Cass County, N.D. – North Dakota Governor Kelly Armstrong is starting to react after seeing some of last Friday’s storm damage up close across Cass County.
“It’s hard to comprehend,” Armstrong said during a phone call to The Flag’s What’s On Your Mind? in the middle of the tour on Wednesday.
Armstrong is touring Enderlin, which lost three people to a tornado, and other areas like Page and Hunter.
“You’re driving and [you see] a cornfield, a shelter belt and a farm set and then complete devastation,” said Armstrong.
At the same time, Armstrong also noted the amount of progress that has been made in terms of the cleanup and recovery
“The ability of North Dakotans to rally around each other is truly amazing,” said Armstrong.
Listen: North Dakota Governor Kelly Armstrong speaks with The Flag’s What’s On Your Mind?
Armstrong says their immediate concern at the state level is “how to resource and provide avenues and navigation for people to get through this.”
“Our number one priority is to make sure they know we’re out here and make sure that we’re a resource and care on a human level,” said Armstrong.
The governor also acknowledged the heavy impact on the farming community, noting “millions of bushels of storage” were destroyed, although would not provide an immediate solution to help with that rebuilding.
“Crop loss and crop insurance is one thing,” said Armstrong. “Growing a crop and not having anywhere to store it is a whole different conversation.”
Asked why the National Guard was not deployed, Armstrong likened it to the analogy of “don’t shoot, point, and then aim.”
“These [situations] always start in the immediate side with the emergency responders and the locals,” said Armstrong. “If they’re [the Guard is] needed, we’ll do it.”
Last Saturday, Armstrong declared a statewide disaster to activate the state-level response and coordination with the aftermath of the storms.
