ALEXANDRIA — The red dots on Alexandria Building Official Lynn Timm’s map keep growing.
Each dot represents a building repair project that Timm’s office issued after the May 12, 2022 tornado and high winds hit the city and outlying areas, damaging homes, garages and other buildings.
So far, Timm’s map is riddled with more than 400 storm-related dots related to roofing, siding, window replacements and reconstruction permits issued up to this point in the recovery. Among the hardest hit areas – the southeast side of Lake Darling and along the east shore of Lake Geveva.
“To date, the estimated valuation of post-storm work has exceeded $10 million dollars and there is much more work yet to be done,” Timm said. “During a typical year, approximately 175 permits for reroofing, residing and window replacement are issued, with an annual estimated valuation of around $3 million.”
The recovery is still going strong and will likely continue well into 2024, according to Timm.
“There are a lot of projects out there that haven’t even gotten to the building permit stage yet due to insurance issues, decisions to be made and contractor scheduling challenges,” she said.
The Alexandria tornado turned one of Timm’s biggest fears into reality.
“Each year as I see other communities being hit by the spring/summer storms, I get a little queasy; knowing someday that will be us, and hoping we’d be up to the challenge,” she said, adding that in the scope of the recovery, the
Alexandria Building Department
plays a relatively minor role.
Still, it keeps the department busy.
“We provide guidance and support to the owners, contractors, designers, insurance companies and others,” Timm said. “We protect our citizens from storm chasers who come to our area looking for work. We review, permit and inspect the ongoing repair work and reconstruction for compliance with the Minnesota State Building Code. Have we been busy? Yes. But make no mistake – the heavy lifting of the recovery is being done by the people out on the job site, those who are working crazy long hours every day to rebuild our community.”
Al Edenloff is the editor of the twice-weekly Echo Press. He started his journalism career when he was in 10th grade, writing football and basketball stories for the Parkers Prairie Independent.