Ingham County has spent nearly $5 million dollars in recovery efforts tied to last month’s storms and tornadoes.
Downed trees, broken power lines and destroyed county infrastructure are among the damage included in the expense report. The report was compiled by Ingham County Emergency Management and is being sent to the state.
Rob Dale heads that department. He says the severe storms caused widespread damage leaving thousands without power and multiple roads shut down.
“The biggest problem really were the trees that are in the drains in the Williamson, Webberville area, there are just hundreds of trees that are plugging up the creeks there,” he said. “And we need to get those out of there because it could cause some significant flooding.”
The tornado was classified as an EF-2 with wind speeds reaching up to 125 miles per hour. It touched down near Williamston in Ingham County on August 24th. The county declared a state of emergency a few days after the storm.
Dale says he’s hoping some of the expenses will be covered by the state of Michigan. If its not he says the various communities will have to resort to funding reserves.
“Some may even have to cut spending in other areas,” he said. “So it's really dependent on whether the community had that money available to already that that can be incorporated, or if they would have to make some cuts elsewhere.”