Dayton issues emergency declaration for storm-struck areas

An emergency declaration has been issued for more than two dozen Minnesota counties affected by recent thunderstorms.

Gov. Mark Dayton's executive order covers a wide swath of the state from west central Minnesota to parts of the Twin Cities metro as well as southern and southeastern counties. Aitkin County in the northeast is also covered. The storms last month caused flash flooding and damaged trees and power lines in many areas.

The order means county, state, and FEMA teams can make damage assessments, which will start on Monday, Doug Neville at the Department of Public Safety said.

"That process of doing the damage assessment, because it's so widespread, should take about three days for us to work our way across the state," Neville said. He said the state needs to have at least $7.26 million in damage to public property to qualify for federal aid. There are also smaller thresholds for individual counties.

Minn. pursuing federal aid for severe storm cleanup

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