Dayton extends disaster declaration for tornado zone

Gov. Dayton and top state executives have approved a 30-day extension of the emergency declaration issued after Sunday's tornado in north Minneapolis.

The action taken Friday gives local officials additional flexibility from various state rules during the cleanup and damage assessment.

Kris Eide, director of the state's Homeland Security and Emergency Management division, told members of the executive council that she expects the recovery efforts to take a long time, because the tornado affected so many people.

"There are a few thousand homes that have been affected, however there are more families than homes," said Eide. " A lot of these homes had multiple families in residence, many renters, low income and non-insured."

Eide said the damage to public infrastructure is already close to $16 million. After the meeting, Gov. Dayton said he expects the costs to grow significantly.

"The $16 million was limited to just public infrastructure, in other words sidewalks, streets and the water facility in Anoka County," said Dayton. "From my experience being over there and seeing the damage, most of the damage is to privately owned structures, and that's going to be a multiple of the $16 million."

Dayton is preparing to ask President Obama for federal disaster aid when officials finish assessing the damage.