Trees in this city damaged by two big storms last year are succumbing to Dutch elm disease.

The city has 60 confirmed cases of Dutch elm disease in the American elm tree population. Thirty-six trees are on private property, officials said.

A spring hail storm last year followed by an October snowstorm damaged the trees, making them more vulnerable to the disease, officials said.

Skip Rapp, the city's public works manager for forestry, said the number of trees infected with the beetle-borne may increase.

The initial symptoms of the disease are wilting of leaves on a few limbs.

"Once you see the symptoms, the tree is too far along," City Forester Craig Armstrong said.

There is not a cure for Dutch elm disease once the tree is infected, Armstrong said.

"Once it's confirmed in the tree, the tree needs to be removed," Rapp said. "The wood needs to be disposed of and the stump needs to be ground out."

If the stump is not ground out, the disease can continue to spread through the roots of other elm trees that have grafted together underground, Rapp said.

The city is taking care of the removal of the trees on public property. For private lands, owners have 14 days to remove infected trees.