News : Derecho Damage On Paper

A few weeks ago, in passing, our Benton County Assessor Larry Andreesen, brought a colored chart into the Benton County Supervisor's meeting to show them a snapshot of the damage caused by the derecho. That piqued my interest.

I had spent several days in the county snapping photos of the damage. I knew that all around me it looked awful. Just from what I could see while driving down the highways and city streets I knew it would be the same down every country road and in every town in the path of this storm.

Andreesen explained in the meeting that in 2011, the storm had a core that went through the county and had a defined edge to it. He said, half a mile away from the core of it, there wasn't any damage. This storm, he guessed was around 8-10 miles wide and then it fanned out as it passed through the county. Unfortunately, like other county officials, he said he's becoming too familiar with these storms and the damage they can cause.

I thought you might be interested in seeing the map as well and how the damage looks on paper.

The properties highlighted in red are properties that have had at least one building removed by the storm or it has been so heavily damaged that it will probably be removed. Yellow means there is some damage but it's probably repairable. Green means that the parcel of land is in good condition with minimal damage to the buildings on the property. There is very little green in the sea of reds and yellows.