U.S. lets state get disaster standing

31 counties beset by storms due aid

A map showing Arkansas counties declared disaster areas.
A map showing Arkansas counties declared disaster areas.

President Donald Trump designated 31 Arkansas counties hit by April and May storms and flooding as disaster areas Thursday, which allows residents and governmental entities to apply for federal assistance for repairs and cleanup.

"This is welcome news for the Arkansas families and businesses who have been waiting patiently for relief from these disasters," Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who requested the federal declaration earlier this month, said in a news release. "These emergency funds will provide much-needed relief that will help those coping with the aftermath of these storms to recover, rebuild and get back on their feet."

Flooding in Arkansas


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The declaration allows residents to apply for individual assistance for funding to repair homes, relocation costs and any other personal expenses associated with storms. It also provides public assistance funds for cities and counties to repair roads, bridges, culverts and buildings and for costs of cleaning debris left by flooding and high winds.

Some counties received designations for both types of assistance.

Counties receiving individual assistance are: Benton, Boone, Carroll, Clay, Faulkner, Fulton, Jackson, Lawrence, Pulaski, Randolph, Saline, Washington and Yell.

Public assistance funds are available for Baxter, Benton, Boone, Carroll, Clay, Cleburne, Conway, Craighead, Cross, Faulkner, Independence, Izard, Jackson, Lawrence, Madison, Marion, Mississippi, Montgomery, Newton, Ouachita, Perry, Poinsett, Prairie, Randolph, Saline, Washington, White and Woodruff counties.

The declaration covers a three-week period that began with an EF1 tornado that touched down at 1:22 a.m. in Carroll County on April 26 and ended when flooding receded along the White River on May 19. Nine people died in weather-related accidents during that period.

Storms knocked out power to more than 11,000 Entergy of Arkansas customers April 26, and heavy rains caused flash flooding in Northwest Arkansas. Three days later, 6 to 8 inches of rain deluged the upper White River basin in north-central Arkansas and water began moving south.

In southern Missouri, 10 inches of rain fell into the Current River, causing the river to reach record-high marks in Van Buren, Mo., and Doniphan, Mo. The water poured into the Black River in Randolph County, and on May 2 Pocahontas saw the highest level recorded on the Black River.

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Nine sections of levee protecting the eastern part of the city broke when water topped them. More than 100 homes were flooded, and a surge of water rushed south, covering U.S. 67 with 4 to 8 feet of water.

The water eventually flowed back into the Black River south of Clover Bend and continued south where it emptied into the White River near Jacksonport.

Sam Barr, county judge for Carroll County, said his county received more than $500,000 damage to roads and bridges.

"Several roads were impassible," he said. "We've been working at it and we've got at least one lane open on all roads now."

He said flash flooding scoured surfaces off of roads and washed out culverts.

"We have flooding disasters in Carroll County nearly every year," Barr said. "But I've never seen the water get as high as it did this time."

In Faulkner County, rapid waters destroyed several roads, county spokesman David Hogue said.

"There are lots of spots where the asphalt folded up and were rolled up on the side of the road by the water," he said.

Faulkner County is one of 10 counties eligible for both individual and public assistance funds.

Hogue said several elderly residents who were forced out of a Greenbrier assisted living apartment complex when waters rose are eligible to receive reimbursement for their relocation costs.

Melody Daniel,a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management, said officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency will open several disaster recovery centers in Arkansas in the coming weeks.

She said people also can apply for assistance in eligible counties by calling (800) 621-3362 or online at disasterassistance.gov.

Federal Emergency Management Agency teams surveyed damage with Office of Emergency Management coordinators in various counties in the state in late May.

The federal agency typically pays 75 percent of disaster costs with the remaining 25 percent of costs shared by the state and local in-kind contributions. Hutchinson said Thursday while addressing the Arkansas Municipal League that the state won't likely have to pay anything this time because of the ways local governments are using to calculate the in-kind costs.

"We would like our counties and cities to accurately account for the in-kind services that are provided, which include ... first responders [and] all of the costs of street repair that you have made," Hutchinson said. "We have not been fully accounting for that sufficiently.

"We believe that it is enough to make up the entire 25 percent that is required for the state and local match."

This is the ninth federal disaster declaration Arkansas has received since 2013. Last year, the state earned designations in February and May because of storms, tornadoes, straight-line winds and flooding.

Arkansas received five declarations in 2008, the worst year for the state since the federal agency began issuing them in 1957.

Information for this article was contributed by Eric Besson of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

State Desk on 06/16/2017

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