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Still No Cleanup Estimate In Kokomo One Week After Tornadoes

Annie Ropeik
/
Indiana Public Broadcasting

A week after two tornadoes tore through Kokomo, more than a dozen people are still housed in the city’s emergency shelter and officials don’t yet have an estimate of how much cleanup will cost.

Mayor Greg Goodnight says that’s in part because some damage is still being discovered.

Goodnight says he met with one man who thought his property had only lost a few trees, with his home emerging from the strong winds unscathed.

“A day or two after the power came on, they go and they start noticing things like the cabinet doors weren’t shutting properly," Goodnight says. "Some of the windows would not open because there’d been somewhat of a shift in the foundation.”

No one died or even was seriously hurt in the storms. Goodnight says that’s been good for morale, but he’s concerned it might change the amount of money the city gets for repairs.

“So I think it’s worked to our benefit as far as the spirits of the community, but you’re right, could it also make it where it’s just structures and people take it a little more lightly? I guess that’s always a possibility,” the mayor says.

Goodnight estimates cleanup is, at best, half-done.

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