MPR’s Amy Radil reports on Governor Jesse Ventura viewing storm damage in northeast Minnesota. Includes excerpts of Ventura speaking and comments from residents.
Ventura heard from residents whose homes were damaged or destroyed in the July 4th flood. Ventura tried to balance his message between reassuring storm victims they'll receive necessary aid, and downplaying the damage so as not to scare away the area's vital economic resource: summer vacationers.
AMY RADIL: Ventura took an aerial tour of the Boundary Waters wilderness, specifically to examine the 30 mile swath where straight line winds downed every tree in sight over the July 4th weekend. Speaking in Hibbing after the flyover, Ventura said the landscape resembled so many scattered matchsticks from the air. But he also said the area wasn't as devastated as he expected.
VENTURA: The Northern Minnesota is still there. It is not totally knocked down by any stretch of the imagination. It's just a few certain portions that got it pretty good.
AMY RADIL: Ventura took pains to plug summer tourism and encourage potential vacationers to follow through with their scheduled trips to Northeast Minnesota, where tourism is an $875 million industry annually.
For those residents whose homes were damaged by the storm, Ventura said they need to be patient with the paperwork. But the government will be there to help them.
VENTURA: That's why I've declared a state of emergency for this particular area of Minnesota. I wanted to signal that the state is paying attention to the unusual needs in this particular disaster. And I've directed the state agencies to help in all appropriate ways available.
AMY RADIL: Several residents attended Ventura's press conference to plead for state aid to repair their homes or neighborhoods. However, Ventura declined to outline the state's role either in rehabilitating wilderness areas or storm damaged property.
VENTURA: I'll let the experts handle that. It's not my job to ask what the state's role is. My job is I declared it a disaster because it is where it hit. From there, I don't know all the details on that.
AMY RADIL: The state's uninsured losses to public property, such as roads and bridges is estimated at $19 million. Kevin Loehr, Director of Emergency Management with the Department of Public Safety, says the state should have a complete damage assessment as well as a timeline for rehabilitation by the end of this week.
Loehr says officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency will arrive in Minnesota tomorrow and begin coordinating aid to homeowners, including temporary housing.
KEVIN LOEHR: We have nine teams that are coming in. They're assembling in Grand Rapids, Minnesota for a briefing early tomorrow morning. Then they'll be deployed into the area. Two of those teams are Individual assistance teams to specifically assess the impact to individuals that may have lost their homes due to either flooding or the heavy wind and trees and stuff that have fallen on them.
AMY RADIL: Storm victims say concern over downed trees in the Boundary Waters seems to have obscured the impact on people in Northeast Minnesota who are dealing with the more prosaic devastation of flooded basements, and in some cases, lost homes.
SHERRY ANDERSON: There's a lot more than just me hurting in our area. Many, many out there.
AMY RADIL: Sherry Anderson of ion, Minnesota, says her basement is caving in from last week's flood, but her insurance company says the cause of the damage is, quote, "a mudslide" and is refusing to pay.
She says she was surprised the governor couldn't answer her questions about where to go for help, but she felt reassured at hearing FEMA will be setting up an office in Hibbing to deal with cases like hers. She says she's still trying to save her home.
SHERRY ANDERSON: A 40 foot wall caved in and our whole house moved. The whole thing moved and the back walls are caving in now.
AMY RADIL: The Salvation Army says volunteers have been slow to sign up again in part because of the focus on wilderness damage rather than property. About 40 homeowners in Hibbing, mostly elderly and disabled people, have requested help with flood damage to their basements.
Salvation Army volunteer Clint Lindstrom says he knows 26 units in a nearby apartment building were completely flooded and the tenants relocated. He says he was disappointed with the governor's response and the lack of attention on the people affected by the storm.
CLINT LINDSTROM: It even sounded that way today with the governor when he came. They seemed to make a fly over the Boundary Water areas. And even though the interview was done in Hibbing, there wasn't a great emphasis on Hibbing.
AMY RADIL: Assistance may be in the works, though. Storm damage will be on the agenda when the state's Cabinet of Commissioners meets tomorrow in Saint Paul, just as FEMA investigators begin their tour of Northeast Minnesota. In Duluth, I'm Amy Radil, Minnesota Public Radio.
In 2008, Minnesota's voters passed the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment to the Minnesota Constitution: to protect drinking water sources; to protect, enhance, and restore wetlands, prairies, forests, and fish, game, and wildlife habitat; to preserve arts and cultural heritage; to support parks and trails; and to protect, enhance, and restore lakes, rivers, streams, and groundwater.
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