Friends and neighbors,
As you know, yesterday southern Minnesota was hit hard by devastating severe weather. Reports from the National Weather Service indicate tornadoes touched down in Rice, Waseca, Goodhue, and Martin Counties, and most other areas saw straight line winds and torrential rains. A quick viewing of the #mnwx hashtag on Twitter shows just how bad the damage was in some areas.
Luckily, it sounds like there weren’t any injuries or deaths.
Next comes the recovery process. Recovering from a natural disaster can be confusing and stressful, but these resources might help.
As always, if you have any questions or need any assistance working with state agencies, please let me know.
Sincerely,
Local Emergency Management Personnel
First, be sure to report any damage to your local emergency management team, even if the amount of damage you received was small. Here is contact information for the emergency management personnel in our area:
- Dodge County Emergency Management: (507) 635-6132
Rice County Emergency Management: (507) 332-6119- Rice County Disaster Hotline: (507) 333-3877
- Steele County Emergency Management: (507) 444-2454
- Waseca County Emergency Management: (507) 835-0516
Disaster Recovery Guides
The state publishes several disaster recovery resources you might find helpful:
- The Minnesota Department of Public Safety Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency has disaster recovery resources for homeowners, renters, business owners, local officials, and more: https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/hsem/disaster-recovery/Pages/homeowners-renters.aspx
- The Department of Commerce provides a detailed disaster information packet: https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/hsem/disaster-recovery/Documents/commerce-disaster-packet.pdf
- The Department of Commerce also has information that will help guide homeowners who have experienced flood damage: https://mn.gov/commerce/consumers/your-home/protect/other/floods/what-to-do.jsp
For questions regarding insurance claims
You can also check out the Minnesota Department of Commerce Consumer Services Center. They will help you understand your rights and answer questions you might have regarding possible insurance claims.
Here’s how to reach them:
- By phone: (800) 657-3602
- By email: emailconsumer.protection@state.mn.us
- Online: https://mn.gov/commerce/consumers/your-home/protect/dic/