Business owners, builders, totaling tornado damage

Hannah Wolfson

Friday, Aug. 13, 1999 | 4:47 a.m.

SALT LAKE CITY - Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt on Friday asked President Clinton for a disaster declaration to help pay for damage done by a tornado that tore through downtown.

Wednesday's twister, which killed one man, destroyed five houses and damaged 180 others, may have caused as much as $150 million in damages. Leavitt's aid request was much smaller, only $8.3 million, because federal rules limit aid largely to uninsured property and government expenses.

More than $5 million of the aid could cover for private property damage, said federal disaster officials. Preliminary estimates developed by teams from the Federal Emergency Management Agency do not include damage done to the Delta Center, home of the Utah Jazz basketball team, and to the Wyndham Hotel, two buildings hit hardest by the tornado.

John Kainrad, FEMA's response and recovery official for the storm, said nearly all of the damaged homes are insured, so the amount of federal aid eventually sent to the state could change.

The $3.2 million in storm expenses rung up by state and local governments includes the cost of debris removal, damage to utilities, buildings, parks and sidewalks.

Kainrad said the president likely would act on Utah's request within the next several days.

Eleven people still were hospitalized Friday, two in critical condition.

While the bureaucratic wheels turned in Utah's Statehouse, the downtown businesses worked for a second day to get back to normal.

"I'm sure we lost several thousand dollars worth of business," said Renee Connors, manager of the restaurant Lakota. "Not to mention all the product that we lost. We saved $4,000 worth of seafood, but we did dump a lot that we couldn't save."

The lunch rush was in full swing when the tornado slammed into the downtown business district.

Diners in business suits dove under tables while the black funnel cloud loomed in the windows. Kitchen workers left thousands of dollars worth of food on counters as power shut down and the upscale restaurant emptied.

The Lakota was lucky. A competitor across the street, Club Axis, has been closed indefinitely.

Salt Lake City Mayor Deedee Corradini estimated the damage at $150 million, including business and commercial property covered by private insurers.

But those numbers may not reflect the true bottom line, said Thayne Robson, director of the Bureau of Economic and Business Research at the University of Utah.

"No one will ever sit down and calculate the total disruptions and losses that are occasioned by this storm or any other storm," Robson said. "Little short-term events like this can have significant impacts that are never fully identifiable or quantifiable."

For example, Lakota lost business the day of the storm. The day after, a party of 75 canceled, but another huge group showed up later. Connors said Lakota may have been drawing business from closed competitors, and possibly from curious suburbanites venturing downtown to survey the storm's aftermath.

And the storm may mean more work for some business.

Hastily posted signs for tree-cutting and debris-clearing services dot the hardest-hit residential area. Thousands of cars had windows smashed, and one company, Safelite AutoGlass, brought in workers from out of state when business tripled to about 500 calls the day after the storm.

Salt Lake's already-booming construction industry may have the most to gain. Several downtown landmarks bore the brunt of the storm and could cost millions to repair.

The Delta Center alone will take at least $5 million to restore and could lose money due to canceled events, said owner Larry Miller. Ron Remkes, project manager for Big D Construction, one of Salt Lake's largest builders, said the Salt Palace Convention Center and the Wyndham Hotel could cost more than $1 million each to repair.

Larry Markin, president of the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce, said it may be tough to find enough contractors to take care of all the work.

"We have so many (jobs) right now, it will probably make it a little more difficult, we might have to bring people in from outside the state," Markin said.