Clean up efforts from the tornadoes that swept through the Miami Valley on Memorial Day continue in affected neighborhoods, including the Prairies at Wright Field neighborhood, where 150 homes were damaged. The Prairies is a privatized military housing development for personnel serving at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Marie Vanover is the director of public affairs at Wright-Patt and says, of those 150 homes, 22 have been declared uninhabitable.
"We've had 16 families displaced because of those 22 homes. Six were vacant," she says. "And as we continue our assessment, by going into every home before power is turned on, that number could change.”
Miller-Valentine, one of the development groups that began building the housing units in 2002, is now under contract for clean-up and rebuilding efforts at Prairies at Wright Field.
And Vanover says more than 200 volunteers assisted last week in clearing much of the debris left behind by the tornadoes.
“And now we are focusing on helping our community in the Miami Valley. Many of our folks that are assigned here from organizations across the base are now going out into the community to help them with recovery efforts,” she says.
Following the Memorial Day storms, Wright-Patt set up a temporary claims office at the Hope Hotel for affected base personnel. Vanover says that office has now closed and claims processing has moved back to the legal office on base.
Montgomery County Veterans Service Commission is ready to help veterans pay insurance deductibles as a result of tornado damage here in Dayton.
And, any Montgomery County veteran with storm-related insurance deductibles could get up to $1,000 in assistance from the Montgomery County Veterans Service Commission. Veterans are asked to call Col. Mark Landers for more information, at 937-225-4801, or email him at veteransinfo@mcohio.org.
