Urbandale parks raising money to replace trees after tornado

URBANDALE, Iowa — An EF-1 tornado hit Urbandale last week causing severe damage to trees at five of Urbandale’s parks.

Scott Hock, the Assistant Director of Parks, Recreation and Facilities for the City of Urbandale, said that the department is raising money to replace the trees destroyed by the tornado.

“We’ve lost a lot of trees over the past few years. The derecho, the emerald ash borer is affecting us and then we’ve had several storm events and we’ve just lost a lot of trees. As property owners probably know trees don’t get replaced with insurance so we have to find funding resources to replace those trees and it can take a while to identify those sources. We do have some funds available but this is just a big devastating thing. We’re hoping people might be willing to help out with to try and get these canopies reestablished,” Hock said.

The following parks in Urbandale were damaged: North Karen Acres Park, Rick Boals Park, Rocklyn Park, Golfview Park, and Walker-Johnston Park.

To donate to the reforestation efforts visit the City of Urbandale’s Parks and Recreation website .

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to who13.com.