Tornado Cost Wichita, Kansas Area $146.3M

Sedgwick County, Kansas, officials say the tornado that hit Oaklawn and southeast Wichita on April 14 caused an estimated $146.3 million in damage.

County officials say the tornado damaged or destroyed 776 homes and 86 businesses, and affected another 3,481 residences and 165 businesses. That total includes 11 homes that were totally destroyed.

The Wichita Eagle reports mobile homes are not included in that figure because they are classified as personal property. In the Pinaire Mobile Home Park, 92 mobile homes suffered more than 50 percent damage.

Other damage reported was to power poles, traffic signals and street signs.

The city of Wichita is still estimating the cost of repairing a sewer treatment plant that lost much of its roof.

Spirit AeroSystems, which was hit hard by the tornado, said its employees were returning to work after a massive cleanup of tornado damage.

Spirit CEO Jeff Turner says about 1,000 people worked to clean debris, test equipment and make other repairs since the Wichita company took a direct hit from the EF-3 tornado.

The Wichita Eagle reports some production at Spirit resumed on April 20 but full production will start today.

But Turner says work will be a bit chaotic at first as the company ensures all parts and other supplies are available. Suppliers have been told to resume deliveries but Turner says it will take time to rebound from lost production.

And some of the repairs at the plant are temporary until permanent repairs can be made.