ST. PAUL – Three area counties are among those set to receive portions of a $4.7 million storm-relief package approved during a one-day special legislative session Monday.
In all, $4.5 million in funding will assist 18 counties which suffered storm damage in June. Another $219,000 was appropriated for two other counties in southwestern Minnesota hit by an ice storm last April. The relief aid will be used to help offset the cost of cleanup and infrastructure repair, estimated statewide to be $18 million. The state is covering 25 percent of that total and will receive a 75-percent match from the federal government.
Most of the June storm damage took place in western, central and southern portions of the state. The three counties included in Rep. Paul Anderson’s District 12B all are set to receive storm aid. Storm damage estimates are $155,441 for Douglas, $275,344 for Pope and $551, 583 for Stearns.
“Counties in our part of the state were hit hard by storms and the costs of repairing the infrastructure would really harm the bottom line for many local governments without this aid,” said Anderson, R-Starbuck. “I am pleased we came together in bipartisan fashion to provide help with the recovery.”
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