Madison to be evaluated for storm aid
0:06 AM 6/26/04
Ed Treleven Wisconsin State Journal

A federal disaster assessment team will be in Madison on Monday to determine if the city and the town of Madison qualify for federal disaster aid because of damage caused by Wednesday night's tornado. <

Meanwhile, city crews opened all residential streets on Madison's West Side to traffic Friday and about 550 of the 600 homes that had been without electricity had power restored for the first time since the weak tornado struck. <

The crew from the Federal Emergency Management Agency will be in Madison at Gov. Jim Doyle's request to assess damage and determine whether Dane County is eligible for federal disaster assistance, Doyle spokeswoman Jessica Erickson said Friday. <

Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk wrote to Doyle Friday asking that Dane County be added to the list of counties for which he is seeking federal disaster assistance. <

Dane County Emergency Government Director Ray Pena said property damage caused by the storm on Madison's West Side and in the town of Madison reached an estimated $656,000 on Friday, plus $320,000 in cleanup costs. <

"It's likely those are going to continue to rise," Pena said. "They're estimates. They will change, I can tell you that." <

In addition, Pena said, about 1,000 trees were damaged or lost and many vehicles were damaged. Those were not included in the property damage estimate, he said. <

"In such times, the costs of many hours of unforeseeable overtime are a tremendous burden for both the city and the town," Falk wrote to Doyle. "In the face of such an unavoidable and extraordinary disaster, our citizens and local governments need and deserve government assistance." <

Erickson said Doyle will decide based on the FEMA evaluation whether to ask for federal assistance for Dane County. <

Homeowners are also filing claims with local insurers. As of Friday morning, General Casualty Insurance Cos. of Sun Prairie had received about $2 million in homeowner and other claims, the insurer said. Most claims came from Waupun, with others from Madison, Milwaukee, Montello and Whitewater. <

American Family Insurance Group spokesman Steve Witmer said the Madison insurer by late Friday had received about 200 claims from Dane County policyholders and more than 350 others from within Adams, Columbia and Marquette counties. No dollar estimates were available. <

City of Madison crews will return to neighborhoods today and work from 6:30 a.m. to about 4 p.m. Crews will probably need another week or two to finish, said Bill Vandenbrook, city motor equipment superintendent, who is coordinating cleanup efforts. <

City trucks have hauled more than 190 loads totaling 350 tons of debris from the area, Vandenbrook said, far above the normal 20 tons per day. By the time cleanup is finished, he said, trucks likely will have hauled about 700 tons of trees and brush from storm-damaged neighborhoods. <

Arborists from the city of Sun Prairie and trucks from the city of Monroe are helping, Vandenbrook said. <

By 9 p.m. Thursday, all streets were clear of debris, Vandenbrook said. But that doesn't mean gawkers are invited to drive around and inspect the storm damage. <

"Please remain out of the area until we get things cleaned up," Vandenbrook said. Excess traffic gets in the way of the large trucks that don't normally navigate residential streets, he said. <

Madison Gas and Electric Co. restored power to about 550 homes by Friday evening and expected to have power restored to the remaining 50 today, spokesman Steve Kraus said. <

Many of the last 50 homes are in the Segoe Road area that was heavily damaged, and damage to homes is delaying restoration of power to many of those customers, Kraus said. MGE crews will be back in the field about 6 a.m. today, he said. <

Alliant Energy spokeswoman Erin Dammen said all 7,000 of its Wisconsin customers who lost power were back on line Friday morning, except for a few whose homes were damaged by the storms. <

The Adams-Columbia Electric Cooperative, which serves customers in damage-stricken areas of Adams, Marquette and Waushara counties, said 440 of its members were without power Friday morning. <

Contact Ed Treleven at etreleven@madison.com or 252-6134. <

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Reporter Jason Stein contributed to this report.