Portage tornado damage racks up $3 million price tag

The City of Portage was devastated by two tornados more than a month ago . Early damage assessment costs are in.

“For the City of Portage itself, we’re currently looking at as far as 3 million dollars,” City of Portage Chief Operating Officer Adam Herringa said.

The city is using its rainy day fund to cover costs.

“That number is probably going to go up a little bit, but we’re hoping not by much,” Herringa said.

That number is also only for damage done to city property. There’s no telling how much the dollar amount might be for private property.

“This is public infrastructure only. The biggest component would be your traffic signals, and that infrastructure. In that alone, you’re looking at an excess of a million dollars,” Herringa said.

Fortunately, the city also has insurance.

“We’re hoping that much of our damage will be able to be covered through insurance,” Herringa said.

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Insurance, however, doesn’t cover the city’s debris pickup they’ve been doing. Debris pickup is now in its second wave, after another storm tore down trees throughout the city just a few weeks after the tornado.

Portage had a lot of tree damage. That’s an expensive cleanup cost, too.

“The numbers add up quickly. When you’re a tree city that number can get pretty high pretty quickly,” Herringa said.

The city is hoping to get back on track soon.

“Fortunately nothing shocking, but it’s still a big number to deal with,” Herringa said.

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