By Serena Solomon
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
CENTRAL PARK — Central Park received a $1 million donation from J.P. Morgan Chase to help restore the damage caused when over 500 of the parks trees were destroyed by a severe summer storm.
The announcement was made Tuesday atop the Great Hill, one of the areas most affected by the storm. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase, planted a 12 foot-tall sapling to give the restoration process a ceremonial kick off.
The thunderstorm lasted less than 10 minutes on Aug. 18, but the damage permanently altered the landscape of the 151-year-old park.
"The August thunderstorm ripped through the city, causing some of the most extensive damage to Central Park in modern memory," Bloomberg said.
The donation from JP Morgan Chase will finance almost all of the post-storm restoration projects, according to the mayor. The restoration is being overseen by the Central Park Conservancy, a non-profit organization that manages the park.
"While the storm was bad we see it is a opportunity to create new landscapes and new habitat," said Scott Johnson, Director of Communications at the Central Park Conservancy. "Both for animals and humans."
About 500 trees were completely destroyed and at least a thousand more were badly damaged. The devastation was particularly bad in the northern end of the park where tree limbs knocked over light poles, tore fences and destabilized soil, Johnson said.
The initial cleaning and stabilizing required after the storm has cost about $2 million, according to the Central Park Conservancy. J.P. Morgan Chase's hefty donation will cover the cost of rebuilding landscapes and planting new trees, including white, red and black oak, flowering dogwood and sweetgum trees.
Visitors to Central Park likely won't notice the new landscaping until spring at the earliest.
