The Department of Transportation has some early estimates on the amount of damage done by flooding and the Joplin tornado. It has shared those with the Senate Interim Sub Committee on Fiscal Response to this year’s disasters.
Assistant Chief Engineer Don Hillis says about $7 million in damage has been done to roads in northwest Missouri, though he says 70 miles of state roads remain underwater preventing a solid assessment. Another $3 million is estimated in damage from flooding in southeast Missouri, and $1 million will go to permanent repair of signals damaged by the Joplin tornado. Hillis says temporary repairs were made to those signals with parts MODOT pulled together from around the state.
Hillis says some or all of that $11 million could be reimbursed through the Federal Emergency Management Agency or the Federal Highway Administration, depending on the type of road and the work done to them.