Crews still at work on ice storm cleanup

Clean-up from April's ice storm is proceeding faster than expected in southwest Minnesota. Crews are still working to take down trees that were too severely damaged to survive.

The storm left ice accumulations nearly two inches thick in places, breaking off thousands of branches.

• Photos: Ice storm knocks out power in SW Minn.

"We've got about 750 trees that have been marked for removal, on the city right-of-ways, as well as parks and other city properties," Worthington city forester Scott Rosenberg said. "At this point we have about 500 of those removed, with 250 remaining."

One surprise, he said, is that most of the downed trees are ash, a hardwood. Rosenberg said he is unsure why that happened.

"I would say that we're probably in that 80 to 90 percent of the lost trees were actually ash trees," said Rosenberg.

He said since the destructive emerald ash borer has not been seen in the city, it's not to blame.

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