SPRINGDALE -- Residents whose homes were damaged by the March 30 tornado soon will be eligible to apply for state aid.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Friday declared Washington County a disaster area in the wake of an EF-3 tornado that hit parts of Springdale, Johnson and Fayetteville on March 30.
The declaration also puts into place the state's Individual Assistance Program, according to Shealyn Sowers, a spokesman for the governor's office.
The Arkansas Division of Emergency Management will administer the program through a Disaster Recovery Center at the Springdale Recreation Center.
The agency will notify residents if they qualify for aid, said LaTresha Woodruff, a spokesman for the division.
Division officials also have requested an emergency declaration from the federal Small Business Administration, but it has not been approved or issued. An emergency declaration would allow affected residents to apply for low-interest, long-term loans to home owners, renters and small business owners who are not insured.
Residents wanting assistance from the state must first apply for a loan from the federal Administration, Woodruff said.
If a resident is turned down, he then can apply for the state grants, she continued.
Residents who already have started repair work should continue, and may present receipts for reimbursement, she concluded.
Assessors with the Emergency Services division on April 12 toured the affected areas and found more than 350 homes and businesses damaged and the gym of George Elementary demolished, Sowers said.
Michael Schutta of the Small Business Administration said April 12 he needed to find 25 homes that were more than 40% damaged and not insured to meet one of the requirements for aid. After the tour he said he found 35, which qualified Northwest Arkansas for assistance in "getting them back to where they were," he said.
The tornado traveled for about eight minutes about 5 miles, from near the Northwest Arkansas Mall to west of the Springdale Municipal Airport, the National Weather Service reported.