One Month Later, Minneapolis Continues Storm Cleanup Efforts

The City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board are continuing their cleanup efforts after a major June storm left a path of damage and hundreds of thousands without power in the state.

According to a park board release, forestry crews have cleared approximately 3,000 trees and hauled more than 2,000 semi truckloads of debris in the past four weeks. The storm turned out to be one of the most wide-spread and severe storms, in terms of tree damage, to hit the city in the past two decades, the release said.

Below is the rest of the board's release:

The majority of north, northeast and southwest Minneapolis has been cleared of fallen trees and storm debris. There are areas in south central and south Minneapolis, which received the most concentrated storm damage, where crews continue to focus on hazard trees and curbside tree removal. (See MPRB map showing areas of damaged boulevard and park trees, including the swath of concentrated damage stretching from Cedar Lake to Minnehaha Regional Park.)

Throughout the city, Park Board crews continue removing storm damaged limbs and hazard trees at risk of toppling and causing further damage. This week, crews began clearing down trees and limbs from parks. While tree trunks and limbs are being removed as quickly as possible, stumps and roots remain and will be removed at a later date. The Park Board is working with the City and County to submit storm data and funding requests to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and as such, all tipped-up stumps must be photographed and inventoried via a Global Positioning System (GPS) before they can be removed - similar to FEMA requirements following the 2011 tornado that struck north Minneapolis.

Last week, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) announced that Koda Energy, who is processing all tree storm debris for the MPRB, is providing wood chips at four locations to Minneapolis residents to help with their home landscape needs. For details and directions to woodchips sites at Armatage, Lake Nokomis, Folwell Parks and a Marshall Terrace neighborhood site, visit minneapolisparks.org.

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