Minneapolis mayor: Tornado causing housing woes

Published 1:22 pm Tuesday, May 24, 2011

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minneapolis faces serious short-term housing challenges because of a tornado that wiped out at least 35 homes and damaged hundreds of others on the city’s north side, the mayor said Tuesday.

The extent of the housing needs caused by Sunday’s tornado weren’t immediately known, because many people had been staying with relatives or in houses that won’t be inhabitable for the long term, Mayor R.T. Rybak said.

“We’re going to be facing some real serious challenges short-term, especially with some of these folks who are in rental situations, where it’s unclear how their housing is going to be rebuilt,” Rybak said. “There were many people who were frankly just holding on, who may be slipping into homelessness. And we want to do everything we can to prevent that.”

The city and county set up an assistance center Tuesday, where residents could go to get information about insurance, housing, or other needs. The resources were already in place at the Minneapolis Convention Center on Monday, at an event to help homeless people. Volunteers decided to stay another day to help tornado victims.

Kathy ten Broeke, the director of the office to end homelessness for Minneapolis and Hennepin County, estimated that the assistance center would serve 800 people by day’s end.

“I think, people, they’re frustrated and grateful for something like this, where everything is together in one place,” ten Broeke said. “There’s hope, but I think everyone is really worn out.”

People were able to get food, as well as mental and physical health care, and be connected to shelters. Many people got their prescriptions renewed. They could also get legal assistance and insurance help — though ten Broeke said many people weren’t seeking insurance claims. Officials were also helping people get birth certificates or state IDs to replace those lost in the storm. There was also a room where residents could use the phone or get Internet access.

Authorities said Tuesday that the tornado caused an estimated $166 million, and that figure was expected to rise. Crews were going block-by-block clearing debris.

City inspectors divided the damaged area into three zones and had finished their estimates in two of them, city spokesman Matt Laible said. Inspectors found 600 buildings had been damaged, including 35 homes that could no longer be occupied.

“We haven’t fully gotten the full extent of what’s going to happen because the tough people of north Minneapolis have toughed it out and we deeply appreciate it,” Rybak said. “But over time, they’re going to recognize they can’t always stay with their relatives, that can’t always be staying in a hotel, they can’t always be staying in a house that may be substandard. So we don’t know the full extent of how many people are going to be having hosing needs going forward.”

As of Tuesday, 535 people had been processed through a shelter that had been set up after the tornado, and an additional 200 people had called for assistance. Nearly 260 people stayed at the shelter at the Northeast Armory on Sunday night, hours after the tornado swept through north Minneapolis. But by Monday night that number was down to roughly 60, as people went elsewhere.

More than two dozen families with children moved into the Drake Hotel downtown.

Xcel Energy had 400 people working to restore power to homes on Tuesday. At midday, 7,000 people were still without power, said Paul Addelmann, an Xcel Energy spokesman.

Officials hoped to have power restored to everyone by late Wednesday, Addelmann said, adding that the storm had left at least 200 power poles “snapped like a toothpick.”

By midday Tuesday, all of the roads had been deemed passable, meaning emergency vehicles could go through. The City Council also met in emergency session and extended the local disaster declaration, which allowed the city to tap special funds to pay for tornado cleanup.

Six of the seven Minneapolis schools in the area reopened Tuesday, and one remained closed because it lacked power, the district said.

On Sunday, the tornado ripped a nearly five-mile path from suburban St. Louis Park, where it hit a condo complex and two businesses, through north Minneapolis and into Fridley.

The National Weather Service said the tornado was either a strong EF1 or possibly an EF2, and was on the ground for 6.25 miles in Hennepin County plus an additional 8 miles across Anoka and Ramsey counties. An EF1 tornado has speeds of up to 109 mph. An EF2 has speeds of 110-137 mph.

Authorities said one man died in the storm and another died helping clear debris afterward. Dozens were injured, but all had been released from the hospital by Tuesday afternoon.

The tornado was part of a larger outbreak through the central U.S. that included Joplin, Mo., where dozens of people were killed, and La Crosse, Wis.