Randall area residents, business receive disaster recovery checks

Flooding in Randall after rainfall — A house in Randall is flooded Friday, June 24, 2022, after 12.3 inches of rain fell in the city Thursday night. The Little Elk River, which runs through the city, topped its banks, causing flooding in the area.

By Dispatch staff report

August 18, 2022 at 6:00 PM

RANDALL — Disaster recovery checks are going out during the next two weeks to 32 Randall-area homeowners and two nonprofits hit hard by a June 23-24 storm that dropped more than a foot of rain and caused the Little Elk River to overflow its banks.

In total, $83,500 is being distributed by the Randall Area Flood Recovery Task Force and St. James Catholic Church thanks to individual, corporate and nonprofit donations to the Initiative Foundation-hosted Randall Area Flood Recovery Fund , the Initiative Foundation reported in a news release. Another $10,000 supported by a grant from Compeer Financial is being distributed to two local businesses, Boone's Market and OK Tire & Bait.

A smaller round of financial relief is expected in the coming weeks as donations continue to be received. More support is needed, the Initiative Foundation reported, to make a meaningful difference and to help homeowners and business owners recover from what was deemed a 500-year rain event by the National Weather Service. A 500-year event means it has a 0.2% chance of occurring based on historical records.

People can support Randall-area flood recovery at givemn.org/Randall-Flood or by making an in-person donation at Randall State Bank. All donations are tax-deductible. This fundraising effort is supported by the Morrison County Area Foundation , a partner fund hosted by the Initiative Foundation. The Initiative Foundation and its partners continue to look for sources of funding to support the community in what will be a long road to recovery.

“The financial need in Randall is really high for these folks to get their lives back on track,” said Matt Pantzke, Randall city administrator, who shared that many homeowners were without flood insurance or unable to secure it. “We have many homes with significant structural and personal property damage, along with a lot of heating devices and appliances — furnaces, water heaters, washers, dryers.”

According to a Federal Emergency Management Agency cost estimate, a 1,000-square-foot home flooded with 12 inches of standing water will require nearly $30,000 to repair, restore and to replace damaged property. That number jumps to more than $70,000 for a 2,500-square-foot home. With dozens of homes affected, plus several businesses , costs in the Randall area could exceed $2 million.

By Dispatch staff report

Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of "staff." Often, the "staff" byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.

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Randall area residents, business receive disaster recovery checks

More support needed as homeowners, nonprofits, businesses work on long recovery process