FEMA starts Minneapolis tornado damage assessment

Federal assistance could help homeowners, as well as renters.

The threshold for aid is $6.4 million worth of damage to uninsured public property. And since the city estimates about $166 million total damage, the FEMA mark seems like a slam dunk.

Not necessarily, though.

The city figure includes private property damage, according the MPR, so we'll have to wait and see.

If the money does come through, homeowners could get up to $29,000 each. Renters -- a big slice of the residential pie in north Minneapolis -- could also be eligible for assistance.

Meanwhile, the Project Homeless Connect emergency center set up at the Minneapolis Convention Center logged 1,200 residents looking for help, information and advice yesterday.

FEMA is already at work elsewhere in Minnesota, assessing the federal assistance needs in counties that suffered flooding in March. President Obama declared the state a disaster area on May 10, opening the federal faucet for Big Stone, Blue Earth, Brown, Carver, Chippewa, Clay, Grant, Lac qui Parle, Le Sueur, Lyon, McLeod, Nicollet, Redwood, Renville, Scott, Sibley, Stevens, Traverse, Wilkin, and Yellow Medicine counties.

More on the tornado:

• Minneapolis tornado kills one person, rips up homes
• Twin Cities tornado damage 2011: Your photos
• Minneapolis tornado: Videos from the scene
• Pawlenty strangely silent on tornado damage to Minnesota
• Minneapolis tornado "exclusion zone" map and details
• Rybak declares disaster, City Council plans emergency meeting
• Xcel says 11,000 tornado victims still without power
• Rob MacIntyre, Raptor Resource Project director, ID'd as tornado victim
• How to help tornado victims in North Minneapolis
• Minneapolis City Council OKs disaster declaration
• Floyd David Whitfield named second tornado casualty
• Minneapolis tornado rated up to EF 2, winds reached 135 mph