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Mark Steil
WORTHINGTON, Minn.

Dayton asks for storm disaster declaration

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Power lines
Power lines are downed along a roughly five-mile stretch of road about three miles west of Worthington, Minn, Wednesday evening, April 10, 2013.
MPR Photo/Mark Steil

After an ice storm earlier this month caused damages estimated at $26 million, Gov. Mark Dayton is asking for a presidential disaster declaration for a five-county area of southwest Minnesota.

The heaviest damage was to rural electric companies. About 3,000 power poles were destroyed and more than 800 miles of electric lines damaged in the three-day storm. Thousands of damaged trees will likely have to be cut down.

Nobles County sustained about $16 million in damage, Jackson County $6 million. Public officials in the region say they don't have sufficient budget reserves to pay for the cleanup.

Federal assistance is needed to help the region cope with the cleanup, Worthington Mayor Alan Oberloh said.

"We have to hope that we get a disaster declaration because there are no communities in Nobles County -- and Worthington included -- that have reserves in their budgets to handle the amount of cleanup effort that is going to be involved in getting the town back to the way it was prior to the ice event," Oberloh said.

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Power lines
Power lines are downed along a roughly five-mile stretch of road about three miles west of Worthington, Minn, Wednesday evening, April 10, 2013.
MPR Photo/Mark Steil
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Worthington ice storm
An ice-covered tree rests atop a vehicle it fell on at the AmericInn Wednesday, April 10, 2013 in Worthington, Minn. Thousands of people remained without power in the Worthington area of southwestern Minnesota on Wednesday, the day after an ice storm coated trees and power lines, while the next round of the storm threatened to dump several inches of wet snow across much of the southern half of Minnesota by Thursday.
AP Photo/The Daily Globe, Julie Buntjer