Corey Noles photo City Administrator Mark Stidham points out some of the twisted beams in the totalled north hangar.

The straight-line winds that ripped across Stoddard County in late January left their mark on the Dexter Municipal Airport, and now the city is on its way to rebuilding and getting back to business as usual.

"The first thing you have to understand is that this is a very slow process," said City Administrator Mark Stidham. "We've been working together with MoDOT Aviation and the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) to get the process rolling."

Stidham said that while insurance will cover some of the damage, it will not cover all of it. The city is looking to the FAA and MoDOT Aviation to help with some of the costs of rebuilding.

"We've applied for some funding, but now all we can do is wait," he said Wednesday morning. "They've said we can expect to have word on what is going to happen by the end of May."

Funding could come in one of two ways.

The first possibility is that the city will be offered low-interest loans to help curb the costs. The other option is that it could come in the form of grants, which would, for obvious reasons, be the preference.

"MoDOT Aviation has been really good to us on so many projects in the past," he said. Most recently, MoDOT helped fund the runway extension project.

The total cost of that project was approximately $1.199 million, mostly paid by seven grants of $150,000 each.

The City has now gotten the majority of the debris cleaned up from the storm.

"The weather was a major hold up," Stidham said. "We weren't able to get our equipment out into the field because it was so muddy. Fortunately, last week they were able to get it cleaned up."

Stidham said someone is scheduled to finish up the cleaning in the very near future. They were giving the people with hangars a chance to come gather any more of their property that might have been left or located during the recent clean-up.

"Hopefully, we'll know where we're headed by the end of May," he said. "Then we can start working towards getting back to normal."

Look for more on this story in future editions of The Daily Statesman.

cnoles@dailystatesman.com