BENTONVILLE — Benton County officials expect to qualify for state disaster aid even as they continue to assess the damage caused by last week’s flooding.
County Judge Bob Clinard told justices of the peace Thursday night the county apparently had surpassed the threshold set by the state to be reimbursed for the cost of repairing damage to roads and bridges caused by the April 18 storm that dumped 5 inches of rain across the county in the span of about five hours.
“It appears the county sustained about $650,000 worth of damage, which is going to far exceed the threshold needed to be reimbursed,” Clinard said.
Marshal Watson, county emergency services administrator, said Arkansas Department of Emergency Management officials have been in the county this week touring sites identified as having sustained storm damage. Watson said the inspection will probably be complete next week, although county workers will continue compiling information to submit to the state.
Watson said the county has identified more than 100 repair projects that may be eligible for state reimbursement. He said a single incident where repair costs exceed $1,000 is counted as a separate project by the state.
Scott Stober, public services administrator, said the largest project identified so far is the Georgia Flats Bridge, west of Decatur. The box culverts supporting the bridge were washed away.
Clinard said the county has decided to upgrade the bridge rather than simply rebuild it as it was. He said other projects may also be targeted for improvement even though the state will only consider the cost of restoring bridges and roads to their prior condition when they evaluate the damage to the county.
“We’re not going to just put it back the way it was,” Clinard said. “I asked them ‘If we replace it and get the same amount of rain what happens?’ It washes away again. What happens if we get the 18 inches of rain over a period of days like we had two years ago? It washes away again. We’re going to rebuild it and do it right.”
Watson said the threshold for the state to reimburse the county and cities is about $443,000. The amount of damage in cities and unincorporated areas of the county are considered by the state, Watson said, but each entity is reimbursed for the damage in its jurisdiction.
Watson said the cost of repairing damage in unincorporated areas is estimated at $400,000. Clinard said the state pays 35 percent of the cost of repairing damage caused by disasters that meet the minimum criteria.
“If the county’s damage is $400,000, we’ll get 35 percent of $400,000,” Clinard said.