper reports.
Who picks up the bill when trees fall and damage property? The Star Tribune examines that question and finds homeowners policies often don't cover the costs.
In the aftermath of the storms, KSTP takes a look at all the food that went to waste.
